Snow and Orchids

 Snow, snow, and more snow with an additional four inches last night. This mound of snow is right outside the studio door. The corner is the path Ray has shoveled out for us to walk penguin style to the car avoiding slipping. We had 19 inches on Saturday. Schools and colleges are closed. Some roads get plowed some don't. Mail hasn't been delivered in over a week. Fed Ex and UPS have come most days.

                           A rather large snow plate that almost seems blue in all the snow.

 I am a gardener inside and outside. Thought I would share a view with you that I see from the table. It is a window filled with my orchids and cyclamen. The little  hand blown glass bird is from a trip we took to England. The round glass was a gift from our children. You can see the green house and the outside porch all covered in snow.

 Orchids are relatively new to me. I have been taking care of them for about two years now. I have learned after losing several they like to be misted. I actually spray all our houseplants everyday with water that is room temperature.

 After talking to my brother in law Monroe and my friend Fiona, I now water the orchids really well about every two weeks. This is a very special little orchid. She bloomed after being dormant. These are the new flowers and blooms. She is very tiny and enjoys being near the window.

 Cyclamen have their own way of telling me when they need to be watered. We have only one that is four years old. The others were purchased at a Valentine's Day clearance. They do really make you smile as you look upon the table filled with flowers in this snow.

 The view outside the studio window with birds patiently waiting for their turns at the feeders. The cardinal is almost breathtaking red against the snow and dark colors of the woods.

Another view of the cardinal with the snow covered roof of the house and one of the little houses in the yard. Our road is covered in snow this morning. The studio is a busy place with glass being cut to create flowers and jewelry. Under all of this snow are the green shoots of daffodils waiting with more patience than I have.

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

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

Opening the Kiln

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

 After I opened the kiln for the second time after slumping two four inch glass plates, I decided to take photos of the back as well as the front of each of the two plates. The first plate is embedded with butterflies I had thought to turn into a necklace with earrings to match. Decided that they might look like butterflies in flight with the sky blue glass. This is the back side of the plate.

                        This is the front side of the plate. The butterflies really shimmer in the light.

 Plate two has dichroic glass turned different ways. The top of this plate is the reverse of the dichroic and you can see below the effect on the back side of the plate. The orange is from a piece of glass called a stringer. It is thinner than a pick up stick and lays nicely between the pieces of glass.

 This was a real surprise. There were 21 blossoms on the Daktura plant today. The moths must have had a great time last night.

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. 

Sharing Glass Art

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

 Seems like it has been awhile since I have shared some of my fused art glass with you. The cat looking up at the night sky is a  four inch plate. The center of the plate shines like the night sky with the help of the gemstone aventurine embedded in the Bullseye 90 COE glass.

 This is one of four new bracelets I have made. I found the base metal bracelets at a store last week. I added  fused glass to create a unique one of a kind bracelet. This blue is as blue as the sea and the greens are as lush as the mountains with all our rain.

 Around the holidays, I was using a lot of red and greens. The green is embedded with aventurine and really sparkles. The first photo of the bracelet is straight on. The one below is a side view.

 If you look closely, you can actually see the camera in this photo. The bracelet has a copper butterfly amid the deep blue violet art glass.

I will be taking these letter openers to the Norton Farmer's Market tomorrow. Doesn't everything look better with art glass?

If you are interested in any of these pieces, just let me know.

Art Glass and Garden Flowers

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

 A nine inch bowl that began with so many pieces of glass cut out, it looked like pick up sticks. The glass is iridescence green, blue and purple on one side and green aventurine on the other side. It reminds me of the potholders you weave across a metal frame adding one loop at a time. Do you remember making those?

 The dove was finished last Sunday afternoon. The blue glass looks like a summer sky with the dove flying peacefully. All the glass art is for sale.

 A mystery lily beginning to unfold. I bought some bulbs early in the spring and thought I was buying something else. It is really beautiful with the pink and yellow flower.

 Last year, an angel's trumpet, dactura, grew in this same spot. I planted one of the seeds as I cast seeds throughout the yard. Three plants are growing. This is the very first bloom, a little spent as the photograph was taken this afternoon in the heat of the day.

These are just some of the blossoms on the plants. I counted 14 on all the plants. Just imagine what they will look like in a week! We had an unexpected visitor today from the woods. A fairly large raccoon was walking past the compost. We were surprised to encounter each other. It made its way quickly back into the woods and I googled to find out that raccoons do come out during the day to eat. Last year I saw a baby raccoons about this same time. Never know what will happen here in the mountains.

Jewelry and Glass Art in the Studio

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

The studio is filled with some fascinating and interesting art.  I thought I would share some of the art in the studio with you. This piece is actually shrinkey dink with glass beads and gemstones on a satin cord. 

 A glass plate that has mutli layers of glass. Wonder what the cat is thinking about?

 I created some leaves in a class I took on cold connections. I made all the copper connectors and wraped the leather to create a very one of a kind necklace.

 This is definitely a one of a kind piece and it was pierced and threaded together. My first attempt with a jewelry saw.

A peaceful sleeping face set on a copper leaf with copper tendrils spiraling down the pendant. These are just a few of the unique and one of a kind art and jewelry in the studio. It is open by appointment only. Do come by and visit. We'll take a stroll in the gardens.

A Long Glass Weekend at Arrowmont

 We arrived at Arrowmont  http://www.arrowmont.org/enriching-lives-through-art in Gatlinburg, Tennessee on Thursday evening. I was taking a glass class with Barbara Cashman from Greensboro, North Carolina.
http://www.custommade.com/by/GlasTile/  I was really intrigued with the idea of using tempered glass and fusing it with other glass. The bowl above is plate glass cracked with a hammer. Really hit the glass hard for it to break. Frit or fine glass like glitter which is compatible to the plate glass is added. First firing is at full fuse and second you slump onto a plate.

 We used Spectrum 96 glass to make sushi plates. Mine is rimmed with frit. We made two of these. We used the Morton system to cut our glass. I cut out the five inches for the bottom and four for the top. The second piece went right over the edge, apparently, it was more than five inches. This also happened to another student.

Freeze and fuse is how these starfish were created. Mix up frit with water and freeze it inside a mold. After an hour in the freezer, take it out and let it stand a bit and then into the kiln it goes.

There are so many possibilities in creating with glass!



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

Glass on a Winter's Day

 While the sun was shinning, I kept seeing streaks of colors next to the computer and several rainbows as well. I thought it would be a nice time to share with you some of my latest glass art creations. The small plate above was somewhat of a challenge with the copper pieces to cut out and place without moving too much. I am thinking I will use a glass glue the next time I want to add flowers.

 Several folks made comments on facebook about the small bunny plate I had made. I had more of the blue green glass, so I created a larger plate and added more copper grass.

 These are some of the newest pieces. This one will be featured in an online shop in April.

 The dichroic glass seemed to radiate in the sunshine.

The dragonfly has a pair of earrings to match. Doesn't it glimmer in the sunlight?


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