final glass projects

Project # 4 Powder Wafer tile

1st step involves cutting an image out of paper (to make a stencil)

2nd step involves using fine glass powder to fill in the stencil on the shelf in the kiln; cover portions of the tile and use different colours to layer the image, fire - this produces the powder wafer image - very fragile when it comes out of the kiln

3rd step involves putting this wafer on top of 2 pieces of glass, fire

4th step involves finishing the edges and slumping if desired

Project # 5 Totem Pole Bar Pattern Tile
Step 1: cut strips of glass to match each other, can include flat strips and round rods
Step 2: place in the kiln in a pattern with the edges fixes; can line the pieces edge to edge, or angled, or on top of one another, fire - this creates the beginning of your totem pole pattern
Step 3: use a tile saw to cut the tile across the cross section
Step 4: flip 2 strips open faced to get "bookends" which form the totem pole pattern in your finished product
Step 5: add glass borders in a complementary colour and a clear glass base to cover the entire size of the totem pole pattern with border (like a frame); lay the "good side" down (on to the base as this is the presentation side); fire
Step 6: finish the edges, fire polish with the base side up


Project # 6 Double Irid tile

1st step involves picking out 2 pieces of iridescent glass

and placing a piece of resist (plastic) on top of the each irid surfaces

2nd step involves cutting out a design from the 2 pieces of resist on the 2 pieces of glass - spatial competence is required to make a complementary pattern

3rd step involves removing the cut portions from the resist and sandblasting the irid from the surfaces

4th step involves firing with the irid surfaces in between (facing each other)

5th step involves finishing the edges and slumping if desired

The Amazing Hunt

I just love doing fun organized things and I finally got a group together to do the Vancouver version of the Amazing Race. It's called the Amazing Hunt and run by a guy locally.

For a private group race it was 2 hours. We had 10 teams of 2, 9 stops, 1 break and 4 tasks. There were eating challenges, a puzzle and some questions about places in Downtown Vancouver. It was quite fun and we came 3rd. I definitely can't run! Our friends had fun, and 1st place got 2 t-shirts.

I thought it would be more physically challenging based on the public race which is held several times a year and is actually 6 hours long. www.theamazinghunt.com

chain link wire necklace

I found a bead store that was offering free classes for October. Since I've been borrowing books from the library for ideas, I knew most of the techniques offered already. This was the only one I didn't know. How to use a jig to make chain links with wire.

It was fun, but frustrating at the same time. It took3 hours to make this and a lot of "OMG"'s.

The jig is like a peg board. You space pegs on the board such that you can wrap wire around it to make patterns. All of them will turn out uniform and smooth as opposed to doing it freehand.

Then I had to make other links with pieces of wire and wrapping them to create the links. This was not uniform and the most frustrating part.

However, I can say that I am still happy with the end product. Another skill learned and another necklace and earrings to add to my growing collection.

glass project #3

I got my 3D tile back, and I love it! I can see the imperfections of my 1st try, but other than that, I think it turned out pretty good!

It's called kiln carved glass. It's made with 2 firings. The first is the fusing of 2 sheets of glass, ~ 6" each.

The 2nd step is cutting out a design using 2 sheets of fibre paper. The bottom sheet has the oval shapes, and the top sheet has the triangle shapes. The fused glass goes on top of these 2 sheets in the kiln, and as the glass melts, it "falls" through the holes cut out in the design to give a layered tile.

glass project #2

I made is this slumped 4.5 inch plate. It is made of melted glass chips called "frit" and coloured with green powder. It was flat after the first firing and I had to smooth out the edges and on the 2nd firing, "slumped" it in a mold (made the glass dip in the middle). I'm sure this is not all the proper terminology, but just what I understand. I found this to be a fun and easy project, but would want the glass to be less thick (it's ~ 2 cm) and more slumped (more dipped). If I can figure it out in time for Xmas, I think it would be a great gift.

being artsy

I started taking fused glass classes. It's something I've always wanted to do and I have researched it a little in the past. Classes are few and far in between, and very expensive. I understand that equipment and supplies are expensive, never mind finding an artist who wants to teach the skills. But how come pottery is so affordable?

