...uh oh!

...I left you last time with my (I think passable) version of an owl panel, based on an owl by Kenojuak Ashevak the Inuit artist.  I was really pleased with how it turned out, and wanted it to be able to stand freely - well actually, I didn't have a clue about how I was going to hang it on the wall, didn't have the fittings I needed,or the patience for them to arrive, and so went for the 'quick' and lazy option as it was for myself, I would slump it over the largest mold I had and make a large candle screen for myself.
This would serve several purposes -

Christmas 2016 candle shelter

1. It would get me using the mold again ( I hadn't used it since before Christmas, when I used it to make Christmassy scenes for the Etsy Pop Up shop.

Before slumping

2. This would be good practice as I wanted to use it for a celebratory 60th Wedding anniversary candle shelter, and wanted it to turn out right first time if possible.
3. It would save me buying fittings.

Which meant I would be able to stand it up on the window ledge too and get the full colourful effect on a sunny day.

Completed owl

I duly put the piece in the kiln, set the program and wandered off to do something else, knowing full well that it would take 12 or more hours to complete the cycle and cool back down.
    I was really pleased with how it turned out, and took it home to show it off, take some photographs, and carry on assembling my new cabinet that I intended to use as a display on my stall the following weekend.
As you can see, I took a few photographs, and then went on to wire up the cabinet on the dining room table
That was where I went wrong...

...Well, it was lovely while it lasted. :(

A busy few days

I've had a busy few days, well few weeks really. 

I've been busy making for the markets I've had coming up in June - unusually for me, three weekends in a row. 
I've made lots of suncatcher type gifts - so small items really, that often sell well, but take a while longer than larger pieces.  Then my Etsy shop ran out of stars (again!) midweek, so they had to be remade, wired and replaced on stock.
I wondered a few weeks ago if I should be putting things for C******** out at markets, and during a quiet period at one recently, had a discussion with fellow stall holder, and friend from the Cardiff and Valleys Etys team (CaVEtsy), Ruth of Mablijack about the merits of it.  I was assured that I should, as 'people buy throughout the year for...'.

Recent stall at Boutique Gift Market

I know it's only June now, but in the past, I have sold lots of angels/xmas trees/stockings/icicles/robins/stars and other little bits and pieces in the run-up to the dreaded C******** that look great on the tree and what with it being only 26 weeks away..., and as I said they take a while to make. Should I make some now, in anticipation of a rush?

Copper wrapped stars

 This weekend I did a little test.  At the back of my big white tree that I strategically placed a snowflake, a xmas tree, a little angel and a robin. With a liberal sprinkling of stars on my stand, was I likely to sell anything? Would anyone notice and grumble about C******** stuff being out already? Stars are popular throughout the year, so perhaps they are not associated with C******** (by now I'm fed up of typing and counting all the little asterisk's, and I'm sure your fed up of seeing them so we'll just call it Xmas and ignore it shall we?).

Well, surprise surprise (now I've turned into Cilla, bless her) NOT ONE COMPLAINT. The only xmas mentioning comments I had were along the lines of -'those will be lovely on the xmas tree won't they?', and I sold at least one robin for someone's tree among the other bits and pieces that went over the weekend. - Result? Already thinking of designing different angels for this year, and working out how much glass and what colours I need (just incase there's a glass shortage! - I kid you not, with the problems the glass makers have been having In the USA, there may well be.  Let's hope not eh? Or what will I have to show you?

Two more little owls

Two little owls

 In the meanwhile, I'll leave you with these two little beauties ( or should that be four?).  This weekend, whilst waiting for customers to come in out out of the rain  I added a copper hanger on one, and a beaded copper hanger on the other.
True to form, I didn't take photographs, but I was so pleased with how the hangers turned out, they may become part of my ever elusive "style".

... And Everything.

I left you last time with this...

...a seemingly random picture of something awaiting firing inside my kiln.  I guess an explanation is needed.

