New Implosions and an Octopus!

Each week I get to do glass is really a different skill set.  Since we went on vacation and spent 2.5 weeks mostly in Seattle, WA, I am rested and excited to make new stuff.  Unfortunately, the clock is running out.  I have put off finishing my Bachelor's degree for too many years, and now that I have firmly decided my career path (hey, Business Admin. just wasn't my dream, ok? :P), I have to get my butt back in gear.  Therefore, this fall, I will hopefully be starting back up into my first class in years.  I'm de-prioritized for registration as I have been out for so long, but I'll pick from what's left over available-seat-wise if a few good classes are still open.  Wish me luck for getting into... drumroll please... Statistics!  Yes I know you're excited for me, right?

Anyway,  with my precious days and hours ticking down, it seems more and more imperative that I make new stuff and get to share it with all of you, as our fans have become friends, friends fans, and we're all just one big happy family now, right? :)  Without further ado, here are my newest pieces:

White Flower Implosion (on ArtFire)

This is one of my newest implosions, and you may very well know this is a tough technique.  You literally have to coax the glass into blooming for you, so I hope someone loves this flower someday! ;)

Black Octopus Pendant (on ArtFire)

We all love octopi, right?  These guys always make me smile, so hopefully we shared one today!

White and Blue Small Implosion Pendant

Last but not least another implosion, but smaller and with 1/3 the petals as the first one.  This one, however, has white petals that are blue on the back - no easy feat, I tell you.  Drop me a comment, otherwise I'll be back with more new goodies to share soon, as again, time is running out!  It will be more like a guilty pleasure to blog about glass once I have homework to do again.  Have a great Friday!

Burnt Finger and new Seahorses!

Ok, so I've successfully avoided any real burns for four years (almost boasting that my worst burn is from the toaster oven in retrieving french fries prematurely).  Well, not so lucky this past week, as I only had my finger in the flame for a split second, but that's all it takes at 2000 degrees Fahrenheit.  Here's what my finger looked like 5 minutes later:

My favorite nurse at work examined it in a meeting and told me "You should keep an eye on that."  Since it's my middle finger, I definitely will, and may offer other cohorts to keep an eye on it too  :P

After the burn (received while making a blue crab sculpture), I quickly went to the sink to run it under cold water for a minute, then into the house to photograph it.  It hurt after that, but I had to put a glove and bandaid on and sally forth.  If you fall off the horse and don't try to ride again soon, you might get scared, and I cannot let that happen with glass, my lady love!

So... Here are two of the three fancy items I made after the burn with a glove on (and off, it was harder to turn the glass with the glove) before Paul got back home from his morning's work:

Amber and Cream Striped Seahorse Pendant

Blue, Green & Teal Striped Seahorse, Dragon-Style

To all you who get back on that horse when you get bucked off: Flame on!

Sunday: Showing Off!

 Pink and Red Pointy Wicked Flower Pendant

Well, since my lovely rainbow seahorse and the beautiful one I made after him and didn't photograph have been sold, I need to make more seahorses... but for now, please enjoy two of our own Wicked Flower series pendants!  It is just about my favorite design because I love vines and tentacles, and this is the best of both worlds :) This design has been a delight to my customers for a while now, so I hope you enjoy them as I keep tweaking my style on them each time.  Today's are both pointed-petals, though I have made lots with rounded petals that look a bit sweeter (and less wicked!). 

Another wicked flower:

The vine actually wraps around the cord several times.  It is a unique design by myself after making so many flower and octopi that the two designs became conjoined...

 Blue Wicked Flower

Since it's the 4th of July, I should throw in my patriotic bead set still up for grabs:

Patriotic Red, White & Blue Boro Bead Set

Hope you're having a great weekend, and have a safe and happy 4th of July.

Happy Independence Day!

Sunday: Showing Off

No lizard yet, but he's a coming!  In the meantime, here's a new seahorse from my studio featuring a red, teal, and purple blend.

Red, Teal, & Purple Seahorse Pendant

I know, the colors are pretty hip on that fella :)  

Next in line: my somewhat-scary (it's the eyes, I think that's what makes him scary) Black Dotted-Back Spider Pendant:

The bail is white like a little bit of webbing :)

Hope your weekend is as relaxing as mine: I finally have a day off, woohoo!

Beach Weather Ahoy!

It's that time of year again folks: Beach weather, picnic time, blue skies and nice days that you can spend outside enjoying the quiet beauty of nature.  It's a great time of year, and the mornings especially lend themselves well to outdoor exploration and tourism. Make sure you soak up some sun, but don't forget the sunblock.  Here's a final goodbye to my beach scene pendant I've had on display for a while that was purchased this past weekend, and went to a good home as a gift.

Beach Scene Pendant

Well, now that means I have to make another one, and I have just the idea...

