A few of my latest pieces got photographed and listed today!

It's a beautiful and very windy day in Southern California today. And with the winds come the allergies. I wanted to photograph a few of my pieces and get them listed in my Etsy shop. It's always fun to do that, but with the sneezing, watering eyes and runny nose .... I did take my allergy tablet this morning.

Here are three pieces I got finished. The first being one of the Picasso pendants, and then two wonderful dichroic pieces.

Cut Bottle Tops -- It Worked!

A couple days ago I showed you the cut bottle tops I was going to fuse for jewelry pendants. I'm happy to say it worked! And, unbelievably, today I had an email from http://www.glasswithapast.com -- a blog I just subscribed to. If you look at the website, there is an article describing exactly how it's done -- "Fused Bottle Glass Donuts and Rings"! So there you go ....

Here's the photo of my six pieces. I can't wait to wire wrap them!

Fired Picasso Pieces

I'm soooo pleased with these pieces. I was not expecting them to have this beautiful shine. I'll add bails now ... and start another batch soon!

An Experiment with Cut Bottle Tops ... Pendants?

I was cleaning out my work area and came across a Colour de Verre jewelry mold I've never used. I have a few pendants made with a different size mold listed in my Etsy shop. But in this case I was thinking about all the frit I have and should use. THEN during the night while I was wide awake and roaming through the internet, I saw a few pendants made with recycled glass. Remember the green plate I posted here a week or so ago? I made three at the time and still had the tops of the bottles in my trash!

I cut the tops into short stubs with the tile saw and used the grinder to level the edges. I also cut the tops from three blue beer bottles. Here's a photo. So don't you think this is a good experiment? Can't wait to see how they fire.

Picasso Pieces -- Ready for the Kiln!

It was hard cutting up those pieces! But it had to be done. I wanted to post a photo before I fire them tomorrow. Wow, aren't they bright and perky?!

Another photo to come in a couple of days. This was a super fun project and I want to make another batch.

Picasso Pieces -- Engraving Finshed

I had so much fun engraving these pieces today ... I wish I had more to do. Both Tanya Veit and Deborah Read said it would be addicting ... they were absolutely correct! My portable Dremel was disappointing, as it kept losing its charge. I finally got out my electric Dremel and was happy to learn it was just as comfortable to hold.

Remember the BEFORE picture when the glass pieces had been engraved around the edges only ....

Here is the AFTER photo with all my engraving ... What a difference a day makes!

I especially like this piece:

The next step will be to get out my jewelry templates and decide how to cut these pieces into pendants. I've ordered a new fine blade for my tile saw, so I may wait for it to arrive. More to share later.

Fired Picasso Pieces - Next Step

The pieces fired perfectly. Remember, the firing was done with the dichroic glass facing down on the shelf (on kiln paper). They look really good. I noticed an error I made, OK maybe two. Can you spot them? I used two pieces of clear glass by mistake -- I should have remembered you do not "cap" these pieces, and putting a piece of clear on top is the same thing. The pieces will be engraved with a ball tip, so if you carve into clear and refire it, you will lose the carving. Anyway, I learned something by my mistakes.

I took a photo as the pieces were removed from the kiln this morning, and then later today I got the nerve to get my little portable Dremel, my set of round diamond bits, a spray bottle with water, and my pieces on top of a towel. It's important to keep water on your glass pieces while you engrave. Also you lightly draw the bit over the glass, as if you were writing with a marker. Don't dig in. I found it easier than I expected it to be.

Here are the fired pieces:

And the same pieces engraved:

I simply outlined each glass piece by engraving around it, and the colors seem to pop. The next step is to engrave patterns. If you look at the website zentangle.com or their blog http://zentangle.blogspot.com, you will be amazed at the patterns! Endless. I've never been much of a doodler, but there's a beginning to everything. There's more to come soon ....

Picasso Webinar with Tanya Veit

I have been following Deborah Read's blog http://deborahreadcom.blogspot.com for a long time and am amazed with all the wonderful work she does. And she does it all! She downloaded a Webinar a while back that featured the work of Tanya Veit of AAEGlass.com. I have been wanted to try it, so over the weekend I bought a copy of the webinar through AAE. It's called, "Picasso and Creme Etching Engraving Technique Instruction". The price $59. It has extra project ideas too and am so excited about doing everything! I noticed Tanya will be featuring another Picasso Webinar in December through GlassPatterns.com.

This morning I got out several small pieces of black glass (Bullseye 3mm) and decided to try this project in my little Paragon kiln. The shelf is like 6" x 7" (I'm guessing), but when you are fusing small jewelry pendants, it holds a lot. So onto the black glass you layer and glue dichroic glass pieces with the dichroic side up so they are touching. This is the hardest part. I had odds and ends of all kinds of pieces. And you stay away from patterned and textured dichroic. Then on top you can add (glue) strips and pieces of contrasting colors here and there, again with the dichroic side facing up. Now the reason you glue everything together is that you will fire the pieces upside down on the shelf. That way the dichroic surface will fire flat.

And why do you want the dichroic surface flat? That's the next step. I can't show you until my pieces are fired. Here is a photo of the pieces on the kiln shelf, glued and ready to go. I'm keeping my fingers crossed ... probably won't sleep tonight wondering how they will look in the morning ...

Remember, we have to fire these pieces upside down. Here they are on the shelf ready to be placed in the kiln.

Can't wait to show you the next step!

Glass Fusing -- My Latest Pieces

I have been fusing glass the past couple weeks ... it's been too hot to work in the garage. The good news is that the temperature will shift to the lower 80s and maybe in the 70s this week and next!

Here's the second mold I purchased recently from Pacific Glass. A lovely koi pattern. This is 1/8" recycled glass shelving ... what a beautiful piece! It measures 6-1/4" x 12".

A couple of recycled bottles I also posted on Etsy today. I love this bottle mold with the swirl pattern.

I LOVE MY NEW WALL HANGING!

My son is building a pizza oven. I cleaned out my fire brick pile and old kiln shelving, and these were donated to the cause. Yesterday I brought the last of the shelving to his house ... and wanted to take a look at his structure. It's huge! The oven part will be fairly small (although you could probably bake two pizzas in it), but he has built a storage area underneath for storing wood.

While I was there, I notice this beautiful aged structure on the wall outside, and jokingly said, "I have the perfect place to hang that." In moments he was unfastening it and saying, "Mom, it's yours!" Of course, I protested, pretending shock and everything. I could not believe I was going to go home with this piece! The three pots themselves were works of art!

Here is the piece. Doesn't it look good on this surface? Unfortunately, it's on the cement in my breezeway and it would have to be stepped over and around! But I think I'll leave it there for a few days until I have time to work on it. The top part needs gluing, and I'll have to reenforce some areas ... but I'm so EXCITED!!

My dog Charlie is taking a closer look.

Look at these flower pots! They are soooo beautiful. I can't wait to make ceramic molds from the leaves!

And the sun! Another ceramic mold!