Students, take your seats, please…

old school desks 

Glass Class 101 is back in session! 

After much research, the next class in the series will be posted this weekend.

(isn’t this pic fantastic? it’s from a photographer named Whitand on Flickr.  Click on the desks to go to their photostream…)

Next session of Glass Class 101 delayed…

AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!! 

… for at least another week.  Looks like I’ll need more time to research as the planned subject is much more complex and controversial than I originally thought.

Update 12/15:  I think it’s probably safe to say that the Glass Class 101 sessions will be on hiatus until the new year.  I’m off to enjoy the best of the holiday season.

Tales from the torch: Nov. 8th/07


This is a quick pic of the results of yesterday’s torch session and the bits and pieces that went into making these two beads.

At the top is my marver with the three types of frit ( tiny glass chips) i used.  (you can ignore the red powder, that’s the enamel i used for this morning’s torch session.)  Then the two little strips of pure 99.9% fine silver foil – that’s what gives the beads their luscious sparkle.

In front are the two rods used for the base glass.   Yup, that light blue rod made that awesome rusty red colour in the back bead as well – cool, huh?  It’s called reducing, which means bringing to the surface the metals used to colour the glass.   This time i did it kinda by accident but I’m gradually learning how to do it on purpose – it’s really quite a neat effect.

Why I love hot glass


Would you believe that those boring beige rods on the left created the fantastic variety of colours in this goddess?? I’m stunned at the depth and intensity, especially since this is the first time I’ve ever used this German glass.  I didn’t even do or try anything special.  I hope you can see at least some of the iridescence.  Love it, love it, LOVE IT!!!  can’t wait to play more…

Technical details: 40mm x 16mm, R-106 Reichenbach Iris Dark Brown Opaque (dark raku), 96COE, with a sprinkle of goldstone frit

Welcome to my blog!

Hmmm…. seems a blog is a whole lotta responsibility.  If you’re popping in,  do say hi, I could use the encouragement.  And be sure to check back over the next few weeks as I pull together my vision of what this site will be… You can even use the RSS buttons on the top right to subscribe.

Once I figure out how this all works I’ll be back to start chatting about what’s really important:  GLASS!!  ;~)