Glass production has been quite slow recently because I have been concentrating on some new designs for Swanky Maison and, as I have such a small kiln, one dish takes three days to fire. However, I was lucky enough to receive a commission from Michelle of The Crafty Canuk to create a set of coaster for her new kitchen. Michelle has designed her kitchen with a retro style and she wanted the coasters to reflect that. I played around with several designs but wasn't happy with them at first. Then I remembered a dish that I had designed using squares of bright opal glass - I still use the image as my avatar on Folksy so I played around with coloured squares in lime, orange and white on black.
Lime green opal glass looks horrible before it's fired - the sort of pastel green that you used to see in hospital corridors - but, once "cured" in the kiln it is so sharp and limey it zings against the orange. I don't like totally symmetrical designs (I Iearned all about balancing colours and patterns from my quilt making days) so I added a random orange square to throw the design off-balance a little bit.
Of course it wasn't all plain sailing - when is it ever? Six coasters, two firings and a fire polish for each, kiln breakdown half way through production, one coaster slipped whilst firing and then I misplaced one just before I posted them out..... but I got there in the end. Michelle was EXTREMELY patient and I hope they look good in her kitchen.
Here's the one that went wrong - I said a few bad words when I opened the kiln and saw it had slipped. Hey ho! Time to get the hammer out and make some frit!
Here are the coasters in Michelle's new kitchen
If you would like to commission a set of coasters or glass dishes or fishes plase contact me on Folksy.
