New Collaboration: Neighbor Artists!

It started with a 12" glass disc and a chunk of wood.

After some careful measurements, my neighbor Jack Liskear set to work on the wood, while I returned to my studio to work on the embellishments.

The most challenging part was cutting the tree.  The glass is a reptilian patterned iridized black glass that creates a cool effect when light hits it.

The leaves came next..... and when the wood and the glass met again....

Tree of Life- fused glass bowl

The writing on the leaves doesn't show up well in the photo but the names are there! I am pleased with how it looks. The white rim is not part of the bowl...just the rim of the slumping mold.

New Commission for Great Grandma!

The base disc is pre-fired. A second tack fuse firing follows 

Each leaf bears the name of a grand or great grandchild! Once the tree is tack fused, the disc will be slumped into a bowl

I've had a bit of fun (and challenge) working on this latest commission. It is a 14" iridized cobalt blue bowl with the tree of life as its theme.

There are 27 leaves, each with the name of a grandchild (in green and red) or great grandchild (yellow and orange)

Depicted here are two of the stages before firing....the finished bowl will appear in my next post!

How to "Plant" a Tree on a Wall

Kudos to Gustav Sculptor and Richard Cawley for their creative metal work. It is spectacular...but don't take my word for it! Come see the tree in the Isaak Foyer at Neveh Shalom!
                                             

It's really heavy!

Richard (L)  Gustav (R)

                                   

                        Richard's Dad to the rescue!

I certainly owe all these guys an apology for capturing their backsides only. 

Shadows and Reflected Light!

The metal tree was attached to the wall today. The leaves will be attached tomorrow.
We put a few leaves on the tree today just to get a sense of the potential ....cool shadows and reflected light!
It's very exciting ....I can hardly wait!

Tomorrow I'll post the the finished project and revel the location!

Almost done!    This is in the kiln right now....about 40 leaves (I forgot to count!). I have stacked shelves hoping to save cost. Tomorrow I'll "toss" in the last 15 or so....
and then..... I get to pull out the fiber paper...."oh goody," she exclaimed (facetiously!) 

It's a tedious task. I've only cleaned out about 15 leaves so far. I can already feel my technique improving.

I look forward to going to the metal shop again....it is such a play land! I'll ask if I can take pictures when I get there!

My Outdoor Studio!

What a glorious sunshine filled day! I can't work and take a selfie so  I thought I'd just show you what my outdoor workspace looks like today! I am sooooo fortunate to have this annex to my studio!

I'm scrubbing the edges of more leaves. I have many many many many more leaves to scrub...and then there is the rest of the process required to successfully fused them and get them ready for mounting on the metal sculpted tree of life.....
   Speaking of trees (of life)...I've had constant musical company in the trees and at the feeder all morning!