Time...or lack of...

Posts will take a bit longer since...good news is I found a job.....bad news is it takes time away from my glass.

Side 2

1 of 4 panels

Well it's a start. Here's the first of 4 panels for the lamp shade.

I forgot how long it takes to do this. I spent about 7 hours to get just this one panel done. Whew-3 more to go.

It has been over 8 years since I've done lead or copper foil. I've basically been doing fused pieces since 1992? There was a lot of relearning to do.

Note: 60/40

Well with all the time put into the "I Love Paris" song challenge, it's fate (I guess) that I didn't have time to finish the project. So another challenge has gone by for me.

What's on my mind right now is to make something to enter into the LA County Fair competition. Last year (or maybe it was the year before, I made the cartoon and bought the glass for a lamp shade. It's still sitting in the garage, glass still in sheets and the cartoon uncut. Maybe some day I'll make it.

What I'm doing, or intend to do, is a 4-paneled lamp shade (my own design) all cut from clear glass with texture being the only difference between each features-moutain, ground, sky and clouds. Should be easy right? Only 4 different glass textures? I had the different glass laid out and I'm not too sure about this now. I can see where the mountains need to be the most textured since it's the main feature and needs to draw the most attention. I'll start to cut tomorrow and see what starts to come to life. I even think I'll do the base in clear glass, but on a wood base-black.

Highlights or notes to remember:
-Patina in black
-Wood base painted black
-Glass base with copper pipe for conduit (patina black?)
-Copper foil with black backing (If I still intent to patina black)
-Do I want to have a secondary light in the base?
-Since this is all clear glass, the light bulb will show so this may have to be decorative.
-Since this is all clear glsss, the light bulb with be bright so a lower watt might be more desirable.

Here are the 4 original cartoons (AKA patterns).





The humble beginnings...

Yin/Yang glass clay

I did 2 firing yesterday, one successful and the other....

The first firing I did was supposed to be a slump. It was a water scene that I was going to slump over the bottom of a bowl mold, instead of into it. I put the piece in the kiln and fired like I had done a few times before:
Lo for 20 minutes. Every 10 minutes after, I turned it up a level. At 60 minutes, the temp in the kiln was at 1000 so I turned it to HI. I peeked into the kiln (through the peep hole) to see if I could tell where the glass temp was (red hot or not). When I saw the glass, it looked like it had fallen off the mold so I decided to open up the kiln. To my disappointed surprise, the piece was broken into several pieces. So I turned off the kiln and waited for it to cool. I can either start over or just forget this piece. I don't want to admit this, but I am disappointed that this cracked so I'm not taking a picture.

Onto the next firing. It is for the group competition - Theme is Butterflies or other garden insects.
So here are 2 possibilities to enter...


Yin/Yang - Woodland Brown/Green and Brown Streaky
Dragonfly - Powder Blue made into glass clay.
Wings - Irid ripple



Yin/Yang - Translucent Purple/ Soft Yellow Opal, Deep Red
Dragonfly - Gold Purple powder made into clay
Wings - Clear Herringbone ripple with PearlEx brushed on top
Uroboros marigold powder

Next on the list:
-Pick on to enter
-Post on on etsy
-Start the next one of sunset/sunrise

NOTE: The glass clay doesn't soften out like I thought it would. Any defects are still visible so they must be smoothed out before firing. Of course now that I say this, anything I intend to stay will soften out and disappear.
-Finish the Song competition
-Get ideas on what to make/enter for the Fair

Paris in the fall

Onto the second firings because the powder pulls together trying to become a certain thickness and creating gaps.

Once these are fired a second time, I'll know if I have to do a third. I'm hoping it won't be required since that's more time, I'll lose some of the texture, and it's recommended 3 firings max (though I've fired some things more than that).

Now I have an idea on how I want this displayed, but I might be DQed from the competition. I'll pose the question to the group and see what they say, but I'm envisioning all 4 tiles framed separately but considered as one piece.

I'm going to the thrift store to see if I can find some frames that are identical and I can alter. I'll need several frames to do this so they are going to have to be the same frames. Luckily there's a good thrift store walking distance from me. No carbon footprint to get them (if I can find them there) and recycling ;) Yeah!

I LOVE PARIS Encore2

Summer after first firing
Winter after first firing
Spring after first firing
Fall before fired
So the next step is:
-Fire Fall tile
-Add more powder to the other fired tiles
-Figure out how I'm going to arrange the tiles, how I want to see this displayed, etc.

