Work in progress

My kilns have been working overtime this month getting Christmas gifts made. And a couple of birthday presents as well as two wedding gifts. I'm looking forward to a slow down of "production mode" so I can experiment and play some more!
Last count I think I made 10 candle holders, 6 platters of various sizes, and a couple of bowls. Here are a few examples:

I have a few works in progress that I am so very looking forward to completing also. This first is based on a picture I saw of a Haitian woman in World Pulse Magazine a couple of years ago. I love the gauzy appearance of the dress, and don't want to lose that by over-firing, but do think I am going to play around with adding an additional element -- perhaps a basket or a small patch of weedy vegetation... I will also add some color to make her shoes stand out a slight bit more.

  One of my favorite color combinations. I used a black powder glass with mica in it for the design and it is really sparkly. It will make a lovely bowl!

For this piece I was playing around with colors that contain elements that react with each other. Where the copper-containing blue touches the sulfur-containing cream, a you get a change in color to a smoky gray/brown. I like it especially for this because I wanted it to have an "industrial chic" vibe. I don't think I will be adding additional colors or firing it again, just need to come up with an appropriate way to display it. I may mount it on oxidized copper or distressed wood.

Emo girl -- I've tried a couple of different borders but haven't come up with one I really like yet. I have a new one in mind, however. I think it will be just right!  ;o)

This was a fun exercise in playing with layers of both color and texture. I may make a couple more of these and fire them differently then mount them as a triptych..,

Signing off for now, thank you for visiting!

Playing with texture

I have been so busy working on new techniques that I have had much less time for powder glass drawing than I had hoped! Here are a few pieces I managed to create in breaks between the day to day production of Christmas gifts and ornaments:


This is my favorite of the bunch so far. About 8" square. I'm pretty happy with it, but still considering adding a tiny round circle where the red ball is, to make it stand out a bit more.

 

I still have work to do on this one (a lot of work). I'm planning on adding color, and a swing on the long branch. I like the idea of adding a couple of children, probably in silhouette, because I think they will be a wonderful juxtaposition and contrast to the mature entwined trees. Kind of a play on young love and old love ;o)

And one of my dandelions -- I'm already thinking about how I am going to do the next one!

I've also been really enjoying playing with texture -- here are a couple of pieces I completed this month: 

 This is a bas relief piece that just glows, I used iridescent glass for some extra pizzazz, and it really helps the texture "pop".

For this I played with glass enamels and created a bubbly texture on the surface of the glass. I love the texture and the cool bumpy surface!

Clearly, I need to find someone local who is better than I am at photographing my glass! Here is a close up of the color and texture of the bubble texture piece:

Oh, did I mention Christmas presents? This 8 x 12" platter and 6" square candle dish are just out of the kiln this morning!

And my smaller kiln -- gave these up today!

Finally, and just for fun -- here's my first lidded box. The first picture is of the lid. I held it up to the light so you can see how fabulous it looks with that light shining through it. People have asked if this is granite, you will see why in the next picture, but it's all glass! The lid like this reminds me very much of a koi pond  ;o)

And here is the whole box, with the lid on. I think these will make spectacular "gift boxes" for tiny little special gifts like rings and other jewelry!

I am having so much fun creating -- and the kiln is once again FULL of platters and dishes that will be making their way under the tree very soon!