I make a lot of different things.  I make stained glass; I make fused glass; and I make lampworked glass.  But I would say that even after all this time of making I don't have a signature style.
I think I am seemingly too busy making items that I think may sell, will sell, and generally do sell (even if it is sometimes eventually) to try and develop a style.

As a result, I can honestly say that whenever I attend a craft market to sell, I have something new with me - but I get the impression it hinders me in that I appear have little time to experiment and work things out.  Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy making all that I make, in that it gives me an outlet for some of my ideas.
The latest small experiment are the little police boxes - you can see a picture of them on my Facebook page here - Mini Police box suncatchers

And my Etsy shop is liberally stocked with various random gift-able items including items made from recycled bottles, art glass plates and dishes, and Lampwork beads and jewellery; so I decided a few weeks ago that I needed to try and work on a style.

Anyhow, I seem to be drawn to many different things to inspire me, but I love the work of the late Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak - especially her owls ( if you're interested take a look here - http://canadianart.ca/artists/kenojuak-ashevak/) . (I'm not only glass obsessed, but owl and dragon obsessed too (as my Pinterest boards will testify.)  I thought I would try and do a version of one of her owls as a present to myself.
That first picture was my starting point - brightly coloured very finely ground glass powder layered on clear glass and then fired.

Then, time for a little enamel painting - in order to add details.  This was more awkward than I anticipated, as it's a very long time sine I've used a paintbrush for fine details, and I only had a cheap set of paintbrushes (I think I bought them to use to paint glue on the glass for something or other, and to paint flux onto my copper foil work) so you can imagine how 'fine' the brush was!  I ended up with a thick lined owl!
Never mind - I'll leave it to dry and scrape off what I don't want.
Lots of scraping and quite sometime later it was ready for the next firing - to set the enamel.

Well, that came out OK!

Not bad for a first attempt at painting with enamel (well I was really pleased with it, after all it was for ME!
But it wasn't yet finished!   ...The final chapters of my Kenojuak Ashevak inspired owl will be in my next post...
Don't forget to come back and see ;)

The Universe...

The Universe? I here you ask yourself.

Well in my Universe there is glass, and it's a very good distraction.  I have so many different ideas going around in my head, so many different ideas to try, processes to learn, experiments to carry out.

I have had my new kiln for 21 months now, and have got reasonably used to the way it works; I'm comfortable in that I know how to program it; and reasonably happy that it will do what I want, when I want.

Here is my pride and joy, not long after it arrived!  I know, you've seen it before, but I was sooo excited, and couldn't wait to get using it, and still love it to bits.  It worked hard in the run up to the Christmas Etsy shop, and I am pleased to say it helped make a much better Christmas for Dragon Art Glass than I expected.

In these days of instant media though, pictures tend to be taken on telephones, and tablets. Then they are updated, shared and posted immediately.  I know I'm guilty of doing this.  I think that this is partly why I have been neglectful of my blog.  Yes, I've provided a permanent link to it from my website, but no, I've not updated it :(.

If my blog were my Universe, it would not only be stagnating, but getting ready to implode on itself.  I must not let it do this.  I must be firm with myself, and update regularly.  This is the starting point of my attempt to do this.

Owl and Fox suncatchers

So with that in mind, I've had a dig through my thoroughly organised photographic files - NOT (humph note to self yet another thing to do - organise photographs more logically), and come up with a few recent pictures of things being made in the kiln.  Or more accurately, some of the suncatchers I've made recently arranged in the kiln prior to being fired (left).

The photograph on the right was an experiment.  That I'll tell you all about in the next blog post that WILL be published on Saturday June 18th 2016.

Initial frit firing

So don't forget to come back and take a look!

See you soon!

(Exit Andrea stage right to make a cup of tea, and have another dig through the mounds of photographs taken with the camera, phone and tablet that are stored in various random places on the computer and in online cloud storage!)


Footnote - silly me thinking if I filled in the schedule bit on the right hand side of my screen it would post this for me.  I knew I should have checked it before now. Better late than never eh?