Bread--leavened or unleavened--is a staple food in nearly every part of the world. So why is Portland so daggone bad at it? WARNING: Small, grumble-filled rant ahead Market of Choice, a local foodlover's emporium, launched just down the street last week and I was among the throngs who showed up to buy groceries. I noted--with approval--the beautiful tasting gallery of [...]
Imagine someone gives you eight 10×10-inch sheets of 3mm fusible glass and four bottles of glass enamel paint in the above colors and says, “Make something with this stuff. Let us know how you get on.” What would you do? I guess we’ll find out, ’cause Bullseye just did that with me. By the way…my first, get-comfortable-with-enamels testing results are posted. [...]
“At bird shows, you look up,” he said, pointing up to rafters filled with imaginary avian escapees. “At dog shows? You look DOWN!” And everyone chuckled. I didn’t get the joke until later, when I narrowly avoided a fresh canine surprise–eeeuw!–while trying to retain my dignity by not saying stuff like “uzzums wuzzums GOOD BOY, uzzums wuzzums DOGGIE?” to every [...]
Pro-cras-tin-ay-shun Pro-cras-tin-ay-ay-shun Is makin' you wait Keepin' you way-ay-ay-ay-ay-a-tinnnnn.... So this is supposed to either be a recap of last year and a promise of the new or just a promise of the new or SOME such fresh look at this blog in 2015. Except that I'm not much of a conformer. ;-) From a Myers-Briggs perspective (well, technically, from a Keirsey perspective, [...]
My friend Carol will tell you I am NOT a cook, and she's right. Cooks invent new ways to turn daily caloric input into stuff I can only dream about (unless Carol invites me over for dinner, because Carol is a cook). Me? Food geek. Food geeks could care less about daily meals, but give us a challenge, or slip [...]
“This,” I said eagerly, “Is the very latest Apple Macintosh, the easiest way to learn graphic design on a computer. Even turning it on is simple!” I pressed a button and –bongggg!!!– the screen came to life. “See?” She burst into tears, burying her face in her hands. Sometimes fate, or maybe something deeper, drags you face to face with what could [...]
Note: This post was originally published on January 20, 2011. Since then, some of these offerings have changed, and more murrini makers are offering kilnformer supplies, so I thought this needed an update. I've been exploring all the different ways to make murrini cane in a kiln, and having a lot of fun with it. Check out some of these [...]
"Your burglar alarm company just called; your house is on fire," Mom said on my mobile phone...just as my flight was boarding. Sigh. It's been a busy week, and it's only Monday. Been doing my usual 72 things at once: Houseful of guests (the incredible glass artist and lovely person Carol Carson, with her equally lovely sister and daughter). My sister's in town from DC, staying with my folks. My plane lands back in Glassland four hours before the party I'm throwing for Carol on Wednesday (y'all come!). I'm getting ready for a sculpture show this weekend. The antmind decided that BigBoy, my ginormous old Dell desktop, was a perfect place to raise the kids. You know, I think there's a god of adventure sitting in an office somewhere, and everytime he gets bored he types my name, hits the send button...and here we go again.
In the first article in this series, I discussed why glass casters should build a parts library of mastermolds. In this article (part II), I'll talk about the easiest of mastermold-making techniques: The plaster mold. Silicones, urethanes, and resins--the stuff I make most of my glass casting mastermolds from--can be spendy and hard to find. The moldmaking techniques they require can [...]
A silicone master mold is an obvious safety net in glass casting: If you accidentally employ one of the 10,000 methods for destroying a piece during casting, a master model gives you a second chance. The original sculpture (and photo it was taken from). It measures about 14×14 inches, and maybe 5 inches deep. That’s not all, though. As tedious, time-consuming, expensive [...]
