Another Baptismal Font! City Year Event Pictures!

The City Year Gala event was Tuesday February 28th. Here are a few pictures featuring the vases we made. One of the vases was a gift/award for this years chairman, Gordon Hartman. 

Gordon Hartman accepting his vase as an award at the City Year Gala 2012 

Another Shot!

Here's a shot of one of the tables!

Thanks to all who made this happen! Especially Stacey C, Stacy L, Judy H, Rene J, and Heidi A! These ladies helped smash glass, prime molds, grind discs, vacuum kilns, wrap vases, and keep my spirits high during all the drama. I love the WD girls!!!

I started the newest commission today. It's another Baptismal Font. This one is for Our Saviour's Lutheran Church. I really love doing these bowls! Anyway, the client loved what we did for Zion Lutheran Church and asked that we do a similar design, but with their colors. We were happy to oblige! Their sanctuary has much more amber light, so we added an amber tint to the mix to make the light coming from the bowl more "golden." I think it will be beautiful!

Here's the glass we choose, later we decided to add 1414 also!

This is in the kiln right now!

 I'll post tomorrow from Mark Ditzler's class at Wired Designs Studios!

The Great Vase Project of 2012 is Complete!

Happy to report that 45 gem toned vases are completed! It's been a challenge to pull it off on time, but the City Year Gala event is on Tuesday night and the client is picking them up on Monday! The vases turned out to be beautiful!

A close up shot of the vases!

I know these will look beautiful with candles in them!

We had a visit from our Bullseye Rep, Devon! She did a great presentation on color reactions. Afterward we had a mini-teach where we made sample tiles of color reactions. We had about 30 attendees!  It was really educational and we had a lot of fun making the samples. Now I need to fire a million 3" square tiles....eeek!

I should have them done by Tuesday morning! I'm sure we'll have some great samples.

Just a peek at some of the samples!

I'm starting a new Baptismal Font commission tomorrow for Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in College Station. I really love doing these things. They are very fun and relaxing. It always feels good knowing that something you are creating will be used regularly in celebrations that bring people closer to their hearts and each other.  I'll keep you in the loop with pictures of the progress.

Beautiful vases!

I'm so glad that we are at a good place in this project. We have completed 35 of the vases. They look beautiful. Only 10 more to go! It is 2/19, and the event is on 2/28. We will make the deadline with time to spare! Looks like I'm just a worrier.

Beth, if you are reading this take heart. They look great! I'll be adding additional colors so we get even more vibrancy. Can't wait to see them all lit up at the City Year event.

We've done 35 of these so far and they are beautiful!

Finally! There should be confetti!

Those of you who have been watching for this... here it is! 

It's been rough sailing to get to this point, but I'm much closer now. After a LOT of virtual blood, sweat, and tears over these vases, the first 8 came out of the kiln this morning.  Perfect they're not, but they're pretty good, I'd say!  I know they will glow beautifully with candles in them. They'll be on the tables at City Year's Gala event on February 28th!

8 DOWN, 37 TO GO!...there are 8 more in the kiln now.

If I can keep this up with no casualties, we'll make the deadline and be ok. Keep us in your prayers!  Tonight Rene is coming in to help me recycle some of the glass in the ones that turned out poorly, so they'll go into new discs, which we'll then re-drape. Unfortunately, we lost about 25 pounds of glass in the great meltdown disater of Feb 10th, so we'll be breaking up more and casting a new batch of red ones. The folks at Bullseye should be pleased, all toll, this project has used 175 pounds of glass!

8", 9" and 10" vases in multiple colors

Thanks so much for your kind words of encouragement, and offers to help!  Still might need some of that help yet. Fingers crossed!

Just can not catch a break!

The next morning after I foolishly thought I had things back on track, I came in to find the kiln with a stuck relay. The kiln went to 1650 and hung out there for 9 hrs. So another batch completely ruined and not recoverable. This morning I have to go in and change the relay, clean the kiln and see if I can salvage this.

On a happy note, I decided that I needed to be calm and not cry over ruined glass. So I decided to work on my printing samples. Here's what came out of the kiln and what I put back in.

Troubles in Glass Paradise!

If you've been following the saga of the 45 draped vases for City Year's gala event on February 28th, no doubt that you're wondering, "So ...what happened?" So... Here's where we are on the project. 

I'm rather frustrated over the events that have occurred over the last 10 days. It seems that my in my exuberance to plow through the project, I failed to acknowledge that the draping portion of the project would be more nuanced than expected. I've done this numerous times before without any real pain or heartache so I foolishly assumed that this project would be no different. DUH!! Not so much!

The first batch of 9 that I attempted to drape were a horrible disaster. As I was placing them in the kiln, on top of the molds, Stacey (my business partner) said, "I think you should do just one. You know, to make sure that your schedule is right."  In my excitement and (foolish) confidence I replied, "Relax...I know what I'm doing. Anyway, I'm being conservative with the schedule, so I'm sure it will be fine." FAMOUS LAST WORDS! 

