I'm Making More Fused Glass

I haven't been putting many photos of my glass on my blog, so here you go. This is a really cool glass pendant. I used a piece of dichroic glass that has a ripple texture.

After a couple of days rest after the Craft Fair last weekend, I started doing more glass projects. A few weeks ago, I slumped a glass bowl and the edges came out uneven. So, yesterday, I put the glass back in my kiln and fused it flat. I am going to try slumping the glass bowl again, but firing up the kiln much slower.

I'll let you know how it turns out and I'll try to post a picture of it, too.

I'm sorry if I use terms that you don't understand. Let me know if you would like me to explain something. I think I will go "back to the basics" and explain things anyway.

Christine

Check out my Fused Glass Creations!
www.mastersglassart.com

Check out my other Glass Blog!
http://glassart.wordpress.com

I've Been Busy Making Glass for Craft Show this Weekend

Today is the last day I will fire anything in the kiln before the Craft Fair this Fri - Sun.

I am fire polishing some earrings and three pendants. I also made four glass spoon rests and each one is so different. One of them is an amber color, another one is dark blue, another one is white with red shapes, and the last one is a blue iridized glass and I scattered short pieces of yellow stringer (very thin glass) on the top. All the glass I used is Spectrum System 96, www.spectrum.com.

I have been labelling each glass piece with a number and a price and entering the info into an Excel spreadsheet. Today I am taking pictures of everything I have made. For the glass pieces that I sell, I will put photos on the Gallery page of my website: www.mastersglassart.com. For the new glass pieces that I don't sell at the Craft Fair, I will put them on the Products page of our website for you to look at and buy :D

Well, wish me luck at the Craft Fair!! I hope to sell a lot at this Fair :)

Christine


Check out my Fused Glass Creations!
www.mastersglassart.com

Check out my other Glass Blog!
http://glassart.wordpress.com

Kiln is Up and Running and I am Making Lots of Different Glass

Ever since we got the new element installed, I have been firing glass everyday. I made a really cool glass plate! I fused a layer of black glass over a layer of clear glass, then I put my yellow glass lace on top. After fusing all these layers together, I slumped it into an 8" square slumper. I am really happy about that one.

I also slumped some green Kokomo glass into a soap dish mold.

I love basketweave projects. I cut some purple and white opal art glass from Spectrum (www.spectrum.com) into 1/2" strips. I also cut strips with clear glass. Then I laid half of each glass down, so I ended up with four layers of glass. I fused this piece of glass and then slumped it into a Ball mold. It turned out great!! I will take pictures of all these things in a few days, so I can show you what I am talking about :)

Today, my husband and I glued bails onto a slew of pendants I made. I am glad that job is finished.

Christine


Check out my Fused Glass Creations!
www.mastersglassart.com

Check out my other Glass Blog!
http://glassart.wordpress.com

Haven't been able to use my kiln

Last Saturday, I was doing some minor maintenance to my kiln. I was vacuuming out a few things that had fallen to the bottom of my kiln. I was also securing the elements when something happened and one of the elements broke right in half. What a bummer!! :(

I ordered more elements from a great website, www.kilnelements.com. The owner, Stan Horton, was willing to make the elements for my kiln on Sunday and have them in the mail early Monday morning. I received them on Wednesday!! Wow, what service.

My husband and I installed the new element on Thursday, but we needed a heavy duty crimper to finish the job. We went to the "Big City" on Friday, today, and bought what we needed, plus a few other things :)

When we got home, we finished installing the element and fired the kiln up with nothing else in the kiln. It must be to burn off any residue from the new element.

I am all ready to fire some glass tomorrow!!

Christine


Check out my Fused Glass Creations!
www.mastersglassart.com

Check out my other Glass Blog!
http://glassart.wordpress.com

I'm Keeping Busy with Glass

This is one of the pendants I have made recently!! I call it "End of Lava Flow." The red glass was made this way by fusing glass frit. I took some pieces from the final piece and fused it onto a piece of white glass. I think it came out great!

It is a challenge to fire something in my kiln every day!

I have a manual ceramic kiln, which requires a lot of babysitting -- I have to watch the temperature as it heats up and then when I need to hold the temp. for 10-30 minutes, I need to be right by my kiln watching the temp. I also need to carefully watch the temps as I anneal -- making sure the kiln cools off slowly and holding at certain temps.

So, since I have to spend a lot of time by my kiln, which is in our garage, I can't work on my glass, which is in our basement. I can do a little here and there. It's not practical to move the kiln or move my workspace to be next to each other. There just isn't space left in our garage and in the winter, it is pretty cold. I don't want to have the kiln in the basement, because of the fumes when I use kiln shelf paper. Also, my husband spent a lot of time hooking up the 220 volt plug for the garage.

What I really need, of course, is a controller for my kiln. This allows for programming firing schedules, so I wouldn't need to be at the kiln watching the temperature and turning it up or down when I need to. We are going to get something better when our tax return comes, so I can't wait for that!


Christine



Check out my Fused Glass Creations!
www.mastersglassart.com

Check out my other Glass Blog!
http://glassart.wordpress.com