Tah Dah! Here's the Finished Bowl!

The beautiful Baptismal Bowl for Zion Lutheran Church Font is finally done. The deadline is January 11th, so I'm totally excited that I'll be able to deliver the job early. That doesn't happen often! This bowl is 16" in diameter and about 4.5" deep.

This is the front view. I wish there wasn't so much glare!

This view is just a little further up.

This view is on top, looking into the bowl.

The rim actually came out very nicely. It's always a bit of a gamble, even when you do everything right. I'll take a photo tomorrow of the bowl in the font stand in the sanctuary so you can really see it in it's home!

Also, I cut a boat load of dichroic glass today... Here's a little bite to wet your appetite!

This is rainbow, granite, ripple on back- COE 90...YUMMY!

A Dichroic Glass Field Trip!

Today Stacey and I ventured to Round Rock, Texas, just north of Austin, to meet with our buds at Austin Thin Films. Glen and Eric were jovial hosts and gave us the techie tour, which of course I loved...'cause I love all that physics and chemistry stuff. We got up close and personal with the vacuum chambers, which I totally could have curled up and taken a nap inside of...'cause again, I love the science stuff. I tried not to act like the biggest science geek of all time. I think I kept my cool. I actually think Stacey was fascinated, which was kind of surprising, since molecules aren't really her bag. I, on the other hand think the periodic table is science porn!

Too flipping' Cool!!!!!

So after the tech show and tell was over we set to it! KilnFrog.com is now a Dichro Magic distributor, and Wired Designs will carry the full line of products too. We really do like buying local! So here's a little peek in on our shopping experience.

Shopping for 2" x 8" in all the standard and premium colors on black and clear!

Yes... We will be selling the muy famouso scrap bags!

Pulling scrap in Coe 90 textures and Patterns!

We'll have the Magic Boxes and Sample Sets too!

We don't reopen until January 3rd, so theres lots to do with all of our loot before we're ready to sell it.

Sometimes no glass gets done...

Like today.. It's been a long few days of closing out the books and making sure all the allocations are in the right place. I'm almost finished and ready to close the books on 2011! I'm looking forward to no more paperwork!!!

My year end thoughts are going something like this...

I'm finally ready to admit that our move to the new studio space was a gamble for us. It really could have gone either way, and oh boy, was I afraid of the change... but it was the best possible move we could have made! Business has been really good and very different! We've done more commissions in 2011 then in any other year. Our new location makes that so much easier, and the new wet room is a dream! I hope the trend continues in 2012! We're making a strong effort toward that type of business. We've joined Custom Made, a website and service connecting makers with customers, designers, etc. Take a look! http://www.custommade.com/by/gailstouffer-wireddesignsstudio

KilnFrog.com has had a fantastic year! We've sold more kilns this year than we did in 2008. Maybe in 2012 we'll beat our 2007 record! We're adding Bullseye Glass in 10" x 10"s and 17" x 20" half sheets for shipping, frit and stringers. We're also adding dichroic glass from Austin Thin Films. We'll be entering 2012 with over 60 kilns on the site plus all the glass. We're really excited about it all. By the way, the frogs name is Phillipe!

We went to the Texas Art Educators Conference this year and it was a great experience. We represented Bullseye Glass and Jen Ken Kilns at the show and we visited with our friends at Paragon Kilns. Everyone was lovely! We love the art teachers! Can't wait to do it again in November 2012!  It will be in San Antonio next year, so that will be even better. We're planning on hosting an event at the studio! Hopefully Larry and his mobile glory hole furnace will be part of the fun! Here's a picture of our booth from the show.

I'm really looking forward to beginning 2012, new and free and ready to fly!

I'll share more end of 2011 thoughts tomorrow.