I opened the kiln the next day and there were beautiful gem colored rings sitting at the foot of each mold. My conservative schedule was wrong! All the discs had melted right through the molds and ended up in a heap. I was convinced that I new  what was wrong with the schedule, so I again FooLiSHLY put 9 more discs (what was I thinking?) onto the molds, and fired up the kiln again.

This time, the schedule was good! Yeah! But my happiness so gave way to the sad realization that the lips on the vases were WRONG!  

Ruffled... and not so much!

The size was right, but the lip was NOT ruffled as it should be.  Now I had screwed up 18 of the 54 discs that I cast, and I needed 45 vases. EEEEK! 

Here's where we are now; I realized that what was wrong with the lips of the vases is that the discs were too thick to ruffle. The way to thin them out was to put the discs back into the kilns and fire them to a very deep fuse (un-dammed) to allow the discs to thin and expand in size. So I did that and then draped them again using the new schedule. The result; GREAT! Everything was perfect.... except....(cue the music from the movie Jaws...) That the bodies of the vases were too thin. This means that either the temp was too high or time was too long, or both. 

Meanwhile, that meant 3 more discs bit the dust! So I had to regroup and reclaim the discs that I ruined. Stacey helped me smash up all the discs, and everything had to stop while I recast 18 of the discs back to usable condition.

Finally, yesterday I cold worked 49 discs and put 12 in the kiln to spread into thinner and larger discs. I will have to do that on all of the discs. So at 12 discs per day, that will take me to 2/14.

On 2/15 I will have 13 days left until the event! OMG! ...and not one perfectly ruffled vase to show for a month on the job. DAMMMMMMM.

I'm sure that I can pull this off in time, but it might mean that I am driving these vases to the event on 2/28! If all goes right with the kiln universe, I can drape 9 vases a day beginning on 2/15. That will take me to 2/21. It doesn't seem likely that it will happen just that way...but a girl can still dream! I will be in the studio every day making this happen.

Not toasty at all!

On a happier note, I am excited to be playing with my new Jen Ken Pro-Fusion 16 Square kiln. This thing rocks! It reaches full fuse (1470) in 39 minutes! That is killer fast for a 16" firing space. LOVE IT! I love that at 1492 degrees I can put my hand right on the top and hold it there without being burned, or even uncomfortable. Can't do that with a kiln wrapped in metal! Here she is in all of here glory!

I love that she's a clam shell too!

During the firings of the discs, I've been working on getting ready for my classes in Las Vegas. One of my classes is "Making Your Mark; Printing on Glass," and another is "Modern Jewelry; Beyond Dichroics." For both classes I'm exploring with images on glass that will come from woodcuts, stencils, stamps, free hand application/drawing, photographic images on overlays, etc. which will then be colorized with enamels, frits and powders, paints then and over or underlayed with foils, lusters, etc. 

These are some of the samples I put into the kiln last night. I put them on 0113, 0137, 0139, 0132, and 1100 to determine which colors give the best contrast and results. I'll take a picture tomorrow and show you how they came out.

All of these images I created from free clip art and vintage photos from the web. I manipulated and changed them for my purposes by eliminating backgrounds and increasing contrasts.

Draping/Slumping in the kiln!

Finally the first batch of discs is in the kiln slumping!  Here's a little walk though my last few days on the project. I'll have a lot to show you tomorrow!

Here are the slumping molds. They've been sprayed with Boron Nitride and elevated on 12" kiln posts. I did that so we didn't have any folding or touching of the kiln shelf.

These are the final discs that I did. Several shades of ambers.

Here the discs have been cold worked, washed well, and placed on their molds.

Here is the Hendrick's sink in the mold. It will be finished tomorrow! Yeah!
Then I'll drill the hole and do the countersink on Thursday.
The glass needs to rest and stabilize before I drill the hole.

This is the demo tack fuse piece that I did with my beginner fusers class.
It's mounted in a frame and surrounded by frit. The piece is 6" square and the frame is 8".
It really pops!

At the half way point!

I took a well deserved break from my 150 pound glass project. I've cast 54 of the 10" discs, prepped the molds, and am finally ready to cold work the first batch of 9 that will go first.

I've decided to slump a mix of colors together in case a batch somehow gets ruined, then I won't loose an entire color family and have to do an additional 25 pounds of glass.

The Hendricks' sink is cold worked and looks fantastic. The mold is prepped and ready!

Monday morning will be quite busy, but I'm looking forward to it.

I'm off to play in a charity mahjong tournament. This ought to be comical since I haven't played in a few months. Wish me luck!

Another 25 pounds In the kiln.

And here's the purple set that I just put in the kiln. I decided to do one more set in amber, just in case some of the slumps don't fall perfectly.

