Firing and Finishing

A weekend of work ready for firing.

Loading the kiln

The kiln heats up. A full fuse occurs around 1550 degrees. Although in this big kiln, it seem to fuse at about 1450 degrees.

Fusing complete. The pendants appear to be pools of red hot liquid at full fuse. The original color of the glass will come back as they cool. When you reach the fused look you want, it's important to flash cool the kiln by opening it slightly. You want to get the kiln temp down to around 950 degrees. In this range, the glass anneals (controlled cooling that allows the inside of the glass to cool at a similar rate to the outside of the glass).

The next step in finishing the pendants is attaching the pendant bail. I use a small file to lightly file down any rough spots or edges and then "rough up" the area where I plan to put the bail. I then apply a small dab of E6000 to the bail and press it down on the back of the piece. I let a little bit seep over the edges and then use a finger to clean up any excess glue. It's important to let the freshly glued bail sit for about 24 hours before wearing.

A few of the finished pendants from this batch

 

Close of a Winter Day

Autumn arrives in early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day. - Elizabeth Bowen

I know it's not really spring. I know we are in for more cold days, but it been so very spring-like lately that it's impossible not to feel like spring is near. About a week ago, I even noticed the first daffodils peeking out.

Of course, the weather in Greenville is entirely unpredictable. It may be 70 one day and snowing the next. Still, I can't help but gravitate toward the greenest sheets of glass...the yellows and the aqua blues. My glass work tends take on colors of the approaching season.

Today was a rainy warm leap day.

Blooming right outside the office.

A sunflower from last night's batch.

Be as a bird...

“Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.” Victor Hugo

I had all these little copper birds cut out and waiting for enamel. This week, I finally got around to working on them. I really enjoy the whole enameling process. I love layering different colors, and scratching in texture and line. It is amazing to see what happens when they are exposed to the intense heat of the kiln. I like to experiment with wrapping and bending the wire to create the slightly odd pendant bails.

I'm linking this post with 

Kristin's Share Your Creations. 

Holiday Fair Week

I think this is going to be the busiest week in a while for me. I am doing the annual Holiday Fair this year for the very first time. It has been on my schedule since the spring, and I am having trouble getting my head around the fact that it is actually time now. 

I've been working for weeks, in between other shows and my real job, to increase my inventory for the show. There are still a few things that I wanted to do but won't have time now. I had created quite a few of these little copper enameled bluebirds, but they sold really well at my other shows, and I only have a couple left now. They take a while to create, and so I don't see it happening.

I do have a whole bunch of glass pendants ready - lots of Christmas trees and snow flakes. I have quite a few hand painted and colored glass. 

If you happen to be in Greenville this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, please come by the TD Convention Center (formerly the Carolina First and Palmetto Expo Center). 

My mom-in-law is flying in from Chicago for a visit and has graciously volunteered to help me at the show. I'm excited to see her! I'm cautiously optimistic about the show. I've had vendors from other shows tell me I will do terrible and great...depends on who you talk to and how they did when they did the show in the past.

Oh, I started a new Facebook page for LeisaWorks - if you have time to click over there and "like" the page, I'd appreciate it. I'm having a giveaway when I get 100 "likes", or should I say...if I get 100 likes...it's looking doubtful. Maybe I was overly ambitious.

Friday Night at Mistletoe Market

Tonight was the first night of Mistletoe Market. My mom went down to Anderson with me and helped me set up for the show. She had already taken my big box of pendants home with her this week and spent time organizing them into categories, colors, styles, etc.

This was a huge help when putting them on display...oh, she did that too! Thanks Mom for all your help! I loved having you with me.

We got to the museums about 2:15 and were finished setting up just about the time the first customers came in at 4:00. There was a pretty good crowd there tonight. The event was very well organized. I enjoyed meeting the people who had been sending me advance emails in person.

A colonnade at the entrance of the museum

A fountain outside the museum

My booth

A few new enameled copper pendants

Time and Love

Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.
- Peg Bracken

This past weekend, I spent some time on another batch of Christmas pendants. I made more of the snowflake pendants, experimenting with different types, textures and colors of glass. I also made more trees. I love playing around with these, seeing how many variations can be created on a theme. I did a few that were tack fused rather than doing a full fuse. This just means that I don't bring them all the way up to 1550 degrees, but rather hold them at a lower temperature. Tack fusing allows the glass to melt together, but it retains more texture and shape. You an see tack fusing in some of the pendants below.

Enchanting Snowflakes

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?
- J.B. Priestly

Halloween Creations

I'm posting a few pendants created for Halloween for Kristin's Share Your Creations Party. Halloween brings back such wonderful memories for me! I love this time of year.

This is my booth at a local October evening art festival.

A Little Copper Pendant

I love creating these little copper enameled pendants. Its really takes a lot more time to create one of these, than it does one of the glass pieces. It's true that fused glass requires much more kiln time. Mine are generally in the kiln 8 hours or more when cooling time is factored in.

The copper goes in and out of a really hot kiln multiple times, but it's all very quick. To create this little one, I cut the shape out of a piece of copper using snips, filed off the rough edges, hammered it and created an indention in the middle, drilled a hole, and then I used a torch to burn off any oil left by my fingers.

Once clean, I sprayed with an adhesive, sifted it with enamel powder, and stuck it into the hot and ready kiln. In a matter of minutes, the powder had fused to the metal. This process was repeated several times with different powders until I like the effect and color.

On this one, I put glass jewels or chunks into the indented area and fired to melt into a liquid pool.

Once it was cool, I added a copper jump ring and soldered it closed.

Swirling Color

A recent glass pendant. Black glass with Glassline paint swirls of color. This one just makes me feel happy.

Smokey Sports a Pendant

My friend from work is a professional videographer, editor and photographer. He was planning a model shoot this past weekend, and I loaned him a few pendants for use in the photographs.

The session was delayed, but he recruited a substitute model and sent me a few of the final shots. I think I may need to start a new canine pendant collection one of these days!

Smokey, you look fabulous!