In preparation for Valentines, I held a couple’s class in January 2024. Sadly, we had a cold snowy weekend so only 1 couple was able to attend. The 3 of us had a blast! What a wonderful and friendly couple. A bit of background, typically I only post my classes in my Fused Glass Monthly Newsletter. However, I didn’t have anyone sign up for my couple’s class, so I offered it to my neighborhood Facebook group. Wow what a response! So, the two people who came to the class are my neighbors and it was fabulous meeting them. Ricky is an active-duty Army service-member, and his beautiful wife Lindsey is a nurse (also a Coast Guard veteran). What a special service orientated couple and what a privilege it was having them in my fused glass class. As always I have my liability forms and free gift. Since it’s January and Valentine’s Day is next month, I wanted to give fused glass hearts as my free gift. Some are pendants, some are pocket hearts, but they can also be made into magnets or key chains.


Here are pictures of my studio and some of the supplies available to Ricky and Lindsey including vitrigraph, murine, millefiori, frit, etc.







Because the class was focused on Valentines Day, I created several Fused Glass heart orientated projects (7-10 different projects). That being said I don’t have a rule of my students making the same project or any of the examples I made.




Here is my “finished” room meaning all the fused glass artwork and jewelry in this room is finished and for sale.




Here is my “finishing & inspiration” room, meaning this is where I finish some of my fused glass artwork by adding bails, etc. I also keep artwork in this room that I love and inspire me. Some that I’ve made in classes and some that have made and want to make more of them.


Lastly here is my Fused Glass Gallery area, this is artwork that is for sale and can be used as inspiration. There are certain fused glass art pieces that I don’t have classes for (too complicated) and are for sale. There are also pieces that are for sale and you can make in class.





Here are some pictures of what Ricky created; he did such a fantastic job. He used one of my hearts as inspiration and did a much better job that I did. He put it on a base so he could use it as a small dish. Notice mine has a piece of glass that jumped off the heart? Sometimes, that happens in the kiln. In fact, I had one that jumped clear across the kiln. Sometimes I like to keep pieces that have issues to show students what can happen and if it’s possible to fix.








Lindsey used a couple of my pieces as inspiration as well and again made them much better than mine.






Here are pictures of Lindsey & Ricky creating their pieces together.



During my Christmas classes I offered my students the opportunity to use premade fused glass cabochons and add decals, mica, dichroic slide, etc. to create free magnets, pocket charms, pendants, etc. Everyone seemed to like it so, I’ve decided to continue to do it during my classes. Since Valentine’s is next month, I thought I’d use symbols of love as the main choice and also included other options. Here are the supplies available and what Ricky and Lindsey chose to create. Ricky made the Kanji (magnet) and Lindsey made the crane (pocket charm).











I also made these a couple of fused glass pieces with decals. I love making these beautiful pieces.



I love teaching fused glass classes; it’s so rewarding when my students do such a great job like Lindsey & Ricky. Their pieces were so beautiful I gave her 2 little stands to make them into art pieces.
If you have any questions or would like to have a private fused glass class, please let me know (elegantfusedglass@gmail.com), all you need is 3 people to create a class (maximum of 5).
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 check out our newsletter. If you’d like to take a class, please check out the information on my site about my classes. It is published the last day of each month.
Karen