Missyisms

Poor Mix

I get emails from an art glass store on a fairly frequent basis. Today their email ad included a product I've never seen before and certainly wouldn't have thought of. Honestly; this could not have come from my brain. Check it out here.

At first glance this seems like a unique, eye-catching product, but then one starts to think. Things go down the drain then. You know what I mean?

• Do people really want a sheet of glass rubbing against their toilet paper?
• Do people want the added task of cleaning the glass to keep it sanitary?
• Do people want the extra dust the rubbing of glass and tissue paper will create?
• Do people want to reach out in the dead of night and smack their hand into glass?
• Do people want to try and change the toilet paper roll in the dark of the night—you know, when turning on the light wakes one up too much—with a sheet of glass adding to the challenge?
• Most importantly, do people want to risk breaking glass all over something they use to wipe their delicate skin?

I. Don’t. Think. So.

This strikes me as the kind of thing that looks cute, but when thought about, really, really should be banned by the Congressional Committee on Cornball Concoctions (CCCC).

Anybody Here?

I've been in a class the past several days and between the daily commute, the long class hours, and evening classwork, I've just been too busy and too tired to post. I'm sorry. (Hangs head in shame.) I'm also behind in reading blogs. Need to catch up.

I carried everything into the house yesterday, after the last class, but I haven't unpacked or put any of it away and it's all stacked on or around a living room chair. So not only do I have lots of stuff to catch up on, but I need to put away materials. In particular, I need to find my other glasses; they're easier to read the computer screen with. (Must make this a top priority.)

The class was fun, and I'd do it again, I just wish it had ended Saturday so I could have napped and caught up yesterday. I can't believe I missed blogging on the AFI's new list. Sigh. So lot's to blog about the next few days.

Kiln Update

I unloaded the kiln this afternoon, but spent most of the time prepping it. I do have glass in it now, but the kiln is still too hot to open. I'll post pictures (if they turned out) of the process tomorrow.

Kiln Arrival

My kiln arrived, my kiln is here, my kiln is here.

Well, as you might have heard, my new, small, glass kiln has finally arrived! It's so newly arrived, that I've lifted the pieces out of the box to give them a quick glance, but I haven't put it together or fired it up yet. But...my kiln arrived!!! Now I'd be truly happy if only I'd been able to find a workbench...I've looked and looked with no luck, but that's another blog another day.

I hope to post lots of pictures the next few days!

Chihuly

All this talk of glass made me decide to visit the local Dale Chihuly glass. This is from the Schaumburg Township District Library. This Chihuly glass was commisioned and purchased by the library. Apparently, the library board made all the decisions...including the colors and display location.

I really like and enjoy Chihuly glass, but I do question why a Chicago-suburban library spent what had to be thousands and thousands of dollars on it...particularly these weak colors that are not helped by the location they chose to hang the glass. Glass typically looks better with light behind it, i.e., shining through it; something that won't happen in this location. They've hung the glass so light is shining on it as we look, not light shining through it. (Compare this with the pictures of Chihuly glass in this blog. Same glass artist...different colors and display locations. What a difference!) Regardless of all that, I still admire the work, but somebody should have made some better choices.

Click on the image for a bigger view. Or for a better look, close-up images are in the extended entry. Enjoy...it isn't your tax dollars (well, it isn't unless you live in the Schaumburg Township)! ;-)

Bummer!

Bummer, bummer, bummer! The call just came that the kiln IS on back order. No idea when it will arrive. Bother, bother, bother. I was all set to fuse away.

Not happy! Feeling very childish. I think I'm going to go eat worms.

Fused!

Tomorrow or Friday I'll be bringing home my first glass kiln! I'm purposely starting with a small kiln to better hone my skills. And, yes, it's also cheaper, but this way I can build up my workshop as I improve my skills. The kiln will be 8" x 8" x 4.5"...perfect for jewelry and small dishes. I hope to be fusing away the next few days!

Below is a picture of one of my pieces on display at an art glass store. I made the mosaic fused glass plate, not the lamp. There's a close up of the plate in the extended entry, but the lighting is awful.

Glass Weekend

The past few days I've been attending a class taught by Michael Dupille on Glass Mold Making for Kiln Casting. I've been doing art glass work, ranging from mosaics, stained glass, hot glass beads, and kiln work, for the past few years, but this was my first experience making molds. Unfortunately, I don't have as much time as I'd like for my glass work. I also don't have a dedicated place set up to work. This is particularly a problem with bead making, which requires an open flame from a hot-head torch. I don't really have a place to be running an open flame!

Classes with Michael are always informative and fun. Last year I took his Fritography class which focuses on making glass projects from frit. (Frit is crushed glass available in powder, fine (like table salt or sand), medium, and course (roughly .25 inch or centimeter chunks) sizes. The easiest way to describe Fritography is compare it to sand drawings. Only, you use glass and fire the project in a kiln--repeating the process several times to get the final product. This picture is the corner of one of my projects before it's second firing (in other words, I built the project once with frit, fired it in the kiln, and then re-built it adding texture and color for a  second firing). Click on the picture to see a slightly bigger image. This piece has cut glass (the white and black tree trunks) and three sizes of frit: powder, fine, and medium.

This year's class, held at United Art Glass in Naperville, Ill., was on Mold Making for Kiln Casting. Unlike last year, where I tried to make two fairly complex projects for a beginner, this time I decided to make very simple projects and focus on learning the processes. In case this doesn't interest you, I've put pictures and explained the basic process in the extended entry, which is linked below.