Glass coaster workshop

Fused Glass Coasters

On Sunday 11th October I will be teaching a one day workshop on creating your own fused glass coasters.  This will be my first workshop at The Garth, a workshop complex on Skipwith Common, near York, i am booked to teach more of them from October.

There are eight places at this workshop - I like to work with small groups of people to ensure that everyone gets enough tuition and encouragement.  Each student will design and make a set of 4 coasters which are then fired off-site in my kiln and returned, along with rubber bumpons on the base of each coaster. This is aimed at beginners and improvers alike - if you have never cut glass before then this is the ideal project on which to learn.  You don't even need to bring along a design - I can supply you with ideas and inspiration.

To book a place please visit Silver and Stone HERE, you can book on-line or email Helen for more details.  The workshop is from 10am to 3pm and refreshments are provided.  However, it is advisable to bring a packed lunch. There is plenty of free parking. 

All materials are provided but you must wear old clothes or bring an apron. Also, make sure your arms and legs are covered (jeans or trousers) and no open toe sandals please.

Glass Workshops in Shipley

Glass Mosaic

I will be teaching two glass workshops this autumn at HIVE in Shipley, aimed at beginners and experienced glass artists alike. 

Saturday 26 October 2013 10:00 - 15:00   Glass Mosaics Workshop

Whether you are an experienced glass artist or beginner this workshop  will take you through the stages of creating a unique piece of art. All materials will be provided although you will need to bring a small picture frame with glass and glue for glass. Fee: £48

 

Fused glass light catchers

Saturday 23 November 2013 10:00  -  15:00 Fused Glass Lightcatchers and Decorations

A great  introductory workshop for anyone wishing to learn the basics  of glass fusing and also create wonderful Christmas gifts. All materials will be provided.  An additional cost of £3 will be required if you wish to have your glass posted onto you or arrange collection from Hive.  Fee: £48

If you are interested in booking on one or both these workshops please email me HERE for further details. 

Glass Fusing Students

Funky Fish Workshop at South Square Centre

I REALLY enjoyed myself last Saturday teaching a workshop on Funky Fused Glass Fish at South Square Centre. I hope the students did too. Nine future glass artists joined the workshop to learn how to design and create their own fused glass fish in both float and Bullseye glass. The workshop covered the basics of cutting glass, grinding, working with both transparent and opal glass and making some delightful fused glass fish. The workshop also covered colour theory, glass types, how glass behaves in a kiln and fusing and annealing. In fact, a comprehensive introduction into the creative and tech side of  warm glass. Here are the results of the workshop - they did a good job!

Bullseye Glass Fish - students' work 

The next workshop at South Square will be Shards, Frits and Stringers on Saturday 4th August. This is an introduction into making glass tiles or coasters with additional glass pieces, powders and rods. At the end of the workshop I will take the students' glass home and fire it in my kiln before posting it back to them. 


I am now arranging the September workshop on Glass Fusing but I'm in a bit of a quandary regarding what to teach. I have a choice of three workshops so I am asking people to vote HERE. I will teach the workshop that gains the most votes. 
The choices are:
1. Dichroic Glass Jewellery using top quality CBS dichroic coated Bullseye glass to make pendants, earrings, brooches, cufflinks - whatever your fancy. Dichroic glass glitters and shimmers in the light and has an amazing colour shift. 
2. Fused Glass Dishes takes students through the process of designing, cutting and creating fused glass dishes in both float and Bullseye glass (examples HERE) that will then be slumped into moulds to form delightful dishes. 
3. Fused Glass Hangings and Light Catchers with copper wire, inclusions, frit and coloured glass. These look fabulous hung in front of a window (see below). 

Fused Glass Hangings

If you are interested in Glass Fusing Workshops at South Square Centre in Thornton, Bradford please email Glassprimitif or contact South Square HERE. 

Glass Fusing Workshop by Glassprimitif

Saturday 7th July 2012

Enjoy a day of designing and creating fabulous fused glass fish, a workshop in glass fusing for beginners and intermediate glass fusers

  Costs: £40 (all materials and equipment provided)

  Times: 10:00 to 15:00

  Where: South Square Centre, Thornton Road,

  Thornton Bradford BD13 3DL

 

Introduction to glass fusing including: cutting skills, technical know-how, working with coloured glass, designing and glass assembly.   Expert tuition given and  Bullseye glass used.

