I did a little bit of work and a little bit of site seeing the end of this week. Started on Friday and wound our way through back roads to Louisbourg. Stopped at the Visitor Information Center and dropped of a fleur de lis. Am hoping that we can do some business together. If you haven’t been to Fortress Louisbourg in awhile it is worth a day of your time. Wander the park grounds and take in all the sites. It is truly a “back in time” feeling and one you shouldn’t miss. Take a jacket just in case although one wasn’t needed on Friday. The folks in the Information Center and on the grounds are friendly and professional and a pleasure to deal with.

Of course couldn’t leave Louisbourg without driving to Lighthouse Point. And even though I didn’t take a picture of the lighthouse I did of the Fortress from there.

  You can tell it was a beautiful bright sunny day and we sat at the picnic table letting the world pass by.

Yesterday, Saturday, we travelled to the other side of the Island. Another beautiful day. We took the Englishtown ferry instead of driving the loop. The new ferry arrived this winter. I don’t like it, can’t stand at the railings any more and that was the fun part that we did since we were kids.(that wasn’t yesterday) Progress isn’t always better.

We stopped at a few gift shops along the way and ended at Wendy’s and saw 2 pieces of my fused pieces one being My red fused glass in Peter’s jewellery. Had a great visit and found out that Wendy is going to have demonstrations at her shop this year. One is going to be a young glass blower. Watch for that date as we don’t have any glass blowers on the Island so it should be fun and informative.

Or next and last stop was at Shari’s new basket studio. She has been working hard and this is her first season in her new studio so if you are out in the River Bennett area stop in and see her work. It is awesome. She does baskets as well as twig furniture.We did take a few pictures there

The love seat Lorraine is sitting in is extremely comfortable.  Check out her blog at

http://redtwigbrowntwig.blogspot.com/

And now that it is summer it is  to hot for Milley to stay in the car so she stayed home and sulked. She won’t look and is with holding kisses. Oh well!!!!

Next week will be new fused and slumped glass pieces. I have several pieces ready to be slumped and others in the head that need to be made.

Stay tuned.

Technorati Tags: Cape breton,Fortress Louisbourg,River Bennett,Ingonish Ferry,slumped glass,fused glass,fleur de lis,baskets,twig furniture

 

 

 

Well the kiln is full again tonight and have the small cast glass jewellery pieces in once again. This time I used medium frit for the pieces so we will see in the morning how they turn. Also did them in a dark purple and clear as well as cobalt blue and clear. Definitely will be freckled. Will post pictures in the morning.also have some pieces in for a 12in snack tray, small sushi plate and some soap dish sizes. As well tried my new frit maker today. It is surprising how much frustration you can take out with this thing.

At the end I took some of the frit and used it on a 10 in circle. It is all transparent and will be fully fused. I have a picture in my mind but don’t think this will be it. Probably should have held off until I was doing some tack fusing.

Oh well tomorrow will tell.

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Alright despite what I said last night I decided to fire up the kiln with the pieces that were ready. I opened the lid this morning with a great deal of excitement, looked in, closed the lid and drove to Tim’s for a coffee. Some days the kiln gods smile on ya and other days they have their fun at your expense. This was my day for them to have fun.

I cast some large tear drop pendants, they didn’t even warrant a picture.

I also did some small faces that I was going to make into pendants. They came out something like my mood with the weather these days. Shrunken and mis-shapen

Because they are definitely one of a kind I will wear them because honestly I luv em! They are approx 2.5hx1w. That wasn’t the dimensions they were suppose to be, nor were they suppose to have large areas of their faces missing.

I also did some medium faces, so here they are before cleaning.

They look relatively decent from the front but the back ain’t pretty.

One of the other items was a fleur de lis, where the fingers are in the picture attached is where the glass shrank and didn’t fill out to the ends.

That’s to bad because that is what I wanted to take to Louisbourg.

The other item again no picture was a (was going to be) a carved vine and flowers in a 5hx7w cast piece. It cracked in the annealing cycle on the way down and was in pieces when I opened the kiln.

So that is my sad tale of woe. However I do know what I did wrong and one valuable lesson I learned was 35 grams of glass is not made equal and that I will never forget.

