Last week on Spring Break, I had a chance to visit my favorite glass store. I picked up a huge sheet of black glass. It's like a staple for me...the base that anchors the colors I enjoy playing with. I also came away with a few vibrant sheets as well.
This past weekend, I finished up the show at the Anderson History Museum, with the help of my husband. Thanks Tim!
The next day, I left for a very quick trip to Tybee Island with my mom. It was beautiful there as usual. I got a chance to visit Atlantic Beacon Gallery and drop off new, fresh pendants just in time for the busy season to begin.
We had a great time. We got to shop and eat in all our favorite spots - including The Breakfast Club. They had a new dish that I tried called British Oatmeal Cake or Flapjacks. It was kind of a yummy, gooey oatmeal bar. It reminded me of a granola bar, but it was warm and they served to with vanilla Greek yogurt and Slices of peaches and oranges.
One morning, I somehow managed to wake up and go out on the beach before sunrise...
I don't work too much with dichroic glass. It's not because I don't like it, I think it's stunning. I just get involved more in experimentation with other glasses and techniques. But every once in a while, the shiny, sparkly glass will catch my eye, and I will sit for hours playing with it.
Sunday, I got caught up layering transparent dichroic with different shades of transparent glass. I tend to like things simple and clean when it comes to dichroic glass, kind of a "less is more" philosophy. I got some interesting results...some good, and some okay, but all glittery.
A kiln full ready to fire.
Blazing hot and fully fused
Shimmery dichroic capping transparent aqua glass
Silver dichroic under clear glass
Golden dichroic capped with brown transparent glass
Sunrise stripes over light blue glass
This weekend, I will be a vendor at the Anderson County History Museum's Spring Fling. I did their Mistletoe Market in November last year, and it was a really nice show, so I'm looking forward to going back and seeing it in the Spring.
I have been working on some new pieces to take and some more of the glass flower bloom pendants in fun colors. Below are a few that are fresh from the kiln. I also did a big bunch of simple dichroic glass pendants that were cooling in the kiln all night. Hopefully, I will have time to finish and card them in the next day or two so that I can have those with me too. I'll post more on those later in the week.
Not long ago, I got a face book message from a friend about doing some design work for a local small business in exchange for services. I met with them and discussed what they were looking for and then designed a tri-fold brochure for them. The front panel of the final brochure is pictured above.
Yesterday, after work, I was able to go by and have a facial. It was wonderful! Katherine did such a terrific job. It was so calm and relaxing. The different products she used on my face smelled so good, and when it was all over, my face felt smooth and soft.
It had been years since I had a facial, and it was just as heavenly as I remembered!
I know there are much more important issues in the world, but since this is my blog, and I usually ramble on about nothing much anyway, I hope you'll humor me one more time.
I am on an unending quest to find the perfect bag. It's become somewhat of a running joke among my family and friends, and I will confess that I've plowed through a bunch of purses over the years. I am really rough on them, and they usually don't last long. Plus, it's rare that I'm happy with their functionality.
The whole thing is even more complicated this last couple of years because I now need something to safely house my ever-present iPad.
Oh, did I mention that I don't want to spend a fortune either?
The last thing I tried was a bag from Target that looked more like a mini-suitcase. It worked fairly well, but I could never find anything in it, and it weighed a ton. Before that, I had a smaller one, but I could barely wedge my iPad into the slot, and everything felt crammed together.
But yesterday, I ran across a new bag at Ross. It's a Fossil Messenger style bag. I'm hesitant to think this, but it may just be the one I've been searching for. It was more than I ordinarily spend on a purse but over half off what these usually go for. I had just looked a similar bag at a Department store last week, but just couldn't make myself pay that much. Yesterday, my sister was with me, and I took her advice and went ahead and paid the extra.
I just liked it. I liked the fabric and materials - the stitched pattern, the cool leather covered magnetic closures, the perfect space for my iPad, a side pocket for my phone and camera, even a place to store my chargers and other gadgets, an adjustable cross body strap, and even a couple of nice embellishments.
Of course, the verdict is still not in, and the infatuation could be brief, but for right now, it's true love...at last.
Saturday, I was straightening up my work area and ran across some transparent glass that I had purchased a while ago. I sat down and started experimenting with the colors - layering blues and greens, yellows and browns. I pieced together a few small pendants and prepared to fire them.
I had to decide if I would fully fuse them or tack fuse them. I went the tack route, although, I put a few aside because I really want to see what happens to the transparent glass when the pieces fully fuse together.
Tack fusing occurs at a lower temperature than full fuse. For me, it's between 1300 and 1400 degrees. Basically, it's fusing the separate pieces together, but stopping before the pieces lose their actual shapes. It gives you a kind of layered look. I keep a close eye on the pieces in the kiln and stop the process when the desired look is achieved.
Here are the pieces from the weekend.
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
