07.23.18 Inspired by Austin...

Photo credit: Dallas Morning News

...Ellsworth Kelly's Austin, that is.

When my daughter was home earlier this year, we visited the installation of Ellsworth Kelly's chapel at the Blanton Museum on the University of Texas campus.  It was awesome and inspiring.





The chapel is permanent, but the exhibit of his works on paper and canvas closed at the end of April.  I'm so glad we saw it, because it was filled with bright color, including studies for the glass he would use in the building.

The windows in the chapel are incredible. The colors are intense, beautiful and throw light on to the floor of the building as the sun comes through.

I was especially drawn to the one with the "tumbling squares", which is what he calls the ones set at varying angles. I liked that while being off kilter, they are very precisely arranged.

My daughter went back to school, and I went back to the studio...but I kept thinking about those jewel toned windows...so I decided I would try making a batch of earrings that reflected the design of the chapel.


I thought "what if I made singles?", tumbling square and long bar earrings that could be purchased individually to mix and match in the way each window is a little bit different from the one next to it.



I filled a kiln shelf and waited to see how the pieces would look after they were fired...and remember those "striker" glasses I wrote about...that's what the pale lavender and yellow ones are (they came out of the kiln pink and bright yellow).

I was thrilled!  The baubles look - just as I had hoped -  like little stained glass windows!

So I made dozens of earwires, sent photos to the manager of the Blanton museum shop and crossed my fingers.  I had an initial positive response, then things slowed down because...summer...but I am hopeful that they will eventually find their way into the jewelry case.

Also, because summer, I'm taking a break for the month of August.  If I have an update on the Blanton shop, I'll let you know when I get back.

Until next time.

05.14.18 Love is love.

Last time I gave you a sneak peek at my fused glass rainbow earrings...now here's the rest of the story.

After doing the square plate in class, the next project was to learn to cut a circle (using a lens cutter) and make a round plate or bowl.  One of the examples our instructor showed us used reeded glass - which has tiny ridges like corrugated cardboard.

Reeded glass
Photo credit: Bullseye Glass

When you set two pieces together at 90 degree angles and fuse them - you trap tiny air bubbles in a grid.

Immediately - I knew exactly what I wanted to do for that project...and then for earrings! I wanted to use the reeded glass and colored stringers (tiny glass rods - turns out the 1mm variety fit perfectly in valleys of the reeded glass) to create a clear plate with rainbow stripes and bubbles...and THEN I wanted to do it on a smaller scale for earrings.


The plate turned out beautifully, and I was so pleased - I was ready to give earrings a try!

Our last class was essentially an open studio, where we could fill a kiln shelf with pieces of our choosing, so I decided to devote my time and shelf space to a whole bunch of earring dangles.

I made some short ones and some longer ones.  Some skinny ones and some wider ones...all in an effort to figure out what would work best.

The short and skinny ones failed at a pretty high rate, only half of them were usable.  The best ones were about half an inch wide and just over an inch long, so that was what I did for my first production batch.

I added a couple of other experimental designs - one with horizontal stripes in my college colors, and another with vertical stripes - just to see how they would turn out.

The answer is - great - they all turned out beautifully!

I had several pre-orders based on pictures I'd posted of the prototypes, so I filled all those, they went to friends who had seen them and said, "oh, those are so happy" (which they are) so I am calling them my Happy Rainbow Earrings.

Then I put up a listing for the rest in my Etsy shop.

It didn't take too long to have my first sale...and the buyer asked if they could be sent as a gift? I said of course.

We exchanged messages, and she explained to me that they were for the mother of her son's soon to be husband - and my heart just about exploded with happiness.

I posted this story on my Facebook page, and I also learned a new word - machatonim - which is the Yiddish term for the parents of the people your children marry.  My mother used to say we are all mishpacha - family - and wasn't really concerned with who was an aunt, a cousin, or if you were once or twice removed...but I never heard her use this term.  It's my new favorite word.

I've always loved stripes and rainbows and all that they might symbolize. I didn't set out to make a statement with these earrings...but nothing could make me happier than knowing they were sent as a gift of love and friendship between two moms, two families, whose sons will soon be married.

