Winter Solstice is next week -

Next week we will experience the Winter Solstice. December 21st is the shortest day of the year and soon we will see our days getting longer. I look forward to that.

I recently completed this star made from recycled window glass. The window was an old house window from my childhood home. It was a great way to use this old glass. This was modified from a Jim Mathews project,  Glasshoppa.com.

This is a closeup of the star. I love how the glass catches the light.

I also completed a new electroformed flower stem/sepal that I inserted a small, red & yellow, blown glass bulb into. I created the glass to fit and it does perfectly. I am very excited about this project. The glass reflects the light in interesting ways. All three of the following pictures are the same piece.

Keeping the kilns warm,

~ Julie

At Home

At home . . .

For and indefinite time we are home bound to avoid Covid-19 version of the Corona Virus. As a retired introvert, I am used to being alone and spend a lot of time at home. I really enjoy listening to podcasts and books while I work on glass projects. Soon it will be warm enough to get outside and tend to my gardens and bees. It does feel weird to have all activities cancelled for the next month.

Here is a project that I just finished -

The lampworked glass poppies, made from various shades of red, are on wires that are attached to the copper pipe. The pipe was then covered with florist tape to cover it and the attaching wires. It's around 9 inches long and each end has a loop to hang it either vertically or horizontally. 

This fresh poppy wall art would brighten any small area and is for sale on my Etsy site.

Keeping the kilns warm,

~ Julie

New Work

This past summer I was able to retire.

Yes. I retired from my day job.

It seems impossible that I could be entering this new stage of life, but I am very much looking forward to spending more time with glass. Last spring I signed up for a few glass classes in Madison, WI during August that would get me back into fusing and slumping. The classes worked. I hope to showcase a few new projects in the coming weeks/months that show off my new skills.

This piece is a favorite of mine from the class. It was a new technique for me using a new mold. This class was taught by Patty Gray and the mold we used for this technique was a 12" Round Patty Gray Dam Mold. The technique is called 'Jaws'. Until this class I had only used dam molds limitedly. I only own a small one.

 I started with a clear bottom layer and then the top two layers were circles with a center portion removed.
Three layers.

I used scrap glass to cut triangular pieces from various colored glass.

All the various triangular glass pieces were then put into the gap in the circle.

The project was then full fused.

I love how it turned out and need to find just the right mold to slump it. I'm thinking a mold that will give it a gentle rounding or curve. I will post again once I have it slumped.

~Julie

Red Glass - my favorite

I love red.

(This is the glass that started as yellow, 

but striked red in the kiln.)

~ Julz

New work -

Some good and some not so good & some work in progress . . .

I love this dish, but I don't like the bubbles. I tried a bubble squeeze on the full fuse of this glass and the bubbles persisted. I need to re-think this design. Perhaps putting the frit for the stars on the top rather then sandwiched between 2 layers of glass.

??

I need a better pic of this dish. It's a new mold that I'm excited about - kind of pie plate like - but I messed up on the color choice. It looked better pre-fuse.    darn darn darn

This is in the kiln tonight for a full fuse.

The yellow square - soon to be a dish - is a striker glass. A striker glass turns a different color when it is heated. This one should strike to a wonderful red color, but the dots should stay amber.

I make my dots by putting the small squares of scrap glass into the kiln and fuse it when I have extra room on a kiln shelf. This is scrap glass from my red striker. I love this red color once heat is applied.

More pics tomorrow.

~ Julz