Busy weekend!!

I've got an exciting weekend coming up this weekend!! Tomorrow I'm off to attend the first UK date of the Bullseye Lecture Tour. This should be a fabulous day with two amazing glass artists...Richard Whiteley and Heike Brachlow speaking.

Then on Sunday I've been invited along to the official opening of the new glass studio at Retro Glass in Alloa! This promises to be quite an event...I've already had a sneak peek inside the studio which doubles the space they have at Retro and means they will have more facilities for hire. I already have my name down for a session with their new sand-blaster!

I've also got a kiln full of beads which are annealing as I type, so hopefully I will be able to get them cleaned and photographed at some point in the next couple of days. With any luck there will be fresh beads for sale at the beginning of next week.

Silver stars

No disasters in the kiln overnight...both the fused glass coasters and the circle came out ok. The coasters don't look hugely different from the pre-fuse picture but it's now possible to show the other side of the circle.

These silver stars will be going in the kiln for a slump today.

And now for something.....

a little bit different. After the long complicated process of putting the pink plate together I thought I would fuse something smaller and slighter less labour intensive. I had an idea of something to try with irridised glass so to test my theory I have made what will hopefully end up being a bowl. Not much to look at for now as the main design is face-down. All being well I'll take pictures tomorrow of the fused circle, before it goes in the kiln for a slump. Then of course I had the rest of the kiln shelf to fill...I don't like to fire the kiln with wasted space on the shelf unless I really have to. So, what would fit nicely around the circle....a set of coasters! Haven't made coasters for ages and they are fun to do sooo...black and pink coasters now baking in the kiln too. Fingers crossed that all is well when I open the kiln tomorrow morning...

Hearts Entwined

Well I finally got this fused glass plate finished. Been working on this pretty much since the start of the year and it was a bit of a challenge! So pleased it came out ok, definitely my most ambitious project to date. I think I went through a whole pack of sticking plasters during the making process but I think it was worth it in the end!

Cutting glass circles

I know there are a lot of people who have difficulties cutting glass circles so I thought I would just tell how I do it and hope it will be of help to somebody.

So, I start by cutting a square of glass a minimum of 2 cm larger than the diameter of the required circle, so for a 24 cm diameter circle I cut a square with sides of at least 26 cms. The smaller the circle the more excess is needed.

Using a circle cutter I then score my circle, trying to place it as near as possible in the middle of the square. Making sure to apply even pressure, I then score the whole circle only once. When I have scored the circle I then turn the glass over and place it on a softer surface, I use a fairly thick tea-towel folded in half.

I then apply gentle pressure to the glass above the score (this is easier with clear glass as you can actually see the score line). I do this with both thumbs, one pressing on the nail of the other and I use a really soft bouncing motion, gradually increasing pressure, until I see a crack appear in the glass. The crack should run in a circle along the scoreline. Once the glass begins to crack in this way I move my thumbs around the circle continuing to apply gentle pressure and watching the crack appear.

Once I can see a clean crack all the way around the circle I turn the glass back over and make a score from the circle to the outside edge of the glass where the circle is closest to the edge (ie at the centre of the side of the square). Repeat this score on the four sides. If the circle isn't almost falling out by itself, use your normal method to break along the score line starting with the part of the circle nearest the corners of the square.

After some practise it's possible to remove the circle by making only one further score which leaves the scrap glass fairly intact and ready for a picture frame or mirror (a lesson for another day maybe). Here's the scrap left after cutting the white circle seen above. The small dish is only there because my camera wouldn't focus without it.

Hope this is helpful!

Midnight Rainbow

This morning I have another fused glass dish to show. Fresh out of the kiln is Midnight Rainbow. A really dramatic look to this one, lots of contrast between the colours and the black and the straight lines and the curves of the finished piece.

It turned into quite a busy week last week so didn't get to spend as much time as I was hoping in my studio. Hopefully things will be a little bit calmer this week. I did get a few beads made to add to my stock for the bead fair and I also managed to finish a project I started a couple of weeks back but hadn't got around to completing. It's a Christmas bowl (24.5 cm wide and 6 cm deep) and I'm really quite pleased with how it turned out. So much so that I might even put it up for sale in the shop.

What doesn't show up very well in the photos is that the green is aventurine green and therefore has a lovely sparkle to it. I also added some dichroic glass to one of the flowers and all the flowers have dichroic glass centres.