Elegant Fused Glass by Karen: August 2020 Newsletter

August 2020 Newsletter

In this edition:

- Fresh From the Kiln

- Upcoming Events & Sales!

- August Posts * Elegant fused glass

- Did you know ...

What an interesting month. I hope you are are staying safe.

I love flowers and it brightens my heart to see sunflowers all over Colorado!

Silk Screened Fused Glass Jewelry

Last month I wrote a post about some of the silk screened jewelry I created. I really enjoyed making them that not only did I make some more silk screened jewelry and I made etched jewelry. This first group of pictures are some new screen printed jewelry. The picture on the left are red silk screens the picture on the …

Sangre De Cristo Arts Center

I love all types of glass and I enjoy seeing other glass artists work. I've been to Corning Museum of Glass, Murano Italy, Prague Czech Republic, London, just to name a few. This month I learned that the Sangre De Cristo Arts Center was having a showing of Dale Chihuly, James Mongrain, and Lino Tagliapietra glass from the George R. …Read more.

Our trip to Westcliffe, CO

For those who follow my posts and Newsletters, you know my husband I bought a beautiful piece of land in Westcliffe or what I refer to as my little piece of heaven. We try to go to Westcliffe once a month. This month when we went our mountains were blacked out by smoke. We have several fires in Colorado, in fact one …Read more.

Fused Glass Castings

I love molds. There are different types of molds including casting molds. A casting mold used to make dimensional pieces in various shapes. This month I thought I'd show off some of my new molds. There is a variety but mainly artwork, some small and some large. Here are some of my new fused glass pieces. They are created by …Read more.

Fused Glass Dragonflies

Last month I wrote about my amazing fused glass butterflies. Laurie Spray created the butterfly tutorial but also the a dragonfly tutorial. In preparation for this post I read a little about dragonflies. Did you know (according to Wikipedia) dragonflies are insects and have two pairs of strong, transparent wings, and an elongated body. Dragonflies are different from damselflies which …Read more.

*Speaking of Laurie, There were several scary days when we all thought she'd lose her house and studio, But thank God and the Firefighters her house and studio still stand! I am so grateful Laurie and Joel are safe!

Fused Glass Commercial Soap Dishes

I had new commercial order this month. The clear and white soap dishes are a bit of a challenge to make because I had to cut six pieces for each dish. I so appreciate my commercial orders. It's always a challenge to make multiples of fused glass artwork. The reason is because each piece is different, even using the same …Read more.

Macrame, wood or glass

I love learning. Recently my friend Lela and I took a wood and macrame class at AR workshop. It was my first time at one of these shops. We really had a great time. Lots of options. Of course the only thing I didn't care for was Lela and I were far away from one another. First we stained the …Read more.

Did you know ...

This section is used to answer any questions you may have or to pass on tidbits of information that add value and enhance knowledge regarding fused glass, metals, or jewelry in general. Let me know if you have anything you'd like me to include.

Last month I wrote about my silk screen printed fused glass butterflies. BTW did you know that a group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope! Anyway I wanted to go into a bit more detail about my butterflies.

First - even if you can't come to a home show you can purchase butterflies (or any of my fused glass artwork) and I can send them to you. Denise saw my newsletter and ordered several of my butterflies. Can you see the butterfly on the clock? She also put her magnet on the hearts. *You definitely don't want to put the butterflies on the refrigerator.

Second - I can also make custom butterflies (as well as any fused glass you'd like). Ann and Melanie came to the home show and wanted to pick out their glass and design. They both picked out 2 designs and 2 types of glass.

In addition to Ann and Melanie's new butterflies I made a few more. I made an yellow and orange butterfly before but broke it. The purple and pink butterfly is a similar type of glass. I think my fused glass butterflies turned out perfect!

This piece is unique. I screen printed the black butterfly on this lovely white glass but didn't want to cut it out so I screen printed the red butterfly on the back so it's two sided and can be hung in the garden. It's so pretty.

Denise wanted a little dish with a butterfly, So I practiced with black on iridized. I am so happy with the results.

These are the dishes I made for Denise. They turned out just lovely. They are a mix of light purple (almost pink) and dark purple. I am so pleased with these, I'm sure you can't tell but the bottoms are iridized so they really are stunning!

As I've mentioned these fused glass butterflies do not belong on the refrigerator. But there are several ways to display them. Here is a kaleidoscope of butterflies displayed on glass. I'm not sure if I mentioned it in my original post, but the red, blue, and clear butterfly bases all have magnets on the bases and on the butterflies (not recommended - I actually broke a butterfly taking it off). I got a little smarter with the insulators I put a pretty piece of metal on them so the butterfly stays but it's easier to take off. I really love the glass bases! BTW here is a link to a video of me taking them on and off their displays.

Obviously they look wonderful on metal as well. Whether it's fancy metal work like Denise did (above) or simple metal hanger from a hobby store or one of my beautiful lanterns, they look great!

I think I showed this one in my original blog but I wanted to show it again. I put the the butterfly on a mirror. When I was at the art show last weekend, all of the glass vases were on mirrors. So I put a metal hanger on this mirror and it makes a wonderful display for my butterflies.

Last month I talked a bit about my pressed fused glass pieces. I asked my home show friends what they thought of putting my butterflies on the pressed glass. Everyone of my visitors loved the idea, but my fear was putting the metal on and it not being in the right spot for the butterfly. So I tested a theory. Obviously my butterfly and flower both have magnets on them, but because the glass is so thin when I put another magnet on the backside of the glass I can move the butterfly and flower anywhere I want!! How cool is that! I love the 3 dimensional aspect of this fused glass sculpture. As an added bonus, if someone doesn't want to put a butterfly on it they don't have to or if they don't want a flower no problem! I LOVE this piece. The concept will work on any of my pressed Glass art pieces I made last month!

In addition to the ways I displayed my butterflies above, I also can get stands from Laurie (the artist who taught me how to make the butterflies). She makes two standing displays (a 2 & a 3 butterfly stand). I think they are fantastic! As you can see the stands turn the fused glass butterflies into amazing sculptures!

Laurie also makes garden stakes for the butterflies (and dragonflies). I'm a bit nervous to put them outside but I think they would look wonderful in an indoor planter! Right now I just have them standing up to show you how the butterflies look on them.

Not only do I like to show you how to display the fused glass butterflies for your house I also need to figure out a way to display them for shows. I got this great metal trellis from hobby lobby and it's perfect for displaying not only my butterflies but my flower magnets.

A cautionary tale. I had a couple of my butterflies on my display above and for some reason my husband went into the room and brushed one butterfly off with his shoulder. Please be careful of where you display your butterflies. Because they are fragile! *You should recognize this beautiful butterfly from the one that's sitting on the mirror above! *No worries I am going to figure out how to use the pieces!

Thanks for taking the time to read my latest updates.

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In addition to my Fused Elegance and Elegant Fused Glass by Karen websites, I'm also on Pinterest, YouTube, Etsy, and Artfire.

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