It all started with reading Contemporary Warm Glass by Brad Walker. I had taken a class with him at Arrowmont and knew the extent of his talent. In the book were photographs of slumped glass plates embedded with copper wire. I had copper wire in the studio for jewelry making. I placed copper strips in a pattern. Then, I just played like pick up sticks and let the stopper strips fall where they may. The pattern was much more interesting. From there, I fused the copper wire between two 90 COE bullseye glass. I had cut the glass so it would fit into a mold. I slumped the glass learning a lot of lessons. The glass spread nicely over the mold. The glass cracked. The glass had an interesting bubble which I embedded with a piece of amber glass. I let it sit for a day under a blanket wondering how to take it off the mold or if I would be able to remove the glass plate. I tried cutting the glass, which did not work. I then used glass nippers and cut off an edge. With a bit of pressure, the glass came away from the mold. It is in my glass case where I can think on this and decide how to use copper wire.
I had a full kiln shelf ready to go after I took out the slumped plate. I keep a large glass bowl in the studio of fused glass pieces. Some are okay and some are well, interesting. The cat looking up at the moon are two fused pieces I again put into the kiln on full fuse. Some of these pieces are so big they would make a nice size
fused coaster. The tree is the beginning of experimentation for a limited edition of Holiday/Christmas ornaments for Artisans of the Gap. The copper foil tree turned out nicely and the red stringer makes a nice border, but maybe green would be more festive?
Oh, the joy of looking out at the mountains and creating in the studio.
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