Sunday Show-off: Custom Red Pinscher

It's not every day you get a good challenge for glass art, though lately it does seem as though my customers are connoisseurs and appreciate the skill involved for their goodies.  I do have great customers, and want to do my best when they ask for something special.  This is along those lines, as the custom mermaid was specifically designed to meet stringent specifications, so was this lovely red mini pinscher.  He wanted a red one, and I asked, "Copper?" "No," he replied, "he's pretty red."  After a bit of research and study, this is what we created as our first mini pinscher:

Red Mini Pinscher Custom Pendant

They have long legs for their size, and the eyes are not recessed or blended in with the skull like some other breeds.  His little ears must stand up and his tail is docked, though personally I would be a softie if given the choice for my poochie and let him keep his natural traits, though I don't think you often have a choice, especially if you rescue one.

It's really amazing how many breeds of dogs there are, and this led us on a journey to discover a bit about pinschers, mini ones, dobermans (named after a tax collected that began the breed!), great danes (though sometimes these get mistaken for ponies), and shepherds, of course.  It did make me inspired to adopt a dog, but the cats put that thought back out of my mind, as this is their home and that would be an intrusion of their freedom.  Dogs are hard to resist though, as such sweet animals you just want to adopt them all...  Well, at least I can donate more pieces to the animal fundraisers, with mine successfully sold at the silent auction last month.  Now that I know I can make dogs, I guess these would be the best pieces to donate to the shelters, right?

Happy Sunday all, I hope it's very restful :)

As Promised -- Black Octopus and Mermaid Pendants!

First, our newest black octopus:

He's full of tentacled-fury, with blue and black eyes.  Adorable, yet not overly-cutesy like some of our sweeter-looking tentacled friends.  Feast your eyes upon him now; our last black octopus was snatched up in a flash!

Now on to our custom request mermaid pendant -- This is the one that was chosen by the customer, and she gave it as a gift 3 days ago for a birthday.  I'm sure the recipient enjoyed it, so now here's your chance to sneak a peek at one of our newest custom requests:

I know, the picture isn't the best, but it was taken outdoors at the show before I handed her over :)  Some pieces you just have to get a shot of before parting with them forever...

More to come soon, as I'll try to post some awesome glass on here to keep it interesting.  Have a great weekend!

Why Hard Glass?

Well, the weather outside is delightful... And I figure, why not take a moment to discuss the glorious benefits of hard glass?

This is prompted by the concerns of customers that our glass pendants are fragile. Well... Ours are actually quite strong, and can withstand a good amount of abuse, just short of dropping them onto a hard surface at some distance :) Paul and I perform strength tests on our glass designs before we sell them, because we have nieces and want to be sure our designs are safe. Most of my new designs are worn overnight to ensure they are not carelessly broken easily. Aside from a dragonfly wing jabbing into my neck(and not breaking, mind you), I’ve been very successful with this :)

I think people are just so used to the cheap imports that aren’t properly formed and annealed. This is a crucial step, and something to consider when you buy handcrafted local art glass vs. manufactured mass-produced imported glass. Yes, it’s cheap, but you really do get what you pay for. Our glass art is made to last, not the art equivalent of a single-use camera :)

Additionally, we use borosilicate glass in our Shepherd Creations (had to add that at some point, right?), which is more durable than “soft” glass. Glass itself is a fantastic medium capable of transforming into sculpture, beads, pendants, vases, just so many options in glassworking! Soft glass is created in so many more colors, but it’s much more sensitive to rapid heating and cooling, and you pay for it in the way of flying bits of hot glass when you treat it the wrong way. Boro is sooo much more easygoing, forgiving, and really quite durable. It’s what your traditional baking dishes are made of, and you know those don’t always break when you drop them either.

Which is melted with a furnace? The primary difference that gets folks confused is that boro glass is most commonly melted using a torch, at high temperatures around and upwards of 2,000 Fahrenheit. Soft glass, on the other hand, can be melted very easily at much lower temperatures, closer to 1,100 F. Soft glass is the kind used to make large vases and many of the chandelier sculptures you will see in Las Vegas, and it’s often done using a large propane or natural gas furnace. Its low temperature allows you to use just one gas, instead of needing oxygen to help it burn hotter like torchwork.

Soft glass can be used both with a torch and in a furnace, though the torch requires a much smaller flame to melt soft glass than to melt borosilicate glass. Flame work done at a torch also goes into the kiln for annealing, and soft glass is very susceptible to stress fractures due to rapid disproportionate cooling. Glasswork done on a torch needs to be kept warm throughout to avoid creating cooler gradients, and this applies to all kinds of glass, both soft and hard. Soft glass is often melted in pots and then kept hot and remelted while spinning in a furnace, then shaped and cooled, then annealed like borosilicate, just at lower temperatures. There are many types of glass; from super-soft leaded glass you can almost melt with a candle, to the hard glass we use that requires propane and oxygen both to achieve a clean super hot flame. We prefer to use a torch because we are in love with borosilicate. Can you tell?

This is meant to be a brief blog post on how I feel about boro on a late Monday night. I may be even more excited about it when I’m more awake, but we’ll save that for another time. Thanks for reading my blog, and post some comments sometime, won’t you?