Our first class was simply a starter. We made 1.5" square designs, which will end up being fridge magnets. They were an experiment. Something like a glass sandwich, with 2 layers of glass and pieces of metal foil in between and on top if you wanted. Due to the fusing process, the foils may change colour to something the teacher hasn't seen before. I'm happy with 3 out of the 8 I made. Guess who gets those?!

I also started making beaded jewelry this past summer. It was a project started because I was Maid of Honor for a friend and had to come up with bridal shower gifts. After that, I went crazy! It seemed that my creativity blossomed late. I spent a lot of years playing volleyball in my spare time, while my girl friends were busy getting domesticated, canning, making jewelry and candles, etc. Well, I finally tapped into my creativity and it's giving me a lot of pleasure. Maybe you'll see one of my designs somewhere...

being crafty

Well, if you know me quite well, you'll know that I love community festivals. This weekend we went to Harmony Arts Festival at Ambleside in West Vancouver. It's a craft show and art gallery walk combined with music by the water. It's in its 18th year.

It was pretty cool to see pottery, jewelry, photography and paintings among other artwork. It really brings to mind the fact that art is creative, and being a scientist, it doesn't come naturally to me. Lucky for me, I love to dabble, and so signed up to make my own mosaic tile coaster.

Amongst many kids, I was searching for the perfect design for my 3" x 3" square. I think I went through the saucers of oval marbles, small mirror glass pieces, larger tiles, etc so many times that I could've dug through the inventory several times. I liked the look of the larger tiles but couldn't decide if I wanted a specific colour theme, or just a random assortment. After about 45 min, I decided on random colours, each tile being different and started the gluing process. Since I had never done this before, it was far from perfect and in fact, one tile was thicker than the other, ruining my "flat" coaster for drinks.

Anyhow, it was fun and I felt like a little kid in an adult's body. My boyfriend had a good laugh at my state of panicked creativity. He was supportive, but didn't intrude with his own thoughts of design. So, now I have my own piece of artwork which I will probably use as a candle holder.

I'm back

Well, it's been a while since I blogged. It's not because I wasn't thinking about it, but just been busy with life. Isn't that always the excuse we give ourselves for everything we didn't do? Things we wanted to do, but just didn't seem to prioritize as important enough to get off the couch and do it?! Well, that must've been me for a few months. And why do we do that? Those things we want to do, are those child hood excitements that would keep us up for hours when we were younger, but as an adult, we just can't find the energy, nor the time, even though we know we would get so much enjoyment out of it. And that's what travel does for me. It rejuvenates me and centres me back to my SELF.

Work was crazy, lots of drama there, and then trying to plan a trip for Feb last minute didn't help. I'm usually quite organized, but this time I was under the gun. I was expecting a lovely holiday, because many of my friends have travelled to Thailand before, and had wonderful vacations and couldn't wait to go back. I have to say, that wasn't my experience at all.

In hindsight, it would seem that in all my years of traveling, I was somehow protected from the misfortune of typical traveler woes. This trip had so many things that went wrong it, I was taken off guard: The very first day, our luggage didn't transfer planes [we didn't buy baggage insurance], and I was stuck in my winter clothes in 35C heat for half a day. Then, we got food poisoning at a high end resort restaurant the day before flying to another city [we didn't bring antibiotics and were too sick to find the pharmacy before and after flying]. And finally we got a hotel ridden with bugs [spiders, flies and ants]. For those people who've already experienced Montezuma's revenge, or cockroaches in developing countries, you have no sympathy for us, but this was my first time! and it wasn't pleasant.

I was so used to travelling in a hostel network, and it had been clean most of the time, that I did not expect it for hotels. I was shocked, and disappointed. I have always been quite a frugal person, and budget travel has never gotten in the way of a good vacation, but this time it did. My boyfriend said "There are some things you don't need to save money on", and he's right. I've reached a point in my life, where I want a clean room, bug free, and I want to take taxis without being sold something.

However, the sun and sand, great beaches, canopy adventure, elephant trekking and bamboo rafting experiences made for a worthwhile visit to the Land of Smiles. I was so well rested when I got back, that I almost became a morning person [most people who know me, know I sleep in - a lot]. That is, until daylight savings time kicked in...but I'm back, and I feel great!