Etsy Listing for Aug. 27th

Just listed these on my Etsy - the colors are great in these, prolly my favorite set so far.

Etsy Listing for Aug. 26th

Fumed and etched hollows, meant to look like beach stones- up on my Etsy.

Vine and Crackle Hollow Set

Another set destined for Etsy, let's hope it sells like the others. I'm running out of hollows to list..must torch later. These have been etched and I love the sound they make when they rub together, kind of like stones.

Etsy Listings

I've been fighting the internet all day trying to get listings up on Etsy, let's hope the connection lasts. The crackled trio is already listed and I plan to list the other two sets later today. Hope I'm not overloading you on pics, but if you're like me- the more pics, the better..enjoy :)

Fumed Hollows

More fumed hollows- what is it w/ me and hollows?! They look substantial, but are nice and light strung together. I somehow got more orange this time and it looks pretty interesting in person. Can't decide if I should etch some just to see the difference, just don't want to lose the nice colors. I love how the base glass curdles and makes it look almost faceted when the light hits the beads. It's hard to get these photographed since my lights are reflected so strongly. Hope you all aren't too tired of seeing this style. :) Have a wonderful weekend, all.

Big Hollow Forms Finally Fired- COPPRclay

So glad they fired ok for the most part- I did have some cracking that will have to be repaired, but nothing drastic. Whew! I didn't do the open shelf firing on these, just a modified ramp: 1000*/hr to 1700* and hold 3 and a half hours. I put them in together since I'm impatient like that and I'm wondering if I may have avoided some of the cracking if they'd been put in one at a time.
Time for lunch I'm starving..


P.S. I really like how my slip painted charms came out too! ;)

Fired Crash Test Dummies- Bronzclay

My first foray into open shelf firing for hollow forms in Bronzclay did not go too well as you can see in the photos. I'm wondering if bronzclay is more prone to cracking during this type of firing? I noticed a lot of peeling and some cracking while firing my friend's pieces this way last week..maybe it needs a slower ramp or a lower firing temp to burn the binder? I'll probably just go back to my slow ramp/long firing schedule since I usually just fire them overnight and the time it takes makes no difference since I'm sleeping.
There were wonderful colors from the firing, although I sweat all over my fern piece since I strung it quickly onto a necklace w/ my 'beach pebbles' to wear for our monthly NorCal SGB meeting- this time at BAGI. I got to make a blown glass flower, can't wait to get it next month. Boy was it hot, though- hence the sweating.

Crash Test Dummies- Bronzclay

More hollow forms w/ slip painting-Bronzclay this time. These are my 'crash test dummies' for my first try shelf firing hollow forms. I've actually fired some of my lovely friend Sheryll's pieces *she had no hollow forms* this way and had success and failures- some of her pieces split and flaked like a layer of paint peeling away from the wall. Others fired beautifully and had gorgeous colors since they were mostly Bronzclay and Hadar's Bronze Clay.
These are in the kiln right now for Phase I firing.

Vlad Kush, How I Heart Thee...

I fell in love w/ Vladimir Kush's work years ago in a small Santa Fe gallery that was featuring his work. For the life of me I can't remember the gallerie's name, but it was magical getting to see his work and others like him in person. This is just a small sample, I love his style and how the colors seem to glow in some of his paintings.

Slip Painting Again

Slip painting is harder than it looks, let me tell you. Or maybe I'm just not doing it right? If you look closely you can see how my lines look slightly imperfect *ok, let's not belabor the fact that it's more than slightly*..what do most people who slip paint so to keep their lines, etc. looking perfect? Is it just lots and lots of practice or something else?
I tried to correct my mistakes by using one of my half round files and sanding the edges, but it's still not quite perfect. Maybe I should embrace the idea of Wabi Sabi and be happy w/ what I've accomplished? Hmm, maybe that's a better idea, lol.
Still obsessed w/ this style- is it too odd? I hope not since I'm compelled to keep doing it. It's starting to feel like a stylized type of architectural line drawings..only w/ numbers and other symbols worked in.

Now the main thing I'm worried about is trying out shelf firing a la Angela Crispin and Catherine Davies Paetz on the hollow forms- has anyone done hollow forms successfully this way?

In Love with Ekho

I must say that Double Helix's newest silver glass, Ekho, is a new favorite for me. It is a striking and reducing glass, and it keeps wonderful iridescent effects under encasement. There are some particularly talented artists that have played around w/ success in getting different colors, etc. Hayley, Karolen and Steph are three that come to mind right away.

They were encased w/ Double Helix's Aether clear which is only available once every few months since Jed and Julie have a stringent standard of quality- I got a half pound of seconds and wish I'd bought a pound or more since I'm blowing thru it at an incredible speed because it is such a nice clear. You would never know they're seconds comparing them to other clears like Effetre or Diamond Clear.

Deets: These were Ekho encased opal yellow w/ dots of clear, reduced and then encased. Easy peasy! It's so tricky to catch the iridescence.

Art Imitating Life

My puffy mandrels got here Friday and I played w/ them all weekend trying to emulate beach stone-ness by fuming glass- curdled dk. ivory that everyone was in a furor over when quantities were limited.. was it last year? How time flies!

Using these take a bit of getting used to in order for the bead not to be wonky when you puff a bit of air into the mandrel. But I suppose this is part of the sets' charm since they are supposed to resemble beach stones, lol.

Hubby was nice enough to let me torch a few hours each day this weekend since our anniversary *7th* was yesterday. We hadn't made plans for a babysitter in time so we stayed home and putted around.

You'll have to let me know which you like better- etched or shiny.

*Ahem..Excuse me while I overload you w/ pics* :)