Art and Life

Each day, I create something. It could be a poem, a drawing while I journal, glass, or jewelry. Lately I have been drawn to cool colors of blues, greens, and purples. While at a craft show, I began to find green, blue, and purple beads to entwine upon the memory wire. After coming home, I went through my bead boxes to find green glass leaves and some dyed tiger's eye beads to finish the bracelet.

Last week, I was one of many people to listen to a webinar by Cloth, Paper ,Scissors on how to get published. I learned it is best to take photos on an overcast day outside. I took a white piece of poster board outside. I laid the jewelry upon the poster board and took these two photos. I had been trying for awhile to photograph the limited edition Holiday ornaments. The shadow in the glass is my hand holding the camera. The green glass is embedded with aventurine streaks. The tree is made from copper foil with a copper bail. There will be a red velvet ribbon hanger for each of the twelve ornaments.

                Overcast day here in the mountains. The sun peeps out every so often between the clouds.

 A few trees still hold onto their fall leaves. The red orange tree in the valley almost glows.

The young forsythia has been blooming for weeks. Yesterday while I was outside planting daffodil bulbs, a yellow butterfly flew past me. There were two painted ladies on the butterfly bush as well as a bee. The lavender has a few flowers still holding their heads high. Marigolds peep out from under layers of leaves. A moment in the mountains is always filled with wonder.

What a difference a day makes!

The day after the election. Being in a swing state, our telephone has been ringing quite a bit. And, they leave messages. The fog settled in most of the day. With the chill in the air and the fog, seemed like a nice day to settle into the studio.I have been etching numbers on the back of the limited edition of twelve holiday ornaments for Artisans of the Gap.I also made several new pieces of glass art which are in the kiln.

 Around five o'clock  the sunlight changes.  The mountains begin to glow. You can see just a bit of it in the clouds. I have noticed it along the side of the house where all the leaves lie. They become a golden brown.

 The light is almost a orange golden soft glow. Even now, the clouds and fog are swirling together blending red, orange, vanilla cream, pink, rose, and grey against the blue sky. Well, there is not so much blue sky as the grey clouds are beginning to mass.

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.

Make Art Everyday

 The glass plate was taken out of the kiln this morning. Lots of bubbles and snowflakes in this glass art!

 A friend introduced me to memory wire. Out came my beads, this one is all blue. Other have gemstones, cat's beads, broken necklace parts, and bracelets are created. What fun I am having. Thank you Sharon!

Getting ready for the Farmer's Market on Tuesday, I made all sorts of Holiday earrings. Come by the Norton Farmer's Market on Tuesday night  from 4 - 7 and say hello!

Fusing Glass

. On this snowy day,  Sandy left behind several inches of snow in the mountains.Today became a perfect day to spend in the studio creating.  A friend had asked me to share how I fuse glass. Inspired by the snow, I decided to make a snowflake plate with clear glass. Here is how I started the plate. I never know about how things really turn out until I open the kiln.
The first photo is a picture of a box of glass. This box holds eight pieces of 12 x 12 inch clear glass.

 Once the box is opened, there is a lot of padded paper. The box itself comes within a larger packing box filled with recyclable pellets. Opening the paper, the sheets of glass are padded between more sheets of paper.

A sheet of clear glass sitting upon a padded sheet of paper. 

 My glass cutter, the glass grid, and the piece of 12 x 12 inch clear glass ready to be scored.

 I have made a pattern of the plate I am making. I put the pattern on top of the glass sheet. I also use a ruler to give me a very straight edge for making a cut all along the edge of the glass. This is called scoring. If you look closely, you can see the line right under the glass cutter.

 Once the glass is scored, I use running pliers at the base of the score line on the glass. The glass then breaks evenly upon the score line. Using the plate pattern, I cut two pieces of glass to fit the pattern. The pattern is for a plate.

 This is a sheet of copper foil for glass. I use a brayer to smooth out the copper sheet. The left side is before I used the brayer. The right side is after using the brayer several times.

                                    Copper snowflakes are created from the copper foil sheet.

 I cut a piece of Bullseye shelf paper to exactly fit the kiln shelf. The shelf sits upon four kiln posts.

 The glass plate with copper snowflakes and little snippets of copper on the kiln shelf ready to be fired.

I have programmed the kiln for a full fuse. I pressed the start button and it begins to heat up. It takes several hours for the kiln to come to a full fuse. Before I open the lid of the kiln, I let it come completely down to less than 70 degrees. To open the kiln right after full fuse would create lots of  cracks and breaks in the glass.
While the snow comes and goes, the kiln makes little sounds as it heats up kinda like a click.
As the kiln fuses the glass, I'm already thinking about another design or two.

A storm came though today

 Imagine an afternoon in the mountains with the wind just a whippety tucking through the valley.

 The trees bend and twirl. When I first saw this out the back door, I thought geez, these trees dance. And they really bend and sway as the wind blasts them around. I tried to capture the leaves as they fell from the trees. I am not a photographer, just someone with a camera who loves living in the mountains and wants to share with you  the joy of what I see.

