My friend Cathy and I have had several “glass dates”. She is a mosaic artist and I’ve taken several classes with her. Cathy is a kind, loving, and giving person. Something you may not know is she was asked to create a Memorial for the Club Q victims at UCCS. Here is a picture of the absolutely magnificent mosaic art piece. She worked on this for months and it’s truly stunning.
So why did I bring up this beautiful art piece. Trifold, 1st it speaks to how caring Cathy is, 2nd how generous Cathy is, and of course how talented she is. Yes, she was not the only one who created it but she was involved from its inception. The reason she wanted to come over for a class this time was to ask for help in creating LGBTQ artwork for the Inside Out Gala. I gave her several ideas and even gave her a piece I made. Then we cut out another one which she is going to take home and fire. I also made her lots of little fused glass dots in the rainbow colors. Ironically, I didn’t take a lot of pictures but here are some of the pieces I did several years ago. The gala is in August, so I look forward to seeing what she makes.
I asked why she is interested in this cause, basically it’s because she is all about love. No one should be mistreated because of who they love, and I agree. After Cathy left, I began working on a couple of pieces I’m going to donate as well. I’ll show them to you when they are finished.
In addition to sharing my firing schedules with Cathy, giving her some dots, molds etc. we did some mosaics. I have a lot of bezels and to be honest it’s difficult for me to cut my glass just right to put them inside the bezels. Cathy teaches a wearable art mosaic class, so I thought that would be a great way to use my glass (all are murine that I did a fire polish on) and bezels. I wanted a way to incorporate my fused glass dots, murine, millefiori, etc. Here are the 3 I made with Cathy’s instruction and ceramic bits. I loved it and will be making more to sell. The bottom row of pictures are from Cathy’s classes (including her next class), what a variety!
We also finally grouted my mountain scene that we did in our first-class date. I love it, so pretty.
When Cathy and I get together we talk about so many things and one of the things we talk about was casting, I showed her some of my castings; crosses, bear, hearts, etc. So, she said I’d like to make a casting, she made a bear, and I made two round pieces. I’m not sure what I’m going to make them into poker guard, pocket charm (they are big), or maybe an ornament. What do y’all think? Didn’t she do a great job, on her bear!
Cathy is an amazing artist and I highly recommend taking a class with her. Her business is Shattered Glass Restored, and she has several classes scheduled. You won’t be disappointed.
Here are just a few of the mosaic classes I’ve taken with Cathy. I really enjoy spending time with Cathy. Thank you, Cathy, for being my friend and mosaic teacher.
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 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, it is published the last day of each month. If you’d like to take a class, please check out the information on my site about my fused glass classes.
Keeping my Kiln warm,
Karen
