I just finished a class with one of the most amazing Kiln-formed Glass instructors, Craig Mitchell Smith. He is incredibly talented and the way his brain works just blew my mind over and over again! I’m sure I will write about how fabulous Craig’s class was several times in the next few blogs, but let me start from the beginning.
I took a class from Laurie Spray last year and she was going on and on about Craig and his fused glass poppy flowers. I’m like, you know I like poppies but I don’t think I need a class for making them. Wow was I wrong. Anyway, this year I took another class from Laurie and I saw all her poppies that she had made after Craig’s class. Laurie’s poppies weren’t just orange (not my favorite color) and they weren’t just outside they were inside on the table and on the wall and I’m like “maybe I should reconsider this Craig guy”.
Then two of my good friends, Julie and Pam, took a fused glass poppy class from Craig in July and they raved about him, additionally Julie made some incredible glass poppies. I keep digressing, can you tell I’m excited. Anyway, Craig posted a picture of his next class kiln formed Irises. I messaged my friends, Julie and Pam, and said hey doesn’t this look interesting? They were both, like yea we are going you should come so we talked Melinda (another great friend) into going and the 4 of us met in Lancing Michigan and took Craig’s Iris class. Here is a picture of Craig, his adorable puppy, and me.
First something interesting, is I thought the Iris was 3 to 4 inches tall, NO – it was not. The iris is approximately 12 inches from the tip to the bottom and that doesn’t include the stand. This is Craig’s Iris, isn’t it magnificent?
I learned so much in Craig’s class I’ll be processing what he taught us for months. Did I say my mind was blown? Over and over! I can’t wait to take another class with Craig. I never post process pictures but I found 1 picture that doesn’t show the process but is me and Craig drilling glass.
Here is my fused glass Iris. I chose purple accents and was a little light handed but I still love it. The class was 3 days and it took us every bit of that time to make this beautiful flower. I’d post a better picture but Fedex is being a pain and my box isn’t here yet.
BTW did I mention Craig made the displays by hand for each one of us! That was an incredible bonus! He also gave us 2 molds so we can make more of the irises. Here are two pictures of Craig making our stands.
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
I am still suffering from “poppy brain” from my class two years ago at Laurie’s!
I am taking many months off from my glass due to the three moves and !! I wrapped and crated over 300 sheets of Bullseye glass from my Jemez Studio to our temp. Home in Bernalillo Oct?Nov. 2017. I took all my work out of galleries and have lost my glass mojo until two weeks ago. My best friend/niece came from Ca. for a visit after helping her daughter move into a new apartment in Denver (working on PhD at UofD). She said I had NO happily room in this house and we should re-arrange the rooms in our new comprise #13 home. Our former master bedroom is now my Studio with a great view of Sandia Mountains. There may be hope, I am going to do my annual show which is the 36th year for this juried show the weekend before Thanksgiving in Placitas.
I can’t tell you how much I considered taking Craig’s class in Michigan. I have just been overwhelmed trying to process the past six months.
Pat will be in Colo. Springs this weekend on his OCS alumni business. I can’t join him as houseguests arriving Sunday.
Think of you often with all the wonderful molds and glass holders you shared.
As ever,
Glo
The best is yet to come!
Glo, it’s great hearing from you. I’m sure you will get your mojo back. Craig was awesome. We need to take a class together.