Let the Projects Roll

Coffee in the Washington DC skyline mug (it has fireworks on it--appropriate for the day) (thank you again Barbara!), "Too Bad About Your Girl" by the Donnas on iTunes. The drape vase at right was made from the pate de verre wafer that I made when I did the pate de verre bowl (see the picture of it flat just post-fuse in the post below, "All in but One").

I really like this technique! The frit I used was #1 (sugar grain), #2 (kosher salt) and #3 (rock salt) all mixed together, but when it is sprinkled onto a flat surface, the smallest grains fall to the bottom. This creates an interesting effect in terms of color and surface texture on the inside of the piece (second picture). I need to work a bit on the draping schedule for this one as the wafer is too fragile and tears apart in the middle if draped too quickly (shown but almost impossible to see in the third picture).

This piece was done for fun. It won't be in the book, nor will it make it into my product line. I may, however, work on the technique and combine it with other things into a piece for Corning's New Glass Review or Bullseye's eMerge competitions this year. The only competition I entered last year was Niche, but this year--because of the amount I am having to stretch my repertoire-- I hope to have entries for all three.

Second project shown is a quick pocket vase I did out of clear tekta just to test the technique and a firing schedule. It turned out pretty much as expected except for some needlepointing on the topmost edge. The finished piece inspired me enough to see the colors and pattern for it, and to work out a final project which is simple enough for a beginner, and nice enough to be something more than just a learning piece.

So what to do today... first off I think I will inventory all the finished pieces I have in the studio. I have let my inventory get completely out of control since, oh, February. I have a solo trunk show Thursday night at Creative Spirit Gallery in Decatur as part of Decatur's Third Thursday Gallery Tours. I have assured Becky I have enough work, but I should inventory today just in case so I can whip up new work to fill in any gaps.

I also need to get my materials orders in to Hoy's and Bullseye. On the subject of materials I found a great source for clock parts yesterday. They have atomic clock mechanisms, reverse clocks, cuckoo clock parts, and pendulum mechanisms. If I weren't already so over-extended I would consider making a bunch of clocks for fun and product. I did buy five mechanisms as one of the book projects is a clock.

Today's book project test is the windchimes/mobile. I want to do the mobile so I think I'll ask Dave to help me with the math. In the book this project will be painted float glass but I don't have the paints or the tin scope yet so I will just use more tekta (Bullseye's machine rolled fusible clear).

I will round out the day with some paperwork (mostly bills and billing) and shipping (catalog and commission).