I hope this story fills your heart as it did mine, and that you, too, find happiness in rainbows.

Until next time.

04.30.18 Bullseye

After a detour for wildflowers and Passover, I'm back to glass...

Glass for my Mondrian plate

The glass we having been using in my fusing classes comes from a company called Bullseye, based in Portland, Oregon.  They are not the only makers of glass that can be used for fusing - but it is one of their specialties.

Not surprisingly - you can't fuse just any old glass - and even when it is made for firing and fusing, it's not all compatible.  Even glass from the same company isn't always a match - so it's important to understand some of the science behind the glass.


All fusible glass has a coefficient of expansion (COE) - which refers to the rate the glass expands (and contracts) when it is heated (or cooled).  The two most common types of glass are COE 90 and COE 96. You can't mix them - so you work with one or the other. We have been working with COE 90.  I have some COE 96 shards that the Salado Glassworks folks gave me - but I'm saving them for another time.

In order for glass to be successfully fused (in a kiln) there is a very specific schedule for heating and cooling the pieces so that they will bond without breaking.  Heating or cooling too quickly can stress the glass, and ruin all the hard work that went into creating a piece...and the bigger the finished piece, the more careful you have to be with the timing.

Photo credit: Bullseye

COE isn't the only thing you have to think about when pairing glass pieces for fusing...because what you see when you look at a sheet of glass isn't always what you get.

Photo credit: Bullseye

Just as many stones get their colors from chemical compounds, so does a lot of colored glass.  For example both turquoise and chrysocolla get their distinctive blue shades from copper.  Well, lots of blue-green glass does, too.

Pink and purple glass get much of their color from lead, and reds, yellows, oranges and some greens contain sulfur or selenium.

So, it's really important to check to see if the sheets of glass you are using are reactive - because if they are, and you aren't careful - you are likely to end up with something very different that what you planned.



For some glass, heat has no impact on the color - what you see when you pull it off the shelf is what you will get when it comes out of the kiln. Other pieces - called strikers - will change color, and the hue and depth of the change will vary based on how much heat is applied.

Some of my classmates are very spontaneous - mixing and matching, experimenting and taking their chances - which is great, but it's not me. I've been spending a fair amount of time before each class looking at the Bullseye catalog and making a plan for each piece. This should not come as surprise to anyone who knows me - or has been reading the blog for a while. I am a planner to my core.

One of the first things I'm planning with respect to my jewelry is fused glass bars for earrings.  Here's a sneak peek at my first experimental pair (pre-fusing).

Until next time.

03.19.18 Soon found out, I had a heart of glass...

I've been using glass cabochons in my jewelry for a while now, and as I have said before, I've developed an increasing interest in learning more about glass fabrication.

When we were out at the Salado Glassworks last year, owner and master glass artist Gail Allard recommended that I look into classes at Blue Moon Glassworks (which, as it happens is five minutes from my house) - so that's exactly what I did.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting about my classes - and hopefully - ideas for incorporating fused glass into my jewelry.


We started with a very simple impression project - and a technique know as kilnforming -  cutting shapes out of a heat resistant fiber board, and then placing the glass over the form before firing.

I decided to stick with a motif that I am familiar with - Texas and hearts. I've learned that - especially in the beginning - it's important to keep designs simple. I cut out the Texas and a small heart, and we glued them to a piece of special paper that doesn't stick to the glass when firing, and then placed two sheets of glass - one clear and one colored - on top before fusing.  The result is an impression glass plaque - suitable for hanging in a window.

The second project was more involved - requiring cut pieces of colored glass to create a design on a six inch square.  Our instructor advised us to have a good idea of what we wanted to do before class.

I have long loved the work of Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian - so I went looking for a simple example of his work to use for my design.  With a quick Google search I found exactly what I was looking for.

To get the look I wanted, I started with a black base and colored opaque glass for the top layer. I cut and arranged the squares so that black lines would show through after the pieces fused together.



I am thoroughly delighted with the end result!

I'm also excited about learning new things - there are three more weeks in the introductory class, and I've already signed up for my first open studio.

Stay tuned as I start to experiment with ideas for incorporating glass projects into my jewelry.

Until next time.