New Beginnings -

This week is a week of new beginnings.

I took new glass out of the kiln this morning w/ out a fail. Yea!

This is my black dish w/ a white stripe. Okay the pic is lacking, but this one is ready to slump. I also fused some cabs - I'm thinking of making some jewelry and did some experimenting with colored frit (small bits of glass).

Yesterday I took a 3" round, black box out of the kiln and now I'm trying to decide how to embellish it. Course red frit or purple glass beads?

I still have some work to do on this box. I have to fire polish the base and tack fuse the embellishment onto the lid. I'm excited -  think it will turn out very nicely.

I have some new ideas for cabs going into the kiln when I tack fuse the lid - hope they turn out. I will share pics.

Have a great last day of 2009!

~ Julz

Keep trying . . .

I need to keep trying. Warm glass humbled me this week.
I was attempting ( key word here = attempt)  a drop ring for the third time. I did my research this time (the first attempt didn't drop and the 2nd attempt dropped too far) and had my glass in the kiln - I was home and watched the drop. I flash vented the kiln. The piece was going to be perfect . . . I left it to anneal and cool over night. I was very surprised the next morning.

My camera didn't take a good pic because it was still cold from my morning walk, but you can see the glass puddled under the drop ring. Again -  -- I failed. I had the first part of the kiln's schedule correct, but had a random ramp up to 1700 degrees that ruined the piece - Oh well - more scrap glass :-(

I just hope I can salvage the drop ring and get the glass off of it.

Today I have a new round box in the kiln. It's just finishing. I did peek an hour ago and all looks fine. I checked the schedule 3x before letting it fire. I want no more huge mistakes.

Yesterday I took a field trip to a glass gallery in a nearby town (Menasha, WI). I had never visited this gallery - I love talking to other glass artists and Mary was enjoyable. She creates many lovely pieces and jewelry - some w/ recycled glass. Great ideas and a lovely gallery.

~ Julz

Adventurine Green Holidays

Adventurine Green - a new experience for me.

This pic doesn't do justice to the depth of the sparkle - very nice. I have another in the works -

Slumping this one w/ a black side tonight. We will see if I can give these away w/ some homemade chocolate or gift cards. :-)

~ Julz

Oh Christmas Tree

~ Julz

Favorite color - right time of year

Red
Yup . . . my favorite color is red and I especially love red glass. When visiting the big city w/ a glass shop this past weekend I was able to pick up a sheet of my very favorite, lickable, red glass.

Guess which color went into the kiln first?

I do love red glass and this simple dish will be a great holiday gift w/ some homemade chocolates.

:-)

Another pic from the weekend in the big city -

Listening to TubaChristmas under the dome of the capital was awesome.

Christmas Trees for Decorations

The kiln has been cool lately. It has gotten pushed out of my life by other stuff at the end of this week. The only good news is that we are traveling this weekend to a large city w/ a glass shop. Yeah!

I thought I would share some trees that I made last year to decorate for the season -

I created them out of scrap glass and had forgotten about them until I opened the ornament boxes this year.

~Julz

Holiday Lights

Prior to the snow coming this week I was able to get out and put up some Christmas lights. I love the celebration of the season - if only to brighten the long, dark eves.

Tonight we are in the midst of a blizzard and this is the view out my front window. I was pleasantly surprised that my new camera (gift to me . . . Yea!) was able to capture the image through the window glass. The reflection of the lights on the snow, along with the swirling wind blown ice crystals in the air create a vision of wonderment.

~ Julz

PS. I am so glad that I left this structure (art?) in the garden over winter and at the last minute decided it would be a grand place to attach lights.  :-)

Amber Box Love

This is a box to love . . . 

I really like how the simple tack fused frit decoration turned out.

It is so nice to have a success come out of the kiln. :-)

I can't wait to place this on my dresser and employ it to enclose some lovelies.

~ Julz

Monday's glass

Today I fire polished a glass box base. . . it now has a nice shine. I like the amber color, but really had a hard time deciding how I wanted to embellish this one. It really needed a decoration. I decided today to tack fuse some frit on the top. Simple - yes, but I hope it will be just the addition this box needs.

In the kiln tonight is the top - a tack fuse for the decorations.

Another dish out of the kiln this weekend -

This one is a nice, basic dish w/ good colors.

Happy Monday! Snow on the way tomorrow . . . a mid-week snow break would give me some good glass time. :-)

~Julz

Moving forward

Some glass projects turn out, and some are just great learning experiences. Here is a good project from this week.

This dish was made with a purple iridized glass. The pics don't really show how special this one is. It has a gold tint to the surface and when held up to the light it is purple. Very cool.

Then there is this project. My bad. 

I thought I had cleaned the glass enough between fuse and slump ~ boy was I wrong. The bowl slump actually worked better, but the kiln schedule needs to be tweaked a bit more. The problem is that the glass has a film of kiln wash on it. Yuck. Now I have to figure out how to get it clean and then polish the piece. Cleaning suggestions?

~ Julz

High Hopes

Okay - I needed to flip this and fire it again tonight prior to slumping, but I did take a pic for you to see.

I have high hopes . . .
~Julz

Tuesday - new glass

I peeked into the kiln this morning before leaving for work and there were no large bubbles (my greatest fear) in my 12" circle for the bowl slump. I didn't get any pics yet, but I will take pics prior to slumping tonight.
Yea!
~Julz