To book: contact Jo Whitehead of Glassprimitif by email Jfwhitehead@blueyonder.co.uk or call  07837471040

We accept payment by Paypal, BACS or cheque. Details of payments, refunds, workshop outline and venue available by email.

Glass Magnets by Glassprimitif

I've been looking for something new to make (I get bored easily) and found a packet of magnets that I bought a million years ago for some project or other.



So here they are: Funny Faces Magnets now for sale on Folksy and Etsy. They were such fun to make. I cut squares of glass from scrap Bullseye and added features from glass stringer. Stringer can be a pain to use sometimes because, if it's not glued firmly before fusing, the little b*ggers roll off onto the kiln shelf (grrr)!



Fully fused glass cabochons with magnets securely fixed to the underside. Each magnet has a different expression and will hold your important papers to the fridge. Take a closer look at Glassprimitif on Folksy.

Suicide Glass!

Fused glass and razor blades are made for each other! With the latest craze of Steam punk* these glass items seem to fit right in.



I fused my first Blade Dish about four years ago and I have been making them occasionally since. They are a combination of float glass (picture glass) which gives the glass a greenish tinge and red enamel powder sandwiched between the glass. Oh, and don't forget the razor blade. Because steel blades are so thin they don't cause fractures when fused.



My first dishes were always shallow, because I worried that a deep slump would cause the blade to fracture the glass. But as you can see from the deeper dish (above) the metal is flexible enough to bend and slump with the glass.

The ultimate steam punk accessory must be the Rock n Roll Suicide pendants. I wear one to work sometimes and I always get comments (and sometimes funny looks). As David Bowie said "Your too old to lose it, too young to choose it..."

Pendants and dishes are now available for sale on Folksy and Etsy.

* "Steam Punk is a sub-genre of fantasy and fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era —but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy." Wikipedia.

Glass Hearts at Glassprimitif

I was recently asked to make some glass hearts for a customer who wanted to give them as gifts at the Race for Life Event.



The hearts are quite simple in design and are made from a combination of pink, white and clear glass so that each one is different. The customer bought four of the glass hearts and is pleased with the hearts and I have listed the rest on Etsy for sale.



So now I am coming to the end of my obsession with hearts (I think...) and am casting around for a new idea for designing glass. Watch this space!

Mother's Day in the UK

It's Mother's Day on Sunday 22 March and what better gift to send to your Mum than a glass heart pendant?



















Why choose glass? Well it lasts a lot longer than flowers - making it so much better value for money. You have a great choice of colours and Glassprimitif can send your glass heart direct to Mum, anywhere in the UK, provided you order it by Wednesday 17 March at Folksy.com
Of course, if you are in the USA you can be confident that your gift will arrive in plenty of time for May 10 by ordering from Etsy.

These delicate glass Polka Dot Hearts are made from opal glass and have an Aanranku silver plate bail attached. They look great hanging from a cord or sterling silver chain.

Folksy - a New UK Site

This week I joined a new hand made selling site from the UK, Folksy.
Folksy is a Beta site (test) and international shipping won't be available until February 2009 but, from what I have seen so far, it looks good. It has a great selection of sellers including some of my favourites - Buri Boo, Fibrespace and Asking for Trouble. I'm also really impressed with the Making section with tutorials and how-tos and I like the graphics and layout.
However, like all new site there are some teething troubles and I would like to be able to batch my items into sections. But it's early days yet.
Watch this space!

Yet more about collaborations and commissions

My good friend and glass artist Lawatha makes the most wonderful fused glass pendants and her signature designs are beautiful silhouettes in sepia or black on opal glass.

Like most glass artists worth her salt, Lawatha does suffer from copy cats and has found, like most of us, that the internet is not just a great way to get your work seen but it also a great way for others to copy. Now, Lawatha knows that she does not have copyright for "off the peg" designs but it is a bit galling when others use these designs along with her titles and descriptions too.

