Summer at the Glass House

August 20, 2015 – Summer at the Glass House

I wasn’t sure I’d have time to do much fused glass work this summer, but I signed up for a 7-week session at the Workhouse anyway.  It turned out to be a surprisingly productive couple of months.  I completed 12 pieces, made numerous components that I’ll use in the future, and have started work on several more pieces that I’ll finish up in the fall.  I took advantage of the opportunity to experiment with some new techniques and materials.  I’m most excited about the sandblasting that produces a matte finish on the glass.  You can see that in the two pieces below:

I also did two pieces with photo transfers.  In the first, I used one of my own photographs.  It’s a view of my former house in a small French village.  

For the second photo transfer piece, I printed out a quote that I found in a fascinating book on neuroplasticity of the brain, The Brain that Heals Itself by Norman Doidge.  You’ll also notice that I used some frit (small fragments of glass) that reacted with the base color.  

During one of our class sessions, we used the vitrograph.  This machine allows you to make “stringers,” thin strands of glass that you can manipulate into curves while they’re hot.  By putting several colors of glass into the vitrograph machine, you can make stringers that contain a rainbow of colors.  I took pieces of the vitrograph stringers I made and placed them on a circle of French vanilla glass before fusing the piece.  

My instructor, Sandi Martina, encouraged us to try recycling various types of glass.  This is a piece I made using shattered tempered glass.  I love the amorphous, organic shape. 

I experimented with the reactive qualities of glass in the next piece, which includes both opaque and transparent glass.  Certain glass colors contain copper or sulfur that react with other colors or with silver.  When the reaction takes place, a halo is formed.  I also applied some circles of silver foil to the surface of the glass before the second firing.  Finally, I created recessed circles on the underside of the glass by using a material called Fiber Frax.  This process is called kiln carving.  

If you remember the pot melt I made in the spring, you’ll see that I incorporated it into the piece below.

The largest piece I made is about 11 inches square.  The focal point is a broad band of thin stripes created by setting stringers into reeded glass.  

There was plenty of time to make dots and cabochons.  In the photo below, you see the pieces of glass for dots and cabochons arranged on the shelf of a small kiln prior to firing.  

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The cabochons in the piece below came from fragments of a puddle, i.e. a stack of 7 squares of glass that was fired and then broken into rough chunks.  The chunks can be  fired again to make cabochons – or they can be fused “as is” onto a piece.  The results are always a surprise!  

Just to finish up the session, I made a couple of small dishes using one of my favorite colors of transparent glass.  

 

Classes at the Workhouse are on break now until the fall session starts in late September.  However, I’ll be going in for open studio time before the end of the month and I’ll also be working in my studio at home.