I'm concerned that the plums won't look as good and might be too dark. We'll see.... I used 1105-plum, 1234-violet striker, 1834-erbium pink, 1101-clear irid, and 1101 clear. Hopefully the plums and violet will blend nicely.

The amber has the following colors; 1837-light amber tint, 1137 amber, 1437-amber, 1101 clear irid, and clear.

Red glass discs!

I've hit the 100 pound mark on the project! Here are the red discs. I'm now having a dilemma over the plum ones. The purple glass all seems to dark. I will likely have to make a test piece before I proceed. Plus, the plum tones could be pricey if I have to used strikers, which I think will be necessary. Any one have an ideas?

More vases for City Year!

Yesterday I was in the studio smashing up the next batch of 25 pounds of glass for the City Year Vase project. We pulled out the cobalt blue discs and in comparison to the turquoise ones they really do stand out. I was concerned that they would just be too inky blue and not stand out from the others. No worries here! They turned out great! 

Judy and Rene helped me vacuum out the kiln and smash the glass. While we did that we had a "mothers of wayward children" chat, commiserating over how tough it is to be a mom, do the right stuff for your kids, and watch as they make mistakes you want to protect them from. I am so lucky to be surrounded by wonderful, strong, like minded women, with whom I can feel completely myself. 

Comparing the turquoise discs to the cobalt ones!

25 pounds of cobalts!

Beautiful greens!

In keeping with the other posts about this project, here's a list of the colors included in the green discs; 1417-emerald green, 1101.31 clear irid, 1847-spruce green, 1126-spring green, 1426-chartreuse irid, 1107-light green, 1207-pine green. (I hope I didn't forget a number.)

I started to smash up the 25 pounds of red glass yesterday. We used; 1122.31-red irid, 1322-garnet, 1101.31-clear irid, #? fuschia, and 1025-red-orange. Red is always a challenge in casting because it wants to opacify at higher temps. So the key on the red discs will be to stay as low on the temp as possible, but still not hold it too long. HMMMM? Looks like I'll be adjusting the firing schedule.

Also....I'm finishing up a vessel sink job!  Pretty great, huh? Today I'll be cold working this puppy!

Hendricks Residence Vessel Sink

Weaving glass and all that jazz!

Friday I was privileged to have a private class with my old pal Gigi! We spent the day weaving, chatting, and having a generally busy, but good day. Here's some of what Gigi did!

Gigi weaving an awesome design!

another view of Gigi's Weave!

Here's Cathy's weave! She was motivated to do one  when she saw Gigi's!

Here is what I did while Gigi was weaving... Another 25 pounds of glass was smashed all in the name of the City Year glass Vase project! Then each piece was hand clipped with the nippers to get them smaller. Don't you love what a hammer can do to 6 half sheets of glass?

This is 25 pounds of Cobalt Blue tones

Here's how the turquoise ones came out... In case you wanted to know, these were made with turquoise irid, light turquoise, aqua tint irid, clear, and a smudge of light aqua, and a pinch of light sky blue.

These are the cast discs out if the kiln, and the final shape prototype.

Today is Saturday and I taught our Essentials of Glass Fusing Class. Here's my awesome class and my demo pieces. We had a great time! I love it when new students catch glass fever!

This is a dichroic pendant fully fused and a 6" square tack fuse piece
both going in at 1325 F for a little soak!

While my class was working in the cold room I weighed out the next batch of vase discs and put them into the kiln.  Here they are... each disc is 2.5 pounds-give or take a 1/10... if you really want to know.

Hopefully these look like a very different blue then the turquoise ones above.

I'm a tad concerned that they could be too dark. I added lots of clear and lighter tones into the mix, so hopefully they'll be deep blue, but still very translucent and bright. I used true blue irid, steel blue, light sky blue, clear, flecks of turquoise irid and opaque deep cobalt blue, and left over blue gray.  Cross your fingers for me!

The next batch is green, then reds, then plum tones.  So I'm 50 pounds in on the project so far.  I'm going to cast all the disks first, then cold work them all, and then drape them all last. If anyone has any thoughts, let me know. I've never had to do 45 of something before, so any knowledgable input is welcome!

Tomorrow I have a private fine silver/argentium fusing class with a student from Corpus Christi. I'm sure we'll have a blast.

25 pounds of glass!

That's a lot of glass to break. I'm doing this commission of 45 centerpieces for City Year San Antonio's Gala. I'm excited to do the work, but there sure is a lot of glass to break!

Each vase weighs 2.7 pounds so 9 in one kiln load takes about 25 pounds of shard. So I went through the process of choosing the shades, weighing it all out, making rings/dams, then weighing each of the 9 discs, and then pouring the shard into the rings and then finally firing them.

This is the turquoise batch. Then I have a red, cobalt, green, and plum batch to do. I'll show pictures as we proceed. All in all 125 pounds of bullseye glass.

It should take 5 full fuses and 5 drape kiln runs. In a perfect world. Hahaha
Like that's gonna ever happen. I'll keep you filled in!