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April 2021 Newsletter

In this edition:

- Upcoming Events & Sales!

- Posts * Elegant fused glass

- Did you know ...

*** Evidently my email has been down if you've emailed me and I didn't respond please email me again.***

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I will have a home show 15 & 16 May (0900-1600) each day. If you'd like to come please let me know. I will be giving a way a special present for those who come and visit me. I'll also give away gifts for those who spend $25 or more and $50 or more. Normally I tell you but this time it's going to be a surprise.

If you can't come to my home show you can order from my newsletters, posts, artfire or my glass site. Or you can email me with any requests.

If you'd like to see what I did during my last couple of home shows check out the DYK in Oct 2020, July 2020, Mar 2020, Feb 2020.

If I've done something in one of my last home shows that you want to do please let me know, I can make it happen but I need advance notice.

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Happy Mother's Day Momma

Happy Mother's Day Momma

With Mother's day coming up I was thinking about my mom, I haven't seen her since Oct of 2019. She's in a health care facility in Tennessee, but my amazing sister Joanne and her wonderful children go and see Momma as much as they can. Last time I saw Momma I gave her a fused glass cross and last mother's day …Read more.

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Pocket Fused Glass Hearts & Crosses

Pocket Fused Glass Hearts & Crosses

I love making fused glass pocket hearts and crosses. Since it's Mother's day next month I thought I'd make some more crosses and hearts. I love giving them away as gifts (see my mother's day post). Here are a few of the hearts I made. All of the hearts below are all hand cut with my saw and a diamond …Read more.

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Custom Fused Glass Soap Dish

Custom Fused Glass Soap Dish

My cousin just redid her bathroom and wanted a fused glass soap dish. I made her a few options.  She wanted blue and gray soap dish. I made her 4 options, the problem I’m not sure which is my favorite! I think they are all awesome. I really love making these little dishes because they are perfect for soap, spoons, keys, rings, …Read more.

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Fused Glass for a Friend

Fused Glass for a Friend

One of my friends and loyal customers is moving out of Colorado next month and as a gift I made her a very special fused glass “aspen” nightlight special in it doesn’t look like my “normal” aspen nightlights. As you can see I added a lot of dicrohic dots, a heart, and a mushroom. The picture on the right is my …

Read more.

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Half Bottles with decals

Half Bottles with decals

Last month when I got an order for recycled bottle cheese platters. I mentioned to him that I was trying to think of what to give him has his gift for purchasing the bottle cheese plates. He told me what he could really use was something to hold lollipops in. I wanted it to be bottle related so I made …Read more.

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Phoenix Arizona

Phoenix Arizona

As I mentioned in my most recent post I took an amazing fused glass class with Craig Mitchell Smith in Milkweed Art studio in Phoenix Arizona. The last time I went to Arizona was years ago to Davis-Monthan Air Force base in Tucson when I was active duty. Anyway when I take a class I try to see something of …Read more.

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Fusing Glass with Craig Mitchell Smith!

Fusing Glass with Craig Mitchell Smith!

This past week I took an amazing fused glass class with the world renown Craig Mitchell Smith.  I took his Iris class from him back in August 2018 with my girlfriends and we had a fabulous time. I loved the class and of course being with my friends. The pictures below are from my class with Craig in 2018 and of …

Read more.

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Westcliffe, CO

Westcliffe, CO

For those who follow my posts you know I love Westcliffe Colorado. We try to go there at least every 4 to 6 weeks. We went this past weekend. Below are some pictures from our visit. The picture on the left is the main street and the one on the right is the place we stay. It's very comfortable and …Read more.

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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. One of my goals this year is to finish my products, use glass that I have, use different molds, etc.

Last month's "did you know" I wrote about recycled bottles - specifically whole bottles. This DYK I want to talk about how to use parts of a bottle, at least that was my plan. However, there is just so much you can do with a bottle I ran out of space.. So for this DYK I'm focused on some of the bottles I added decals to.

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As I mentioned in one of my post above what got me started on this "did you know" topic was the order for cheese plates from one of my restaurants. Then I needed to make something as a gift for them.

He wanted something to hold lollipops. I could just cut the bottles in half but I wanted something more special. So I made recycled bottle vases with decals.

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I tried several times before I got some that didn't distort too much. Each kiln is different but in my small kiln I found the right schedule. As you can see some of these really closed up.

Ironically I still like them and they are still useful. You can see they can hold pens, flowers, and so much more.

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These little bottles are my favorite. I love them I put either decals or screen prints on all 4 sides. They are perfect for toothpicks or cotton swabs. I really like these! The one thing is you have to chose the right decal for colored glass.

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Some bottles had amazing screenprinted designs so instead of flatting them I cut them off and now they are beautiful vases or you can put flowers in them! BTW one is German wine with a picture of Neuschwanstein Castle on it. *I've been there several times, I love Germany.  The other one is a Colorado wine.

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I know this is going to surprise you but I went a bit nuts. I just loved making something pretty out of bottles. Some of these decals are a bit light but they are still pretty. I'm thinking about making a couple of these into candles.

I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do with these but I love them. The one on the right has a bottom so maybe a pen vase it's Christmas theme. The one on the left has no bottom or top so maybe a mushroom (which is perfect because it has chickens). Both have decals on all 4 sides.

The fish vase has 2 fish and is perfect for pens or cotton swabs. The one on the right is 3 sides with hummingbirds and doesn't have a top or bottom so it could be a mushroom, it's so pretty I need to figure out the exact right thing to use it for.

All but the bottle top are vases or candles. I love these decals they are opaque and really beautiful. The bottle top is going to be a mushroom.

I love the moose vase and of course the eagle.

Aren't these beautiful. Sunflowers and Irises! They'd make fabulous candles.

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So this one is kind of funny the seals are a bit light but when I put it on the blue base it looks great with the candle.

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This a beautiful one, normally I make the bottle tops into mushrooms but this one I don't know. I love it on a base with the candle.

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I call these lanterns. I cut off the necks and the bottom. I really love the gold decals they are bright and colorful. I love them with a candle underneath.

Here are some more of the gold decals. They work perfectly on clear or colored glass. I'm very pleased with them.

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Additionally some bottles have texture on the outside and can't be used with decals. If I would have taken a bit more time with coldworking I could use these as glasses. Which reminds me if I take a bit more care I could make glasses, put decals on them, and then they would be great for the bathroom to hold toothbrush and toothpaste. So many ideas working around in my head.

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I made some great pieces, but it doesn't mean there weren't failures. One fell over and ruined 2 more!

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I had some great pictures of my granddaughter and put them on a bottle and I love it. I put some magnets on so I can add  flowers or hearts or anything else I want to add.

Hopefully next month I'll do some more posts about bottles because there's so much more I can do with them.

If you'd like to know more please email me at elegantfusedglass@gmail.com

 

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

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All Fused Glass photos and posts as well as my flame are copyrighted 2021.

Copyright Elegant Fused Glass by Karen. All rights Reserved.