Inspired Sunset

Fast Forward a few days and here's another firing for this piece. Do you feel the mountain breezes?

This started as a broken circle, creating interesting angles. Shall I say..LEMONADE?

This is inspired by a friend and I'm back to continue it.

Did I ever explain what this will be? All the colors of the rainbow will be used to create this colorful sunset/sunrise and the triangular mountains will be held within this circle.

Step 1-I applied 9 colors of powders and took it to full fuse. The shelf broke but gave me an interesting shape so I'm keeping it.

This is Step 2-more of 3 colors have been applied for more saturation. Let's see what it looks like after firing.

Knowing when enough is enough

I couldn't get the looks I wanted but I keep trying (ie-adding more powder). I still might be able to salvage this piece, but not before the art show and not exactly the image I was hoping for. I'll post more if/when I work on this some more.


I wouldn't call this piece a failure, but I should have stopped with just the original image. I tried to add koi with blue and that ended up looking like a blue smudge. So I decided to try and cover it up with a red koi. Next time when I'm happy with an image, I'm stopping there!

So much news

I can't believe it's been 3 months since I last posted! The last post was on a kiln shelf that ended up breaking and it caused the glass to "twist." Of course I normally have the shelf on the floor, but this time I decided to put it up on posts..Arggg. I won't make that mistake again.

Do I start this blog with all the problems I've had lately? Or the successes? I'll start with the problems first so I can end on a positive note.


Lately it seems like I've has so many pieces break or just come out with problems.

I had 2 night lights that broke when I tried to slump it. Then there's the one I mentioned above where the kiln shelf broke. And a piece I really liked (pictured below before cold working) but then the corner broke off when I was using the lap grinder. This was a very disappointing accident since I liked the way this piece turned out and I used a new technique of making "glass paper" and a punch for the cherry blossoms.

I liked this one :( It broke on my way to use the lap grinder in class.

These two nightlights stuck to the mold I made from fiberboard. Go figure! I thought glass won't stick to fiberboard, but I'm wrong and here's another learning lesson.

AND when I went to take pictures of these mishaps, I knocked over a "painting" from powder frit I had waiting for the next firing! There went that hour wasted.

So on top of these mishaps, I just found a dead lizard that I didn't know was in the window when I shut it. AND the baby bird that is nesting in the bush by my studio was scared out of it's nest by my dogs. I finally caught it, made a nest out of an empty plastic container and old strips from a t-shirt, and I stuck him(her?) back into the bush. The momma and daddy birds were very protective when my dogs were there and when I was rescuing their baby. I'm hoping they'll take care of their baby and continue giving it warmth and food. I think if this baby survives tonight, things should be fine.

On a more positive note, back at the beginning of May I found out I was accepted to a juried art show on June 9th so I've been busy making pieces for this show. The weeping cherry blossom was supposed to be one of the items to sell but you just read what happened to that piece.

Not all pieces have been failrues. Here are some pieces I think are successful:
I made a base with a small light for these two sconces but I really think they would look better as a true wall sconce. Unfortunately that would mean I would have to buy the wall hardware, which is really expensive. As an test alternative, I bought a few T brackets from the hardware store and will have to use a bench vice to bend these to fit the pieces.




The ginko tile was originally make for the holidays, but I wasn't happy when it came out of the kiln and never finished it. But I'm happy with it as a tile for this box.











There are a few more pieces that need to be finished (hopefully) for the show. I have one in the kiln now and the other piece needs many more firings so I should be posting again soon.

Start of a new project-inspired by a friend

Here's the start of my next piece. It inspired by a friend.

This is the first layer where I added powder frit for a sunrise/sunset. It is up to the view to decide. I hoping to use all the colors of the rainbow. Here's the list of colors at this level:

White
Pink Opal
Dusty Lavender
Gold Blue
Midnight Blue
Oregon Gray
Marigold
Orange

Giraffe night lite

Here's a night light made for an upcoming baby shower.

This is the finished product.

First fuse was to make the letters and giraff.
Started at L2, kiln vented for 1 hour-to 750 deg. Closed vent and increased to L4.
@1130 deg. - 40 min incresed to L5
Kiln temp at 1350 deg. in 30 min. Hold 15 minutes.
Kiln off and cool overnight to room temp.

Total Kiln Time: 2 hr. 25 minutes, then cool

Fuse to BE White Lace thin
Start at L2 for 2hr 15 min. Temp at 1000. Increase to L4.
Temp at 1200 in 30 minutes. Increase to L5.
Temp at 1325 in 15 minutes. Hold 15 minutes.
Off and cool overnight to room temp.

Total Kiln Time: 3 hr. 15 min.

Slump
Start at Lo. Temp. at 560 deg. in 60 min. Increase to L2
Increase 1 level every 10 min.
Temp at 1300

First new method of the year-FnF-first attempts

Here is what's been going on lately in my studio. As you can see, I'm not the one doing any work in there.

I've been wanting to try a method called Freeze N Fuse, so my friend's upcoming baby shower made me shake off the laziness and just try this method since I found the molds around Christmas time at Sur La Table and Michaels for this very occasion. The above picture was my first attempt. I don't think it was successful because 1) I should have held it at 1325 longer so it would have more of a shine, and 2) the shrinkage pulled the three pieces apart.

2nd attempt with some success and not much thought. Actually I fired the one piece on the background twice. The second time it popped off and shifted, which is why it's off center. I didn't want to waste kiln shelf space so I fired the one dinosaur FnF by itself, to much success. If only I'd learn quickly from these moments.

3rd try...Not anywhere close to being successful for the same, and for other reasons. Ummm...shall I repeat shrinkage? I know this about powder and frit but I just didn't remember it. I also lost some detail by trying the two colors on Mr. Monkey.

Well I had my ah-ha moment when I realized I should fuse the pieces individually, and then do a second fuse to the background.

So now my forth attempt is in the kiln as I type.

More to follow when it's out of the kiln. Time is running out to make this night light. If this is successful, I'll have some on my etsy site. And I'm thinking of trying another on-line site called Art Fire. I'll have to check into the costs for that.

Additional tools to make this method work:
Squeeze bottle for water (used empty Glass Tac bottle filled with water)
Q-Tips to wipe off the excess powder from parts of the mold
Chocolate mold
small paint brush
paper towels to blot excess water