Last Saturday, I had a wonderful small dish fused glass class. I really like the small group and we had lots of fun, and they did a fabulous job. Believe it or not there is a lot of prep work to get ready for a fused glass class, even for a small group (5 of us). I prepare the studio and have all the tools that they need. Below is the table set up, their tools, and of course some of the glass I had available for them to use.
I also clean up my areas including my finished room, finishing room, screen-printing room, and studio.
I also like to have fused glass artwork available for purchase and inspiration.
After the safety brief, we pick our molds – they had the option of 4 molds. I also precut clear bases for each size of molds. Then I like to have glass on hand for students to add to their base e.g., opal, transparent, as well as accessory glass e.g., dots, vitrigraph, etc.
Then we get on with the fun. They cut glass, used the flat lap, and of course designed their fused glass dishes.
I always give away a free gift during my classes. This time they had a choice of a fused glass pendant or a stirrer.
I always have my students put their pieces in the kiln. I think this important to help them understand the process. I also don’t like to fire my kiln 1/2 empty, so I added some pieces of my own. I will fire the dishes in the kiln as a full fuse then I will slump the dishes into the molds the students chose in class. Students can pick up their dishes within 14 days. I provided pickup instructions during class. Didn’t they do a great job.
Here are the dishes ready for slumping and the final results. I am so very happy with them.
My next glass class is 9 Oct: 12:00 to 14:00 – Christmas Ornaments (2 people have already signed up). I’ll have more info on it in an upcoming post and in my September Newsletter.
If you would like to see more of my fused glass work, please refer to my website Elegant Fused Glass by Karen. If you get a chance, check out all my site and my Elegant Fused Glass by Karen YouTube. If you would like to stay abreast of what I’m up-to and learn a little more about jewelry, check out our newsletter. It is published the last day of each month.
Keeping my kilns warm,
Karen
