This month I am focusing on a class I took with Patty Gray. I really enjoyed the class and one of my favor fused glass techniques she taught us is what I like to refer to as windows. When my son was around 16 he was in an AP art class and one of my favorite drawings he made was a drawing of windows. Here is a quick snapshot of it. The detail and beauty of what he drew is mesmerizing to me. This is kind of a shout out to my son (David Hale) because his birthday is today (Saturday) he is 31. It’s shocking to me how the time flies. I remember when he was just a little boy. It’s funny how you never stop seeing your children as the younger versions of themselves. Happy Birthday my handsome talented son!
I guess I’ll finish my blog now before I start really getting sentimental.
Anyway, as soon as patty showed us this technique I knew I had to do it. So this one is my original (above) and I like it very much. Except I used a lot of vitrigraph but since I don’t have a vitrigraph kiln I didn’t include any vitrigraph in my new ones.
I like this fused glass technique so much I made two. The first one (rectangle) is going to be a mantel sconce just like the original one. Again every time I look at it I think of David’s picture and him. When it came out of the kiln they all had some spikes, so I needed to do some cold working. I used my grinder and my wetbelt sander. After cold working it needs to be fire polished and obviously I’ll need to slump it over the mold to make it curve. I put them in the kiln I wanted to add some texture to the back of them and to smooth the edges (fire polish).
What I did differently that I like: To the rectangled one I put iridized on the back and it’s so pretty (the texture will make it even better). I really love the iridized. I also added copper wire. I didn’t have vitrigraph so I added some of the murrine I made in class. I also made a round one which I think lends to the concept of a window.
What I did differently that I probably wouldn’t do again. I liked how I put copper all around of the pieces in the original. Other than that I liked what I did with my new ones.
I hope ya’ll like this fused glass technique as much as I do!
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 sites, Fused Glass by Karen, My Etsy store, my Art fire Store, my Pinterest, and 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 Kiln warm,
Karen