In the corner, a leaf is caught. Thrown upward by the wind and spirals downward in a dance of the leaves.
The wind still blows and the trees are still swaying. Yellow poplar leaves twirl gingerly on tree branches, not long to stay in one place this time of year.

Autumn Monday in the Mountains

 Maybe it started with Lani posting on 14 Secrets about creativity. Maybe it was the sun coming though the windows. Maybe it was the leaves twirling on the wind. Whatever, I went into the studio to get the camera so I could capture the glorious colors of this autumn Monday in the mountains. I was surprised to find how clear I look in the bird bath. The water is a bit clearer now since it is filled with fresh water.

 This weekend the reds came out all across the mountains. The tulip poplar yellow brown leaves are tumbling over quickly. The maples are lovely. I find it hard to drive as the sun comes through the leaves and they shimmer.

 Shadows of the trees across the back yard. It is quite a downward slope.

 I moved too fast and everything was just a bit out of focus. I boosted the color the add a little bit of impressionist feel to the photograph. This was the view while I ate lunch on the deck this afternoon. A few insects came to check things out.

Here is the same group of trees in focus. White billowing clouds against a soft blue sky, it is a beautiful autumn day here in the mountains.

Fall in the Mountains

 I am home after a wonderful week of enameling at William Holland School of Lapidary Arts in Young Harris, Georgia. The weather seems to have made a shift. The yard is filled with leaves from the tulip poplar trees all brown crinkely.

 Even though it has been raining with heavy mist all day, I ventured outside. I found this pumpkin filled with mums at Lowes for half of half price on Saturday. It sits next to the driveway to entertain as you walk into the house.

 These three mushrooms were part of a faery ring just in front of the zinnias. I did not notice them until I had stepped on several. With a foot as big as mine, the result was smashing several mushrooms.

 Really, this zinnia looks this vibrant. I did not enhance this photograph, I really did not. It is vivid RED.

 The daises have seemed to grown in abundance. They will bloom even in a frost. Good thing as it was in the thirties last night.

Today, the mists hang heavy. The trees although dark are yellow with a snippet of orange a bit here in there in our mountain yard.

Delphi EZ Pro Kiln and Fusing Glass

I am working on a new project with an incredible artist from London, England. With skype, we are able to chat about the project. I am hopeful that it will be up and running before Thanksgiving, if not sooner. Enough about surprises, I thought it was time to share with you how I fuse glass. I cut the Bullseye blue aventurine glass. Then, I add copper foil cut outs of birds and stars. I  use a toothpick to place the stars onto the glass. I check each star to make sure the points are unfurled. I cut out a piece of shelf paper for each piece I place on the kiln shelf. The shelf is the big circle inside the kiln.

 Here is the kiln with the lid closed sitting on the floor of the studio. There is nothing within 12 inches of the kiln so that air can circulate.

I took a great time of time before I ordered a kiln. I decided to order one from Delphi because of the customer service. I can call and talk to someone if there is ever a problem. I had a few in the beginning and they were very understanding. When a mold broke on the very first firing with ample kiln wash on it. They replaced it immediately. The kiln is very easy to program and comes with a CD. It is now programmed to fuse the glass. After pushing start, the kiln is on and begins fusing. I do not open the kiln until the temperature is under 100 degrees.

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.

Rainbow Hued Blue Fused Glass Bird Plate

 Saturday, I listened to a baker of very good bread at our local Farmer's Market. He talked to me about the beauty of glass, especially blue glass. Blue is his favorite color he told me. We had been talking about the red and white glass plate I made with the copper birds at the time. The conversation and the look on his face provided me with creative inspiration.

 I had some Bullseye Rainbow Hued glass in the studio. I very carefully made a template of the mold. I carefully cut out the blue glass and the clear glass using the template. I used copper foil for the birds. I got so excited about the plate I emailed him.

Don't you just marvel at how light plays off of the glass? All the photos were taken outside in the same space in the yard. The first photo is on a white sheet of paper. The second photo, I held the plate off the paper cropping my hands out of the photo. The third, I placed the plate in the grass. I also used one of the special effects of Picassa so that the photo glowed a bit around the edges. What do you think of the new plate?

Fall in the Air

The mums are blooming all over the yard. We planted these the very first year we moved to the Valley. They are by far the bushiest and most healthy. 

 I have been creating quite a bit lately with gemstone nuggets. I took off my necklace just to see how it would   look against the gravels. The dragonfly was from an artist friend, Gena from France. The necklace is made of  moonstone and amythest stones. The moonstone seems to glow against the grey of the gravel.

 This was the only butterfly that I could have reached out and touched. Did not seem to be in the least bothered with me and the camera.

 Japanese anomoe cascading in near the door of the studio. Those are bits of leaves laying in front of the door. Lots more of those to come as the days began to get cooler.

The swallowtail butterflies enjoy the butterfly bushes in front of the house. The house in the photo is the house across the road.  The trees are just as tall as the ones in our yard and lots of them as well. This is a very quiet  mountain country road that dead ends just a bit beyond our house.

Stretching a Bit in the studio

 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.