Beaded Pin

A couple months ago I had a listing in my etsy shop for several dichroic fused glass cabochons that were sitting in my studio, awaiting someones artistic vision. Well, I had a lady snag them up straight away, and boy did she ever have an artistic vision that I never would have imagined. Grace, of Grace Beading, sent me her blog post and picture of the lovely beaded pin she made with one of the cabs she bought from me. I could NOT get over it. She is a fabulous beader and makes the most beautiful beaded creations.


You can read her blog post about it here and also see her other fabulous creations.

Recent works & such....

Here are some pictures of what I've been working on in the last couple of months, and since I've been neglecting my blog, I decided to have a give-away for a fabulous Halloween skull pendant, in plenty of time for Halloween. Here's what to do: simply leave a comment here on what type of fused glass creation you would like to see come to life - the sky's the limit. Deadline for entries will be midnight EST Sept. 26th. - I'll pick one lucky winner on Sept. 27th to choose from one of the fused glass skull pendants pictured here in the last photo. Make sure to let me know how to contact you if you are the lucky winner and which skull you would like. Good luck!

Exquisite Corpse

definition: a collective collage of words or images called the cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse). Based on an old parlor game invented by Surrealists in the 1900's, this was played by several people, each of whom would write a phrase on a sheet of paper, fold the paper to conceal part of it, and pass it on to the next player for his contribution.

With art, this method is a collaborative experiment among artists exploring the element of chance during the creative process, in which mistakes and unexpected outcomes can generate interesting ideas and images.

I was asked to participate in a jewelry exquisite corpse with some of my fellow Etsy Team Columbus members. Our collaborations will be profiled in a publication with photographs and chronicles of each creation as they develop. The end result: a jewelry piece $75 to $100 in value and this will be auctioned for charity.

I was the second collaborator of our piece. Karla, from Adornments by Karla, started the piece by creating 26 ½ inches of silver plated wire chain containing 51 individual semi-precious stones and minerals.

I added a fused glass pendant that I created by hand-cutting a lavender piece of glass and then layering small strips of clear glass on top that were also hand-cut by me and then fused together. I'm now passing it along and can't wait to see the outcome of our piece.

Rindy's Rally

A good friend from my high school was just recently diagnosed with breast cancer and had to undergo a full mastectomy this week. She just started a new job and is not eligible for paid time off. She is estimated to be off work for 4-6 weeks. The classes of Reynoldsburg High School are coming together to have a fundraiser for her at Romeo's Pizza, 80 W. Church Street, Pickerington, OH on Tuesday, May 18, 2010. The event is from 6pm-9pm and tickets are $10.00, which includes pizza and pop. $8 of the $10 raised by each ticket goes directly to Rindy. Also, a portion of everything Romeo's sells that day will be going to Rindy too. So, if you are in the area.... you have to eat dinner, right? Stop by and get a pizza and you'll be helping out a very good friend of ours and supporting a great cause.

There will also be a silent auction as well. I couldn't think of a better way to donate a piece of my art to this great cause. Reynoldsburg High School's mascot is a raider (Reynoldsburg Raiders) and I thought it would be fun to create that with fused glass for the auction. I think I chose to make this because I really feel that this event shows how our class is coming together to support a fellow classmate/friend.


Now, on a personal note...... breast cancer sucks! I am a huge advocate of breast cancer awareness - my mom has been a survivor now for 10 years and cancer has affected many family members and friends. The best way to fight breast cancer is to catch the disease in its early stages. When breast cancer is detected early (localized stage), the 5-year survival rate is 98%. I actually have to thank Rindy - because of her, I got my first mammogram. So for my dear friend, hang in there, we're all pulling for you!

The Often Unpredictable Results in Glass Fusing

This piece was a custom request from my cousin and my best attempt in making a fused glass King Tut. This was probably one of my most involved pieces, and also one of the weirdest end results. Let me begin........