Have a great one and for you American folks Happy 4th of July.

Technorati Tags: Glass,cast glass,faces,cast glass faces,fleur de lis,cast glass fleur de lis,weather,kiln gods,Fortress Louisbourg,Cape Breton

Nothing else needs to be said, it is miserable. With it being so overcast and wet for the past I don’t know how many weeks, I was finding it very hard to motivate myself to create any new glass pieces. Today I went into the Center for the first time in months and discovered that a new glass artist to the Island has the place full of pieces and I actually had to look around twice before I found my items in a corner. That was the kick I needed.

Tonight they are calling for thunder and lightening so I won’t turn the kiln on, however I do have numerous molds already filled and ready to do some casting. I have some fleur de lis molds ready to go, if they come out good I will approach the Fortress  Louisbourg gift shop, which is a national park situated on Cape Breton.

Also some faces medium and small in size. The small ones would make nice pendants. Also getting the casting molds ready to do more boxes and sea creatures.

Then I decided I will make some larger pieces that fit the stands I have in the shop. Also have some other ideas cooking but will wait until they are finished and I can post the pictures. Look for new photos first of next week

Technorati Tags: Cape Breton,Fortress Louisbourg,weather,cast glass,fusing glass,glass artist

Today I finished off some fused glass wind chimes. They are pretty awesome if I do say so myself. They are made with 6mm fused glass, stainless steel wires crimped and are made for the outdoors. They are approx 22-24 inches in length and and have a wrought iron top. They have lasted out side on Wendy’s porch where there is no lack of wind and they have survived. Her shop is also the only place that sells them.

Also played with some small hearts today. They are designed to allow them to be connected together. In the future may add other shapes that can be connected also.

And while I was starting my day I noticed a dragonfly on my workshop screen. So back into the house I go to get my camera.I know you are thinking the same thing I was, by the time I get back outside it will be gone. Usually that is the case with me but not today. Unbelievable that I could get this close without him flying off. The markings are amazing. My thrill for the day.

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Yesterday I finally decided on some stands to hold the faces and masks that I want to make. They need to be painted yet but I am excited again. It’s hard when I can see what I want to do with them but know one else sees it. The stands finish off the pieces and now allow me to show them properly and put them on the market.

Latter in the week I will set up the light box and see if I can get get some descent pictures.

I also have the Mystic Fusion pieces and need to get some good pictures of them as well.

Technorati Tags: Fused glass,glass,home decor,glass enameling,wearable art,cast glass,faces,masks

Here are some of the pieces that were made for Wendy. They are fun and funky. Lots of colour and should be really good sellers. There are afew extra that as you can see are on our window. Every time you look up and see them it brings a smile. That to me is what creating is all about. If it can bring a smile to you and others then it makes my day.

 

stars and icicles

 

stars and icicles

Will I ever learn my lesson? Yes laptop crashed this morning but at Christmas bought a external hard drive so should be able to transfer everything over to the new computer. Time will tell.

cast glass boxes

cast glass sea green rectangle box

cast glass aqua kidney shaped box

The same pink box with 1 1/2 added. I work on these through the day at the kitchen table and between cutting glass in the shed. Then on my way downstairs

at night I put them in the kiln and some time the next day they are warm

enough to take out. I am not sure I will change from powder to frit because I really like the texture. Closer to pate de verre which started all this I am sure.

The cover for the aqua piece wouldn’t fit in the kiln so tonight.

Cast Glass Box

Pink Cast Glass Box

Pink Cast Glass Box with lid

Cast glass Round Box

Finally I did a box in cast glass. The recommendation was to use fine frit, however I  didn’t have any so instead I took the chance and used powdered glass. I had some “water clear” and mixed a tablespoon of “turns pink” and you can see the results. I really like the colour and the powder leaves alot of possibilities for mixing colours. Lorraine picked the first shape and of course pink is her favourite colour. I had a few anxious moments this morning when the bottom wouldn’t come out of the mold. I was very disappointed for awhile and then I decided since I ruined it anyway and would have to break the mold I gently dropped it on the floor(wouldn’t recommend this step) and low and behold the bottom came out.