Fall Glass Harvest

Fall Glass Harvest – 2016

I’ve had a productive fall season at the glass studio.  Several pieces are finished while others are awaiting their final slump or drape fusing.  For the past seven weeks, I’ve been taking a class taught by a wonderful instructor, Rhonda Gilbert, a glass artist at the Workhouse Arts Center.  If you have an interest in exploring the medium of fused glass, I encourage you to sign up for a weekend workshop or a longer course. 

I hope you can stop by the Mantua Made Market on Saturday, November 12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  It’s indoors at the Mantua Pool & Tennis Clubhouse, located at 9330 Pentland Place, Fairfax, VA 22031.  I’ll be displaying and selling my fused glass there, and you’ll also find work by many other Mantuan artists and artisans.  Food will be available for purchase. 

Here is a sample of some of my recently-completed work:

Iridized glass (gold on black and silver on black) form the border for a piece of Bullseye glass that combines French vanilla with aquamarine.  A chemical reaction takes place between the sulfur or selenium contained French vanilla and the copper containing aquamarine, creating the shades of brown.   

 

Both are “bubble” pieces, created by using 2 layers of glass stringers.  The process of creating the diagonal plaid was extremely long and painstaking. 

I did some work with stencils for the first time.  For the red dish, I used a stencil and applied gold mica powder to create the design.  For the votive, I used pale tints of Bullseye glass powders with the stencil. 

(before fusing)

This votive incorporates copper leaf sandwiched between 2 layers of glass.  When the copper is in contact with clear Tekta glass, it turns a blue.  When the copper is contact with a reactive white glass, it turns a dark red color.  You see, there’s a lot of chemistry involved in glass fusing.  

Small squares of iridized glass (gold on black and silver on black) alternate with squares of French vanilla to form a checkboard pattern in this 5x5 inch piece.

Cobalt blue is one of my favorite colors.  This 9x5 inch piece uses irregularly shaped pieces of cobalt blue glass along with various frits.