NOTE: The Winter tile seems to be dark and shows up the best when light is shining through the back.

Song title competition and I LOVE PARIS

The competition is to create a piece inspired from a song title so I started thinking of singers, bands, songs, etc. that I liked. Most were hard for me to conceptualize as a glass piece.

John Denver's Rocky Mountain High...
John Denver's Eagle and the Hawk...
Bette Midler's The Rose...
Eagles' Desperado...and the list goes on.

I am admittedly a Francophile. So when I found out that a friend is stranded in Paris right now (boo hoo, right?), I started thinking there must be songs about Paris, with Paris in the title...Bingo!

Cole Porter wrote "I Love Paris" sung by Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole (and I'm sure others too).

So the chorus of:
I love Paris in the springtime
I love Paris in the Fall
I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles
I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles
made me think of a piece showing an iconic Paris thing in the four seasons.
I started by drawing the Eiffel Tower with black Liquid Stringer onto 4 separate clear tiles and let them dry before adding the powder frit.

Winter before firingSpring before firing

I have Winter in the kiln right now. I want to see how it turns out and if the clouds look good, I'll add a top layer of white to Spring for depth and interest.

Now I wish I had a bigger kiln so I can fire more than one tile at a time but since space is limited, I should just be happy that I have a kiln.

FIRST GLASS CLAY PC

-Image stamped is a bit too subtle but I don't know if that's because of the dark color clay or the stamp itself.
-BE Midnight Blue used to make the clay (with some silver pixie dust used on the stamp first)

Firing:
Starting Temp 80 deg
AFAP to 1370 and hold 10 min

Lo
At 10 min, temp=330
HI 32 min, temp=1370
Hold and off
Total kiln time 43 min.

I was using Barry Kaiser's tutes for making and firing the clay.

Accepting the unexpected...Again

The canary yellow swirls were done with the LS I made and put into a squeeze bottle. I traced a swirls onto a commercial wax paper (it's actually the wrapping from some graham crackers) and let the LS dry before placing on top of BE black.

I see the potential of this method. The LS was not a smooth finish, but I might be able to solve this by holding at 1450 longer. I was hoping for an enamel-like finish. I might be able to get this effect if I play around with the thickness of the LS swirls or designs, the length I hold at 1450, etc.

I didn't hold the temp at 1000 degrees and maybe that's why it bubbled. I also didn't add any chads, which also may have helped.



Here I tried to make my own glass bale, fusing directly onto a finished piece. Mistake!
First- I forgot about the rule that the glass wants to be at a specific thickness. So when this was fired, some stayed and some parts shrunk.
Second-I didn't have the cap piece wide enough (see the exposed fiber paper).
Third-I fired this design down, which created an added texture, which I didn't want. Even though I fired on fiber paper, it just doesn't produce a smooth, shiny finish.

More learning lessons ;)

Firing schedule - Starting temp 69 deg
Lo
At 47 min, temp = 570, increase to L2
At 1:15, temp = 775, increase to L3
At 2:00, temp = 1040, increase to L4 (no hold)
At 2:17, temp = 1235, increast to L5
At 2:50, temp = 1450. Held for 34 min.
At 3:24, turned off kiln to cool overnight.

3 firing - slump

Manual Firing Schedule
Starting Temp 85
Lo
After 20 min, temp=400, up to L2
30 min, temp=540, up to L3
40 min, temp=685, up to L4
50 min, temp=838, up to L5
60 min, temp=990, turn to HI
1:12, temp=1350 and draped fully.
Flash cooled until temp read 1200 deg.
Put lid back on and turn kiln off.

I didn't keep an eye on the kiln after turning to HI. I was surprised that it got that hot in 12 minutes and that it was draped to where I wanted it to be.

This is a stainless steel tea cup mold. Even the circles seem to end up more square-like.

2nd firing

The stringer didn't flatten out, which I was surprised. I took the temp up to 1450, but I didn't hold it.


The texture stayed where I applied the second layer of stringer. Next phase is to slump.

Manual Firing Schedule:
Note: Starting temp in kiln - 85 deg

Lo for 60 min.
At 60 min, temp=670, turned up to L2
At 1:30, temp=900, turn up to L3
At 2:00, temp=1050, turn up to L4
At 2:20, temp=1240, turn up to L5
At 2:30, temp=1330, turn up to L6
At 2:42, temp=1450
Turn kiln off and let cool overnight.

