I Really Was Working

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Well I am officially on our 4 week break. That doesn’t mean I don’t have to work, just means I don’t have to pack up once a week for a day at the ships.

I need to make wind chimes for Wendy. And have completed some things for the Center. Some panels

This one will be a series of many which will become the Our Town Series

This one Lorraine says looks like earth when you see it on the internet. I see it as many paths in life some connected, some dead end.

This one absolutely steals my attention. When looking at this one I ask myself “What’s Out There?”

 

The above are fused pieces and great for home decor

Then I did some glass casting. I cast some glass jewellery as well as the sea shells and another face.

I like the striking contrast between the red and black.

The shells you have seen before as well as the glass cast boxes. And although the face is similar here is the new face.

 

And to throw a little fun in here are some future items as soon as I figure out what to do with them. They could be pins?, they could be the start of small wind chimes?. So if you have any ideas please add some comments, would love to hear your suggestions. They are 3inhx1.75in w.

And last but not least several pins, same mold done at different temperatures. Which is your favourite – detail or not?

And almost for got small faces.

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So you see, although I wasn’t writing I was working.

New Shelves

Well the good news is that all the wind chimes I dropped off at Wendy’s last week has sold and she needs more. I have dropped off a fleur de lis at Fortress Louisbourg and am waiting to hear back from them. And this is the last ship this week until August 22. So that gives me 4 weeks to get enough done that once the ships start arriving in multiples I won’t have to come home and produce anything.

And the best news of all is the new shelves got installed in the work shed and once organized I will be able to fuse glass,cast glass and play with glass frit and actually have room without having to move everything to find a couple of inches. Life is good.

Got some good ideas for displays on our table this year that should show it off well. we now have 5 glass artists at the cruise terminal so we have to get folks to the table.

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End of Week Wanderings

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.

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Try,Try Again

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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Wall of Shame (shame it didn’t come out it would have been awesome)

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.

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Weather

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

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