Create Your Own Glass

Fused glass platter

Have you ever wanted to make your own fused glass platter, dish or wall piece? I offer individual tuition at my studio in Silsden, West Yorkshire to enable you to make a stunning piece of glass to your own design. 

Glass plate after the first firing

I design, cut and clean all my glass prior to placing it on the kiln shelf for fusing. Most of my glass goes through 2 days of kiln firing (coasters up to four) to achieve the finish that I like - a slightly raised design but all edges are well rounded.

Glass plate on platter slump mould

Once the glass is fully fired it is washed to remove any resideue of kiln wash and then placed onto a ceramic slump mould. The piece is then fired at a lower and slower rate so that it slumps down into the mould and takes the shape of the platter. This is always the exciting bit - opening the kiln to see the finished dish. Some glass fusers will grind the edges of the dish and refire it to "polish" the edges but if your firing schedule is slow enough this isn't necessary.

Slumped platter stll in the mould

If you would like to visit the Glassprimitif studio and make a large glass platter or wall piece you can contact me HERE. No previous experience of glass fusing is necessary and all materials are provided and refreshments too (but bring a packed lunch).

£150 full day - 10am to 5pm

Scandinavian Style Quilt

It's finally finished! The red and grey sofa quilt has been machine pieced, hand quilted and edged in a stripey binding ready to snuggle up on the sofa with.  

I like machine piecing during the summer so that I can hand quilt in front of the fire during the winter. It's a very simple design of squares and rectangles edged with a figured white cotton.  

But I can't rest on my laurels because I have another quilt to finish and a new one to start for a very special person.....  

All my patchwork and quilting inspiration is on my Pinterest board HERE

I Love Commissions Part 2

Grid design dish

This dish was commissioned for a 

retro-style/Scandinavian mix house whose owner likes minimalist interiors  with a splash of colour.  I used clear, amber and silver grey transparent Bullseye glass with touches of bright orange to give this dish a taste of the 1960s. 

Here it is in situ, complementing the warm yellow and silver grey of the decor. 

Little Birds

Blue Bird

I'm really pleased with the way my Little Birds design has turned out, despite the poor photography!

These little birds are made from transparent Bullseye glass with gold decoration painted with glass fusing paint (means it won't come off the glass). 

Red Bird

This one is my favourite, made from deep orange and garnet red glass with gold decoration. I'm keeping this one but will be listing the rest this week in my Folksy Shop, along with new fish designs. 

Blue Bird #2

I'll be making some more soon, after I have completed a glass commission. They are great fun to make. 

Amber Bird

Snowy Day

We're having a Snow Day here in Silsden. The dog and I just came back from a 5 mile hike over the moors and down to Addingham. Now we are back and it's time to put the kettle on, make some soup and fuse some glass. 

If only every Monday was like this. 

Labyrinth Glass

Blue Labyrinth Glass Vessel

I have a huge tub of clear Bullseye cullet left over from other glass fusing projects and, although I regularly smash up pieces with a hammer, I can only use so much frit!

But, by laying the long pieces onto a flat kiln shelf and overlapping the pieces, I have formed a circular shape that slumps into a round dish mould. Layering the glass is a bit like playing "pick up sticks" and I intersperse shards of transparent coloured glass to create depth and rich colour. 

Labyrinth dish - prototype

I really like these vessels which have a great textured surface whilst retaining the fragility of glass.  The coloured glass slumps down on the clear glass to form shapes and links that hold the entire piece together. Opening the kiln door after a firing is really exciting to see how the glass forms into hollow shapes and dips. 

Medium Labyrinth dish in warm colours on white and clear glass

These unusual and beautiful dishes are now available in my Etsy shop HERE

Hello Sheddy!

A couple of years ago roots from the horrible eucalyptus next door broke through our sewage pipes causing lots of damage and smell and resulting in our back yard being re-concreted.  So, after much complaining that I need a new garden we saved up our pennies to have the back yard dug up and new flag stones laid in the Victorian tradition. 

Nasty concrete and our rotten old shed

Back yard in 2009

View from the back gate

The shed was so old and rotten that the only thing holding it up was the things in it! The way it listed to one side made it positively dangerous and a few bashes with a sledge hammer turned the shed into a pile of fire wood. 

Since the demolition of the old shed last year and the flagging of the back yard, we have been saving up for a new shed so our "garden" has looked like something out of Steptoe and Son for the entire winter. 

But I have great plans for our small back yard and Steve, our friendly builder, made me a raised bed at the bottom with slabs and a low wall.. My lovely Other Half has also made a wooden edged bed for growing vegetables. 

Now "Sheddy the Shed" has arrived (yippee!) and we have started to clear the garden of all the debris ready to get some serious gardening done. Hopefully, we will have a new lawn soon and we are saving up for a bench. More garden transformation posts coming soon....

Summer Garden

This year more plants have become established in my garden, despite the harsh winter.  Although I lost a penstemon and an oriental poppy my flag iris seems to have appreciated the prolonged cold spell and I am rewarded by a show of different poppies too.

These large peachy pink oriental poppies are too large for the garden now so I am going to split them and pass them on.  They are magnificent when they flower but I wish I could prolong the flowering until August. 

Most of these poppies have self seeded from the poppies I grew last year and I have taken quite a bit of poppy seed from field poppies but I did go a bit mad and buy some lavender poppy seed on eBay. 

I planted up a few pots too with pansies and verbena and nasturtiums (nasturtiums are about to flower) just to fill up some gaps and make a bit of a show on the doorstep. I love orange with hot pink. I also planted flowers up with parsley, coriander and basil and they seem to share the space well. 

My dianthus is really thriving this year and has established itself alongside a liatris so I am going to Skipton market this week to buy some more.  I planted it alongside the path and the dog keeps stepping on it but it doesn't appear to mind too much.

However, the thorn in my side is my neighbour's overgrown hedge which has taken all the nutrients from my strawberry bed and blocks the light out too. The only things growing here now are herbs in pots and a few poppies.  I need a plan for this bed.

I am already planning for the autumn and I am going to risk planting a blackcurrant (ribes) in the front toward the back which will hopefully begin to fruit next year. Although I will probably have to share the fruit with the birds!

To see more pictures of my front garden visit my images on Flickr.