Second phase of the liquid stringer

Gecko after being fired.


You can see where the green has pulled away from the black outline. I filled in the space with more green, went over some of the lines that were too light with the black stringer, and let dry fully.



Now I have to wait until it is out of the kiln, after the second firing. I also added some of the details to the ladybugs.

I'm hoping the green doesn't pull away from the black outline again.

Alto Relif

I am so thrilled that I got Honorable Mention on this piece.


Piece Installed

Yes this is a re-post but I'm so thrilled. The ravens, my BFs favorite bird because they are intelligent, a spiritual symbol in some cultures, and mate for life are the perfect symbol for our home. The clear vs black is also sort of a yin/yang thing.

Liquid Stringer test

I mixed up 2 colors of liquid stringer: BE Red and BE Jade Green. I tried to write with these 2 samples, but the edges softened and spread. I don't know the why it is doing this. Maybe the CMC wasn't thick enough. Or maybe because I added some water when mixing in order to be a smoother consistancy. I didn't add much water, though. If I didn't add the water, the consistancy was like an overly-dry cake mix.

My technique for the leaves is this:
I used the Liquid Stringer I bought as the outline for the leaves. I drew this over a heating pad so it would dry out quicker. One dry (or started to dry out), I filled in the space with the jade green LS I made. I filled it farely heavy-handed, but didn't take it all the way to the edge. I let it bleed over to the outline before adding more.

As for the ladybugs, I drew 3 but only added the head with the black LS to one. I'm planning on firing once to see how it turns out. After it's fired, I'll add the head and dots to the ladybugs.





Here I cut out a gecko with a saw and used the LS I made to add some detail. I didn't let this dry before placing in the kiln. My intention is to fire at a slower pace in the beginning.

Glass Clay

MAKING GLASS CLAY
I took a small amount of the prepared CMC and added powdered frit (BE Red). I don't have the exact proportions but I started with about 50/50 CMC to powder. It wasn't the right clay-like consistancy that I was hoping for so I added about 1/2 tsp more powder. It still wasn't right so I added more powder. It was more clay-like at this point. I "molded" one piece with just this combination and I added a few drops of aloe vera gel to another test.

I like the consistancy with the aloe vera gel so I have to remember this.

When working with this, it reminded me of a very sticky dough.

I made 2 lady bugs and used a wet paintbrush to smooth any lines. Now I need to wait for this to dry.
NOTE: When I went back to check on these, the one with the aloe vera added had flattened out. At first I didn't know if that's because of the aloe vera addition or too much water on the brush. So I slightly rewet the original piece and reformed it. When the surface was dry, I applied the black line for the wings and the spots using the Liquid Stringer(tm) Black that I already had. I think there must have been too much water in the brush, and not caused by the aloe vera, because when I reformed the ladybug, it was fine after it dried.



24 hours later I fired the ladybugs.
Kiln Notes:
Items in the kiln: 1 flat piece with Liquid Stringer writing, 1 pc (butterfly) with PearlEx and the 2 ladybug glass clay pieces

Starting kiln temp: 64 degrees
Turn on Lo.
At 15 min., temp at 500 deg. Increase to Level 1.5
At 60 min., temp at 700 deg. Increase to Level 2.0
At 90 min., temp at 900 deg. Hold 15 minutes
1325 AFAP (reaches this temp in 5 minutes) Hold 30 minutes.
Turn kiln off and let come to room temp.
Total cook time 2:15
Final results. This may have to be taken up to fire polish next time. I don't know how much height and detail would be lost at that temp. Will have to play around with it. It did shrink as expected - about 25% - but I'm happy with the results overall.

Next test will have to either be up to fire polish or use the CMC to make liquid stringer. I need to get a squeeze bottle in order to really test that.

Making my own liquid stringer and glass clay - RECIPE for Powder Line Medium

INGREDIENTS:

•1/4 cup CMC
•2 cups water (distilled preferred but not required. NOTE I used reg tap water)
DIRECTIONS:

•Boil water.

•Add CMC, stirring in slowly to minimize clumping.NOTE: I basically dumped the powder in and it formed white, clumps with the powder inside the clumps (see photo). I smashed the clumps on the side of the pot to get rid of them.


•Stir until mixed. There will be lots of lumps at this point - that's okay.


