Joy of Opening the Kiln

A few weeks ago, the kiln had a problem. The wires in the control panel caught on fire. The smell lasted for quite awhile. I contacted the company I bought the kiln from and they referred me to the manufacturer. I called them and they were closed early on Friday. This was about 4:30 on Friday and the next week was a holiday craft show. The kiln was about two weeks out of warranty. I mailed the part and waited to find out what the problem was. I called the company. It had only happened once before and was a problem with the part itself. They sent me a new one at no charge. It arrived a few days later. And the kiln has been working very well since then. A special thank you to Jen-Ken and the Delphi Glass. They have fantastic customer service folks.
I opened the kiln this morning after it had cooled down to about 70 degrees. Inside was the bird of peace flying against a blue sky background. It is the joy of working with Bullseye  90 glass, what an incredible art glass. Peace is ready for the Holiday Open Studio on Sunday.

 I really enjoy the six sided shapes of snowflakes. I used punched copper foil between two layers of glass. Two of the pieces have confetti and stringers in the glass. Three of them are on a white background. The third one has the blue sky like Peace and then I cut two white stringers at the bottom and thought what is that shinning piece of glass in the cutting tray? It was some dichroic glass. Using creativity and tweezers, I place the tiny shard between the stringers.

 I had ordered some new dichroic glass and wanted to see the results. It is really more white than blue and purple and rose. I took two photographs of the same piece is light coming from a stained glass window.

 By moving the butterfly just a bit, the shine of the natural light through the window left a different glow to the butterfly. If the sun was shinning on this piece, you might just have to wear sunglasses.

For those of you who live nearby, it would be nice to see you at the Holiday Open Studio on December 8 from 1 - 6 in the afternoon. Fiona Zahnke will also be in the Studio with her pottery, fiber arts, and hand spun yarn.

www.carolingrammoore.com ~ www.artisansofthegap.com www.facebook.com/CarolIngramMoore

Holiday Shows

Getting ready for some local craft venues. Tuesday will be the Farmer's Market in Norton. On Saturday, the Inn at Norton will be having their first Vendor/Craft Show. I made this fused glass pendant with peridot and crystals to celebrate the holidays. It will be for sale on Saturday at the Inn.
Artisans of the Gap will have extended Holiday hours on November 29, November 30, and December 9, we will be open from 12:30 - 5:00 with refreshments.

Fused Glass and Jasper

Last week when the autumn winds blew through wild enough to drop the temperatures to 39, I created this necklace while at Artisans of the Gap. This is the gallery/shop that I co-own with two other artists, Fiona Zahnke and Valerie Dowdy.
I was rearranging a few pieces of jewelry at the shop, when I began to rework some jewelry. I added fused glass to a hammered brass earring and added gold leaf charms. I used the cording from the fused glass focal point of this necklace. The red jasper I have had knowing that the muse would come and the red jasper beads would find a home. They are graduated in size with smoked red jasper between them. The rhodonite triangle beads seemed to create a modern wave to the piece. I continued to use picture and smoked jasper beads to finish the autumn necklace. I added a hammered sterling silver S clasp to the necklace. The earrings are smoked jasper with a jasper star at the end before the silver twirl. Twirling is something leaves do rather well in the autumn.

Artisans of the Gap

Each Wednesday, well, each Wednesday when I am in town, you can find me at Artisans of the Gap at 419 Wood Avenue in downtown Big Stone Gap. Yesterday afternoon, Fiona and I changed the windows of the shop/gallery. It was a very hot afternoon, but we were both determined to fill the windows with a change of art. Today, I took the camera to the shop to take photos for our blog. I was surprised to find the reflection of the street of Big Stone Gap so clear. We are located across the street from Miner's Park. The white lines are the parking lines for cars and trucks and most importantly, customers.

 The window to the right faces an intersection and Trail Realty. The cars you see are cars driving along the downtown streets. The large grocery store is only a block or two away.

I added a new piece of glass to the shop case. The butterfly plate is an rainbow red that is iridescent. The plate has three copper butterflies fused between layers of glass. Below the plate on the first shelf are some fused glass hair pins. These were popular items purchased by my family this weekend. On the bottom shelf are two fused glass plates and a lovely garnet citrine necklace.
I'll be there on Saturday from 10 - 2. Stop by if you are in the area. Lots of great pottery, fiber, silk scarves, jewelry and glass to see and purchase.