I'm taking fused glass class at Visual Arts again this session. We are so fortunate to have a facility like VisArts (formerly The Hand Workshop) in Richmond. The studio spaces are so nice and the classes cover everything from painting to letterpress to weaving to glass. I like taking the advanced glass class mostly because it gets me back to working on glass. We all work on our own projects but there's help whenever you need. Some of the people have been taking this class every session for 6 years! It's inspiring to see what everyone else is making. My current interest is in quilt blocks. I like making these sun catchers and it's very good practice for cutting glass.....something that I'm still not great at! I cut out the pieces for this and one other quilt last week and fired this one over the weekend. I love red and gray so this one might be a keeper! I still have to add the hanging chain but otherwise it's done. Here's what the kiln looked like before firing. My kiln has a round shelf and it's not a huge kiln so I can only do one big quilt block in a firing. But I can't stand to fire the kiln with just one item so I try to fill the shelf as much as possible. I added in some 4" square pinwheel blocks (pay attention to the colors of the red pinwheels) and experimented with some Christmas ornaments. The ornaments are a great way to experiment with different colors/materials/techniques. It's also a great use of scrap glass. Yes, even glassmaking creates scrap bins! Here are all of the little Christmas trees. They are about 4" tall. Some are definitely better than others but they all turned out pretty cute. Here are the 4" pinwheel blocks. Did you notice that the orange isn't orange before firing? Some glass, especially reds, oranges and yellows "strike" to a different color. That causes problems when you don't organize your scrap glass well (like me). Sometimes I get surprised and not in a good way. I also experimented with top vs corner hangers. I thought the 4: block might be too big for a corner hanger, but it isn't. Here are my next projects. I'm gluing up a Card Trick block in turquoise. The blue circles are just bottle caps that I'm using as risers and not by bad design sense. The first block into the kiln is another in reds and yellows and some more test ornament blocks.
I don't know how quickly I'll be able to get these finished and fired. I try not to impose deadlines with my glass projects. They will be done when they are done.....like my wall!
Tina in NJ
5/4/2016 11:46:45 am
I hope at least some of these end up in the shop! I love those pin wheel glass blocks - i used to work with stain glass years ago - no classes - hubby and I learned with books and taught ourselves to cut (our fingers too LOL) and made some lamps, we still have one lamp in the house that I made and one window - I really think this led me to quilting - glass was expensive and took up a lot of room to work but so does quilting of course - I think what you are doing with the kiln is great.
Jean Bellefeuille
5/4/2016 05:52:49 pm
Love the quilt blocks and the ornaments! What a great way to play and experiment with those lovely pieces of glass. 5/4/2016 06:34:42 pm
I have my checkbook out, no pressure, LOL!! I would like to feature your glass on my May Is For Makers series.
Lynne in Hawaii
5/5/2016 01:45:02 am
Love it all! The quilt block pieces, the Christmas trees. I love your creativity and all the different mediums you dabble in! 5/5/2016 06:43:36 am
Love the Christmas decorations, and the stars in the next firing look really interesting! 5/5/2016 08:54:59 am
The color strike difference is really interesting. I will look forward to seeing the last one in reds and yellows - to see how it finishes. -As it is right now, I love it.
Kristin F
5/5/2016 08:58:11 am
I love all the glass blocks! Love the colors in the card trick block. And the Christmas trees are lovely ornaments.
Claire Christiansen
5/5/2016 10:47:34 am
Love the trees. They would make great pendants too.
peaceful
5/5/2016 07:07:19 pm
I love the ornaments. My favorites are the trees. Will watch for them in the shop.
peaceful
5/5/2016 07:13:30 pm
...another thought: the trees would also look great with the bubbles!
patty
5/9/2016 09:23:31 am
Beautiful glass. Those trees are very cute. Comments are closed.
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I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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