Snow on our Mountain

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

Snow

My son texted me earlier today to ask if we had gotten snow. Once the temperature got a bit warmer than 12 degrees, I laced up my snow boots.

                                 
                                   I enjoyed the shadows from the trees falling into the snow.

    We have a nice collection of garden art. This little girl is about the size of a two year old. She                      usually greets me as I walk into the greenhouse.

                               My favorite stone which sits in the forest nestled among the ferns.

                                       A little bit of green coming up through the snow.

            Ray's sunburst design rising above the mountains nestled in front of the evergreens.

  A sculpture created for us by Margaret Gregg to represent each member of our family. It moves.

                                                               Snow on the branches

As I walked to the bottom of our property, I was fascinated with all the animal foot prints.

                                                           The phoenix rising above the snow.

Warm Glass Earrings

There are those times when you put into the kiln a lot of creative work and most of it doesn't quite work out as you intended. Yesterday was one of those days. I did find a few little nuggets that will soon be made into earrings.

 These are dichroic glass. The top ones are covered in clear glass. The bottom ones are dichroic glass fused upon black glass. They are cut in the shape of a square but turn into a circle most of the time.

 I will glue on a backing on each piece of glass. Then I will attach either sterling silver or 14K gold filled ear wires. The prices of all my fused glass earrings are $20.

Little nuthatches on white opalescent glass and three layers of purple glass are shown above. Next week, I hope to be able to share just a few more earrings.

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

New Jewelry and A Favorite

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 Several years ago, I created the focal point for this necklace by fusing two already fused pieces together. They sat for the longest time in the glass bowl waiting. One day I thought why not use gemstones with glass. Looking at the art glass, I thought of the gemstones in the studio.

 Rose quartz, amethyst, and bloodstone seemed to let me know that they would harmonize. I put them all together.

I wore this necklace at my daughter's wedding last year and my niece's wedding this year. A very favorite of mine. Along the way I learned a lot about double strands of gemstones.

 Lately, I have been using antique pieces I acquired when a local antique store went out of business. This sweet cross was the inspiration for this necklace.

Enamel leaves, aventurine, malachite, and green chalcedony with a sterling silver clasp....

 A nice piece of jasper started the creative juices flowing. I added a humming bird from Sterling Nye earrings. Jasper, fancy agates, and copper wire complete this necklace.

A friend gave me a very nice piece of fancy agate for Christmas. It will be part of the next necklace. Sometimes you just have to wait for the muse to dance.

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

After a heavy frost and snow, glass shines on a sunny day.

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

 It happened earlier in the week, a heavy frost and a slight spitting of snow. The bird bath water froze and the plants withered with the cold. This afternoon, the sun is shinning as well as the temperature is rising. Just a great day to walk around the garden to see what has happened. First, I took several photos of my art glass plates in the sunshine. The sun seems to just flow through the glass making the most fantastic shadows!

 These beauties are about seven feet tall growing among the butterfly bushes. Their petals look a bit weary after the frost, but they are still setting buds.

 The sage is covered in tulip poplar leaves. The tall straight trees loose their leaves early. They turn yellow brown and twirl to the ground. When a hard wind comes, they dance every which a way.

 The forsythia began as a small stick of a bush. It is covered in yellow flowers and the frost has bitten hard into the leaves. Wait until spring for this little bush to be completely covered in yellow.

 This stinging critter kept me from doing gardening. They are all over the nasturtiums which looks more like wilted celery than her former glorious spreading all over the back garden self. After trying to take the plants to the compost, I gave into the insect leaving it to enjoy the blossoms.

                                A ladybug which might have been  frozen to the sunflower seed pod.

 Hydrangeas really do not take to the frost very well at all. Their leaves just droop all over the paper blossoms. The green leaves belong to other plants.

 Picassa has a feature called invert colors. This is the first time I have ventured into inversion.  These are violets with tulip poplar leaves on the front porch.

 Pansies are the most colorful of any flower in the yard these fall days. A few pots of purple johnny jump ups are in the front of the house which is a bit sheltered from the frost.

 Colors of the trees are changing. The reds and bright oranges are peaking right now. Seems a bit late, but nature has her own way to deciding how things will go. These are trees in the back yard. With the tulip poplars loosing their leaves, the mountains are more easily seen.

Baby Birds, Butterflies, and Art Glass

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 Mama robin has been patiently sitting on her eggs. This week, I saw for the first time baby robins. The nest in in a butterfly bush right outside the studio door. The nest is the center of butterfly, bee, and hummingbird moth activity. She has grown used to us and I was able to take this photo as she guarded her babies.

 There are so many butterflies in the yard. The hummingbirds enjoy the nectar from the butterfly bush and fly out as soon as I come near. The butterflies don't seem to pay much attention to me.

 This tiger swallowtail butterfly was moving all around the flower. Isn't it beautiful!!!!!

 Mama robin was away when I came around to the front of the house. I took advantage of her absence to take a photo of the nest. Well, she didn't like that at all. She was swooping at me.

One little robin poking its beak up. They have just a bit of bird fuzz and when they are awake they make their own little bird noises.

Three fused glass bottle stoppers are looking for a home. They are twenty dollars plus shipping and handling. Imagine them on bottles of wine or sparkling cider, art is great for everything!

Fused Glass Jewelry and Art Glass

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

 A new pieces I wanted to share with you. A pendant with a copper bail with folks holding hands.

 The center of this pendant has dichroic glass and a little tiny piece right in the center. It really shimmers and shines!

 A set of earrings and a bunny pendant with gold plate findings. The findings are the bail on the pendant and the ear wires on the earrings. The bunny is made from copper.

 A rainbow colored plate, just the perfect size to hold jewelry.

The dragonfly pendant comes with a satin cord with a sterling silver clasp. It is 18 inches long. The earrings have sterling silver earwires. The colors remind me of the beach, deep blues from the ocean as it mirrors a blue sky.