I was really playing with different ideas about the colors to use as there is not an actual "gold" glass that would work. I decided on a marigold color and had another "idea" in the works. So I got down to business and cut each piece of glass by hand and layered the glass to make this design. This took a few days to get the pieces just right. (make sure to click on pictures for close-ups)



Then, into the kiln to cook at 1500 degrees (another day passed). This is how it looked after coming out of the kiln:



Next, came my "idea". I wanted to paint King Tut with a liquid gold. This liquid comes in a teeny tiny bottle of just 2 grams (& is a bit pricey, I might add). After you apply the gold (which is actually a dark liquid brown color) to the glass, it then is heated in the kiln w/air vent to burn off the organic components, leaving behind a thin ‘bright’ film of 22 karat gold. Now, I have used this before on ceramics and also on glass, although when I used it on glass previously, I only brushed a VERY small amount onto the glass to highlight certain areas. In fact, that little bottle I purchased lasted me for years. Since I wasn't sure how much I would be using on the King Tut piece, I went ahead and purchased another bottle. Now, you would think I wouldn't be hasty and just use practically an entire bottle of this stuff on this piece without looking into it first. (Again, you would "think"). I really saw no harm in painting the entire thing with a thick layer of this dark brown liquid gold. So, into the kiln it goes again. Here's a picture of what it looked like before the gold gets fired. I was sooooo excited..........


.........until I opened the kiln:


Nooooooooooooo - this did NOT just happen!!!!!!
OK, the color looks great. The breakage, not so much. I tried to take it in stride and hoped to piece it back together w/o a hitch. Not so easy. Seeing my frustration, the hubby said it would make it look more ancient this way (I wasn't buying it!). I did end up gluing, setting, filling, re-painting, and finally framing. The end result:


Perfect - no.
Ancient looking - maybe.
Cousin happy - we'll see this weekend.
Lesson learned about using this stuff in excess....... f*%king priceless!

Holy Cuteness!

Lookie what I just took out of the kiln today! Spring is here (although at this moment it feels like summer) and its time for some new, fun & cute pendants.

home party

So I had my first home party (at my house) yesterday with another fabulous gal who's a party rep for Tastefully Simple. She had samples of her food and drinks and of course I had my art and jewelry. Lots of time and preparations (& me running around like a mad woman) went into our event and it was so much fun! I'm sure you'd like to see pictures, right? Well, leave it to me - I had my camera out and ready, but alas, did not take one photo the entire time. I did take a couple pictures of my portion of the set-up before the party, so that's as good as its going to get. We did (honest) have a great turnout - lots of friends & family and loads of fun. Good times all around! Today, pretty much exhausted and off for a nap. Cheers!

Wire Mesh Melt

After doing much research on pot melts and wire mesh melts with fused glass, I bit the bullet and tried my hand at it a few weeks ago. I chose the wire mesh method as this was the best for my small-sized kiln. So, what is a wire mesh melt you ask? Its a method of creating unique, one-of-a-kind mixtures of molten glass. Several layers of glass are stacked on top of a wire mesh that is created and supported by kiln furniture. The glass is heated in the kiln at high temperatures until the glass turns into liquid and flows through the wire onto a prepared kiln shelf, forming an array of abstract glass patterns. The resulting melt can be used in its entirety as a sculpture or bowl, or it can be cut up and made into tiles, jewelry, etc. The possibilities are endless. This was indeed a lengthy process, but the outcome was well worth it.





End result piece of glass (not the best picture - sorry!).

I then cut it up, re-fused the pieces I cut and made jewelry with it.

Playing with the Queen of Hearts...........

I'm participating in a show next weekend on Sat., February 13th, called I heART . This art show takes place during that special time of year dedicated to love, the color pink, teddy bears, candy, and a chubby toddler with a weapon. This group art show - back for the second year - will explore all of those clichés and much more! Can you feel the love?

Well, since I had to come up with something "heart"-related, I just couldn't resist.

I'm a little mad here.................

Its a no-brainer that I'm all about seeing the new Alice in Wonderland movie coming out in March. I had been working on this fused glass piece for a while now and finally finished it and got it framed last week.

The movie trailers look oh-so-good, and of course Johnny Depp being one of my FAV actors, is just perfect for the Mad Hatter.















So, today I'm unloading my kiln and my eye went right to these fused glass (soon-to-be) pendants. Now, these were seriously not Alice in Wonderland intended, but none-the-less....... an uncanny resemblance???






.....OFF WITH HER HEAD!