Those of you who cast glass know that one thing casting ISN’T, is good for your hands. Between plaster, investments, clay, coldworking, etc., casting is just about the worst thing you can do to a good set of digits. I’ve spent a small fortune on lotions and emolliments designed to bring my chapped, cracked, and generally gruddley hands back to [...]
As I'm sitting here digging investment out of tiny little nooks and crannies in my latest glass casting, I'm suddenly struck by the immense number of glass casters whose work runs to sensuously smooth, unadorned imagery. Do you suppose that's because, unlike me, they're smart enough to realize what happens when you put lots of @#$)*^#@%! tiny detail in a [...]
Kilnful of molds came out of the kiln yesterday morning and I’m a happy camper who can check off one more promise to herself: I’m getting serious about this glass stuff. Part of being serious is, I guess, learning when it’s OK to compromise and when it’s not. SHOUT (detail above) also came out of the kiln but only 85% [...]
Castuary (that period of anxious waiting while your kiln processes your glass castings) was over last night, and I opened the molds to–as usual–a mix of Christmas and nightmare. Well, maybe not nightmare. Probably more like one of those twitchy, uneasy dreams where you step up to the podium to accept your award and things would be perfect if you’d [...]
So it's back to Castuary, that odd period where life revolves around the kiln, or more specifically, around the molds I'm casting in the kiln. The process of casting glass kinda reminds me of bringing kids in from recess: Controlled chaos that eventually--hopefully--marches exactly to where you want it. Glass casting is a gazillion tasks all culminating in Castuary and [...]
This post was originally published on my old blog in 2008. I thought it deserved a replay. It’s also inspired me to go find the sample piece I’m showing here, one of my hosta bowl series, and see if I can’t finally finish the thing. I’m not a great fan of the waxes used in lost wax casting, mostly for the [...]
Apologies for the lack of posts lately; working silly-long hours at my day job at the moment (never have multiple clients in a crisis simultaneously) and also determined to stick to my "at least 20 hours/week" on my glass work. At the moment I'm rediscovering my INability to add another six hours to the day, and thinking that sleep is [...]
Whew. Been so busy my eyes are crossing (which makes it kinda hard to write), but did want to mention what I'm up to this week: Alicia Lomne's pate de verre class at Bullseye. I am having a ball, and sorry that the week's drawing to a close. Most people employ pate de verre techniques (there are many) to create [...]
I haven't normally shown heartwork, just glasswork, in this blog, but since this is Job #1 in my thoughts right now... I finally cooked my biggest Emergent to date, the tulip lady (AKA Emerging 1), and decided to go for color instead of the all-cream palette I'd just about decided on. Kiln had cooled down, so I opened it to [...]
The kiln hit process temp* last night, stayed that way for eight hours and about two minutes ago reached its annealing soak. It'll soak for another 23 hours and 58 minutes, then start the long, downhill slide to room temperature. By my calculations it'll hit room temperature Friday morning at 5:15 AM. Another 24 hours of resting, and it's mine. [...]
