Thursday's Stuff

For anyone interested in checking out Davo's writings, his blog has some links to places where he has just published. My congrats to him for the hard work and persistence required to get there.

I was going to go to a glass shop and buy some glass for an open studio tomorrow, but I chose not to since I had nothing designed, so my glass buying would be rather haphazard, and no doubt expensive as a result. I believe the open studios are monthly, so I should be able to design some stuff in time to prep properly for the next one.

I have been posting pictures on my Facebook page that show all the work from my class so far, though my own comments are not quite what they are here. This is the circle image I posted last week, but it has been fused. The bright orange where the other piece had been clear is due to that glass being "striker," meaning it changes into its true color after you have added the appropriate amount of heat. While not obvious in this photo, my nice clean lines between the colors aren't quite abutting each other in many places. I was told this is due to the fact that the upper layer of pieces, while in the kiln heating up begins to float a bit on the lower layer, which is why you can see some bends in the formerly straight stringers that I had placed on top of the piece. Of course, after I asked, I also learned that if I had built my party-colored circle under the piece of clear glass, then there would have been less float and my joins would have been more precise. Of course, my instructor decided to mention that doing that was impractical in a class since it is impossible to move pieces around that aren't glued together if changes in the kiln arrangement had been required to fit other student's work. So I learned a little something, and I still think my circle bowl will be fun. I am thinking it might be cool to make one with white opaque glass on top and a multi-colored layer below, though I would make the lower level fairly simple.

Decisions, decisions...