My Slumped Glass

When it came to the final project - a 10" square platter, I decided to keep it simple. I'd had a lot of frustration with cutting the glass the day before, and I wanted to minimize the number of cuts I would have to make. Although it doesn't show too well in the picture, the stripe is iridescent. The other colors are sienna and dark teal.

Since my first piece was so simple, I had lots of time to do a couple of additional pieces. This one is really fun, but it didn't turn out as I had planned. We were fishing our glass from Richard's bins of leftovers, which were supposed to be sorted by color. However, there are some colors that change when heated. Without knowing it - I had used an "orange striker", which appeared yellow. This is what my original design looked like when I was putting it together:

This very simple piece came about because I found a beautiful iridescent textured green piece that I wanted to use. This plate is my least favorite, but I learned a lot doing it, too.

This picture (below) shows some of the 10" plates lined up on the kiln shelf. Mine are on the far left and far right in the back row.

This little piece was put together out of opaque glass on black. Working with opaque glass was much like working with fabric. I really like this little piece, but I only did one with the black glass. I felt it was important for me to challenge myself to work with the transparency of clear glass. Below, you can see what it looked like prior to fusing.

More small pieces.

Below is a picture of the blue and yellow striped piece before it was fused.

My family is asking if I am going to switch over to glass as my medium.
My answer? Well, not just yet. Although, I can say - my interest is piqued.

Setting up a glass studio would be a very expensive venture. However, Richard does offer the use of his studio - including the kilns, etc. - for a reasonable fee. I could easily return to Bozeman intermittently to explore this medium further. Later this month, he will offer an intermediate class that I am thinking about taking.

I found a lot of similarities in working with fused glass and making art quilts. Essentially, fused glass involves cutting and aligning pieces of colored glass. Much like cutting and sewing pieces of fabric to create a design. Instead of a sewing machine - there is the heat from a kiln to join the pieces together. A medium sized kiln costs about as much as a top of the line sewing machine, too! However, there are other tools needed - for sanding, drilling, etc.

Whether or not I ever touch another piece of glass, this class was a real boost for my creative process.