Returning Waves

Look familiar? This is a picture of a new bowl (in process) pre slumping. It was commissioned as a wedding gift after my recent post... 

.....Congrats to the newlyweds!

Glass on the Edge

A clear glass base with a fiber paper support creates the frame for this new glass piece in my kiln. The fiber paper is pinned to together and then reinforced with kiln furniture to hold it in place. This creates a dam effect, preventing the glass from spreading out.

 Individual strips of glass are laid out on the edge rather than flat. This piece will should be about 3/4 of an inch thick.

But then what?  hmmmmmm......

....stay tuned

The Sea was the Theme

I'm visiting my inlaws in Florida and that allows me to visit a few fused glass pieces I made them.

Pictured above is one of my favorite platters ... the Sea was the theme. 

My inlaws used to live right on the gulf and loved the water. This bowl is positioned in front of a window and transmits light in such beautiful ways. 

 I love the simplicity of the design. Too many sea themed items seem to be a little tooooooo much....crabs, fish, shells. This design captures the movement of the water and plant life not often depicted.

 I may need to make another one of these!

Bat Mitzvah Commission!

Before the first firing

This is an 8x8 sushi style plate. Rectangles of cathedral iridized glass were clear-capped and embellished with dichroic accents. The Hebrew letters are cut from copper foil and are sandwiched between the two layers if glass to spell out the name Avigael.

Lucky girl!

Wedding Commission

One more round of firing to go!

This tray is made of clear and blue streaky glass

on top of opaque white glass. I cut a "river" through the streaky glass  and "planted a stream" of clear dichroic chips. 

The tray will go through one more firing to cure the white gold ink I used to trace the stream.

This was commissioned as a wedding gift! The ceremony is Saturday. Congrats to the newlyweds!

Sigh!

I'm thinking it should make a lovely mosaic.

WITHDRAWAL!

I've been in Eugene since Sunday evening and finished teaching Day #3 of my month long summer intensive at the U of O. I am loving every moment of working with amazing education grad students who are so motivated and idealistic and brilliant!

BUT....I miss my glass! As soon as I get back to pdx, I need to see what I can do to repair the broken "ping" dish (see the next post down). I will barely have enough time to repair that (I hope) and possibly get a couple other commissions ready for the kiln but I fear the time will escape me before the weekend comes to a close.

PING!

That's a sound a glass person never wants to hear.

I had a lovely platter that came out of the kiln this morning.

I brought upstairs and set it on the dining table, then welcomed my first student of the morning (I tutor kids.)

PING...my student looked at me and asked "what was that?"

"That" I told her "is the sound of my heart breaking!"

Then there were two more pings.......

No pictures.....it's too painful!

Goodbye Old Friend

Remodeling will begin soon. This shed has housed my two kilns for many years.
Soon it will go to a new home and be replaced by a real room attached to the house.
It will be slightly bigger and will have a concrete floor. I might even have running water so I can also use it as a wet room.    Good Bye Old Friend!

Bat Mitzvah Gift-A Commission!

Stage 1

Stage 3- final product

                         Lucky Bat Mitzvah Girl!

Sheet Metal and Glass

Today I learned how to cut sheet metal! The tool is a pair of scissors on steroids!

Sheet metal isn't compatible with glass in a kiln, but I can use glue!

I have an idea.....we'll see what happens! 

As always....stay tuned!

NEW FUSED GLASS TALLIT CLIPS!

                   MAGIC happens inside a kiln.....sometimes!

The aleph bet clips came out of the kiln just as expected.....silver on black! (even though the ink was white gold)

The silver pink dichroic glass started out smooth but developed a textured surface in the kiln.The silver pink shifted to light greens and lilac and soft pink! The white gold ink flashed a very subtle gold tone. I'm happy with both. 

Time to glue on the clips and attach some chains!

I am happy to custom design clips for you...just ask!
sparksofspirit@gmail.com

New Tallit Clips Going in the Kiln

I am doing a production run of glass blobs...future elements for some cabinet doors. Since I had room and because I needed to make two sets of clips as gifts.....I crafted these this morning.

What appears to be green is actually white gold ink. The Aleph and Bet are initials for the first recipent. The clear glass will cap a black base. The second set features a flower motif borrowed from the recipient's tallit. The flowers are drawn on pink/silver dichroic glass.

The finished clips will be posted tomorrow night. Stay tuned!

one more bridge

This was created using the same principles as yesterday's post....without the addition of colored glass.  

A Yahrzeit Candle is Packed and Shipped!

I am honored to have been asked to create a yahrzeit candle for another family in St. Louis.

This style is free form and features several design elements.

Silver and bronze mica is embedded between layer of black and clear. Dichroic, red, turquoise and green glass were added to the top. On the green, red and turquoise glass there are verses from traditional prayers of mourning hand printed in white gold ink. 

I also made memorial stones to set out each time a specific yahrzeit is observed. As each stone is written, I recall a parent, uncle, aunt, cousin or friend who has passed. The names don't necessarily belong to my family/friend circle...but names like aunt, grandpa, mom....are the common links. Death is a part of our life cycle....and grieving is a process....or at least, it should be.  I am humbled by the thought that I can contribute to another family holding a name alive, treasuring memories, and using the tradition of yahrzeit to memorialize the name of a precious soul.

Adding A Little Mica

Another yahrzeit candle holder. I'm layering some white sparkling mica and copper to the base glass before clear capping. More decorative elements will be added on top of that!

Raw Glass for my next commission

          What will it become??????

Another Commission Completed

Three custom yahrzeit candle bridges are headed off 

to Missouri as of this morning. 

New Commission!

These are the blanks for 3 new yahrzeit candle commissions! The letters are cut from copper foil and then are sandwiched between a layer of color and a layer of clear. When heated, copper turns a gorgeous shade of dark red.

The middle blank surprised me. Instead of the pretty amber I was expecting, the glass turned red. Yup, RED! It was striker glass that I clearly forgot to label. 

I may need to make a new blank for the customer....which is fine. She deserves to get what she wants! ....and I can easily use the red blank for one of my next shows.

I'll get to work on the glass name stones tomorrow.

Donation to Oregon Jewish Museum

I am pleased to donate this new bowl to the Oregon Jewish Museum Auction.

It is called Mayim Chayim- Waters of Life. It features clear and dichroic glass beads. Some of the edges are bent or folded.....erosion due to the force of water. Our bodies are mostly water, water sustains us, it also wears us down. Waters of life is a metaphorical representation of our world.

If you live in Portland, come to this event on Sunday June 2nd....OJM is a stunning museum that educates, entertains and stimulates our city. We need to show our support....and the auction is a great way to start!

See you there?  go to the OJM website for more details! www.ojm.org