So I sent Lawatha some drawings I had made of some of MY original artwork so that she could test them and see if they fused onto glass. Here you see my "Circles Tree" design and also "FrouFrou Fish" (our little joke). Like the professional artist Lawatha is, she respects my copyright and has the right to use my designs and sell her glass.

Here is what she made. I was absolutely bowled over by her pendants and I hope they sell really well for her.

If you would like to commission me to draw some original artwork for you please contact me and I'll be happy to discuss it with you.

Commissions & Collaborations

Working to some-one else's specifications on a commissioned piece of glass can be a either a joy or a nightmare. Fortunately for me, most commissioned glass has been a happy experience.

It helps immensely if the customer has an understanding of the versatility and the limitations of fused glass and that the customer can convey the idea so that I can visualise the glass. The perfect customer is also one who will come back and ask for alterations that are workable and not impossible.

Most of my designs start out with a doodle or a drawing in a sketchbook. If working with color is the main element of the design I use watercolors to translate colors onto the page. Although not a perfect match, the transluscency of watercolor paint is the closest I am going to get to transparent glass. These designs were for a commission for quiltmaker Carolinasquirrell who makes the most amazing strip quilts from the selvedge edge of bolts of cloth. She wanted two sun catchers in transparent colored glass based on the strip quilt design.

After emailing my initial designs and color schemes we finally came up with the design of colors in blocks of three with the metal hanging wires fused at a corner of the glass so that it hangs at a right angle.

Here is the finished design for both quilt sun catchers. They measure 4.5" and are made from transparent Bullseye glass. I really enjoyed the experience and look forward to working with Carolinasquirrell again in the future.

Glass Suncatchers

I'm not sure why these are called suncatchers as there hasn't been much sun to catch this summer in the UK! Perhaps they should be called Lightcatchers.



Each of these glass pieces has been made using both transparent and opaque glass in bright colors. the inspiration for them is, of course, patchwork quilt block patterns. All suncatchers are for sale on Etsy.



Monet's Garden is created from transparent colored glass frit fused onto clear float glass.



Impressionist Garden is again float glass but with glass tangles fused in three colors.

Patchwork Glass is a combination of Bullseye opal glass on clear glass. It has been tack-fused to give ita raised profile.

Last, but not least, Rainbow Glass is a ladder of transparent glass colors on clear glass.

Each glass suncatcher has an ornate copper wire to hang from.

Glass Quilts

Two of my favorite patchwork books are Freddy's House by Freddy Moran and Kaleidoscopic Quilts by Kaffe Fassett. Both books are a feast of color and bold patterns. So patchwork quilt blocks are the source of my glass designs for fall/winter.



Here are some examples of my glass designs in dishes and jewelery. I have used traditional quilt patterns such as Flying Geese, Nine Patch and Pinwheel and combined these with Bullseye glass to create bright fused glass. I have mostly use transparent color glass on white or vanilla opal glass as the transparent colors retain their jewel-like quality when fused. The pendants and earrings are based on the solid quilt block colors of Amish quilts and I have used opaque glass stacked together to create mini-blocks.

Below is a large glass wall decoration depicting a patchwork star. I am making a series of suncatchers that can also be used as wall pieces or hung in the bathroom too.

All this glass can be purchased from Etsy, Shaw Galleries and Keighley Arts Factory.

Glass Fish

One of my favorite glass items is fish. They are great fun to make because I can play with so many different combinations of colors.



Here is Sammy, a pendant made by Smokeylady54, using one of my glass fish in her creation. She has added her opwn lovely lampwork beads and leaves, as well as pearls and Swarovski crystals. The toggle on this piece is Sterling silver and the necklace is just under 22" long.



Sammy is for sale at Smokeylady's Etsy store . I also have some glass fish in my Etsy store too. Below are "Sid and Nancy", two punky fish waiting for a home.

Spaghetti Glass

More experiments with float glass products. This time I have been messing about with a tub of mixed glass "tangles".



After some disappointing results with bubble powder I have had success with the tangles. They are in assorted colors and are different thicknesses of hollowed glass, similar to stringers. These tangles are all 82 coe, making them compatible with float (picture) glass.



Noodles is a fused glass dish, now for sale on Etsy. I would, ideally, like a wider color range but I am quite pleased with the outcome.