•Allow the mixture to sit and cool for 24 hours.
IMPORTANT:

•CMC is used as a food additive and is non-toxic. This recipe can be safely prepared in your kitchen.
NOTE: The package I picked up at my local ceramic supply place (Laguna Clay) has a warning that there are known carcenogens in the package and should not be used near food preparation. I'm hoping this is just a generic warning, but I did take precautions.
1. I'm using an old pot that will be dedicated to only making this.
2. I'm using a spoon to stir that will only be used for this.
3 I used a dust mask.
4. I prepared this all outdoors since it was a nice day. I can also do this in the glass studio if the weather doesn't permit.

•CMC consistency varies among manufacturers. You may need to experiment if you are not getting the consistency that you want.

•This mixture can be thinned by adding water. It cannot be thickened by adding CMC. This is why many people choose to intentionally mix the PLM extra thick and thin as needed

18 Hours Later

All the undisolved lumps are gone and it has gelled. The consistancy is like gelatin. My best description is like chicken stock that you make at home and cook down for hours. Then you put it into the fridge and the next day it is alot like jello. Well that's my best description for this, except a bit thicker.

Now this is ready to use to make glass clay or liquid stringers.

Here's the finished pieces installed.





There's a space above the window AC that was a corregated plastic filler that became brittle and cracked over the years since it is west-facing. Granted it's 10 years old and we don't use the AC much (too noisy and does't cool a non-insulated, western-facing wall in So Cal very well) so it gets forgotten throughout time.

This was a compromise of sorts since the idea for that space, as little as it is, has changed many times. My boyfriend and partner in life said he had an idea of what he wanted to see there and wanted to make it. Time passes on and I had my own ideas, but not expressed to him.

My original idea was a 4-panel piece showing the same tree in each of the seasons. I've seen this in a series of perfume bottles that I absolutely adored. I bought rods to do the leaves on the torch, but ended up tabling that idea. Note I said "tabling" because things always change around here.

The compromise came to light since he likes ravens and I wanted to do a piece for a monthly challenge. Lightbulb goes on and I can "kill 2 birds with one stone."


I wish I remembered to take a before picture of the broken plastic. Well it now houses another glass piece.

So here's more technical info:
This was done with BE clear thin, BE thin black strings, BE thin black, fiber paper and fiber blanket.

I make the background with the stringers and a blowtorch. I suppose I could have used the stringer glass but 1) I would have to go and get that and 2) I wanted the stringers to be in specific locations.

Once the stringers were "made", I partial fused them to the clear.

The second firing was with the raven that I cut out with the saw. I used 1/4" fiber paper to cut out the raven and then backed it for more depth with another raven cut from fiber blanket.

The fiber blanket was placed on the kiln shelf and the clear was placed on top of that. The black raven is on top. They are placed to look like they are sitting on top of the stringers. This idea was from a KCET (local PBS station) commercial where birds perched on wired give a composer an idea. Well it worked for me too. This piece was then taken to a partial fuse.

Spring is here with new ideas

Since I'm using this as my on-line notebook, I'm also going to jot down some ideas so I don't forget them. So often I have an idea, but when it comes down to producing them, I can't remember what I thought to do.




I love to see the written word on things, mainly as a background to something. And I'm more into functional art rather than just having something pretty sitting around (just collecting dust). I know - too practical sometimes. But form does follow , right?


So here's some things I plan on producing for the spring/summer

1. garden art - Colorful geckos, etc
2. veggie garden markers. I've been working on this but hasn't come out
3. plates with sayings

A lot has been happening in the last 90 days.

-Made a few more things.

- Ordered and received my business cards from http://www.vistaprint.com/ for shipping cost only. I guess I should get a license now ;)

- Posted more things on www.etsy.com/shop/hauteglasser

- Started a new blog for the etsy site hauteglasser.blogspot.com (I know - so original)

- Got a new email address hauteglasser@yahoo.com

-Made a powder tool. I've seen the "Powervibe" and figured I could make one for less. I went to Target and got an electric kid's toothbrush because it was on sale for less than $5.00. I prided off the brush part and wrapped wire around the sides and taped it. I have a metal cone-shaped frosting tip so I'm using that. It may not be pretty, but it works and it only cost me a few $.

Ideas and things down the pike:

1.Personal totem pole for our bedroom

2. Trying to get a good, cute tiger done for a nightlight to post on etsy. Trying to keep with the year of the tiger theme and it seems like there's been a baby boom lately. So far I haven't been happy with the results though.