Lumiere 2011

Last night was a great night for local artisans and musicians in Sydney. I wandered Charlotte St for a bit and saw lots of friends as well as great art and performances. No doubt it was a great success and looking forward to future events.

My friend Shari had some great pieces I was anxious and needless to say I wasn’t disappointed.

Our friend the racoon, in

a hurry to get to Sydney in time, although he maybe hitch hiking the wrong way. Good news he made it.

The fox was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good shot of the crows but Shari did so I borrowed hers..

He wasn’t that bright but my flash was.

Congratulations to all who participated, job well done. Hope to see you all and more next year.

 

Flickr Tags: Lumiere,twig animals,Cape Breton,Cape Breton Craft

Kiln Gods Weren’t Smiling This Past Weekend

I decided to fuse a piece of glass that I really liked and turn it into a lamp shade. Needless to say it was the only piece I had.

Really is nice, this is the back and I just have it sitting in a stand to hold it.

This is the front. Don’t ya just love those bubbles in the center,especially the large one.

Also made several other pieces. Another piece of Our Town Series

A few small bubbles in this but that is common in fusing. Done on clear with transparent pieces of glass for the houses.

And 2 pieces that will probably become clocks.

 

Not all the weekend was bad however, spent several days in River Bennett with Shari,lots of relaxing time and great friends.

Also went to Cheticamp and stopped along the way for some pictures.

  It was a warm sunny day so a few minutes along the ocean was justified. This is the shore at Belle Cote. Can’t imagine the wind here in the winter. This poor house has to get the brunt of high winds.

Will try again tomorrow for more pieces and figure out what kind of offerings I need to appease the kiln gods.

Flickr Tags: fused glass,Our Town Series,Our Town,lamp shade,Cape Breton,Cheticamp,home decor,kiln fired,fused glass clocks

Back to Some Gem Stones

I have been trying to straighten up my house lately but not getting very far. I keep getting side tracked with “stuff”. I buy things with projects in mind then get side tracked or buy to much for what I needed but not enough for something else.

Last week I found watch faces and have lots of small amounts of gem stones left over from past years.

My friend Shari once mentioned that I should do interchangeable watch bands. One of those ideas I socked away and for the past couple of days decided to work on instead of glass.

So here they are

Flickr Tags: gemstone,crystal,watches,watch bracelets

February Challenge

Even though I haven’t posted for the week I have been busy working on the business. The last 3 days and the next 16 or so are going to be tough as I am a great winter Olympics fan. It certainly doesn’t hurt that it is in Canada either, except the other side of the country and late hours for me.

However back to the challenge. Here are some pictures of some items done this week

Large piece within the series started last week. Colours get added and dropped depending what I am working on.

Also carried it through to some night lights

They look good plugged in with the light shinning through. You can see the different sizes of glass used and the texture on these are great.

And last but not least pieces for our town series that also will be made into night lights. These are fresh from the kiln in these photos and still have some fibre powder on them but look good.

These are my accomplishments this week. Also am working on a new computer program for artists. It is being developed by a company in the States and Jim  has very graciously allowed me to participate in the testing. So I have started populating it yesterday. It will be amazing once I get the info in.

Flickr Tags: Fused glass,fused glass houses,fused glass night lights,fused glass framed pictures,Caper Glass Creations,Olympics,home decor,Our Town series,Our town series

Fused Glass – February Project

To keep up with our challenge the kiln is full tonight. The mirror frame is hopefully being fixed, 10 small pieces in Our Town series either night lights or small wind chimes, whatever I decide in the morning as well as several larger pieces of the jellies. trying to get ahead so I can vegetate in front of the TV during the Olympics.

Flickr Tags: fused glass,wind chimes,fused glass night lights

Monday not good for glass

Well I didn’t get things in the kiln as I wanted but did my chores and picked up the hot plate to be able to kiln wash my metal molds. They have to stay hot so the kiln wash will stick.

Did have lunch with some good friends which is always fun and sets the right frame of mind for everything else. We love to laugh and we do lots of that when we are together.

Here is a picture of a mirror frame I am working on. I am posting this before I get the mirror in to stay with the spirit of the February project.

This is fused glass pieces. I used white and black iridized with some of the iridized flipped to plain black. It will look great once the mirror is in it.

Flickr Tags: Fused glass,fused glass mirror frame,home decor

Fused Glass Project for February Project

I am glad it’s Friday. I took on this February project with Janet and friends, and committed for weekdays only. I will have to use the weekend to get the brain cells active and plan my weeks for projects. My intentions are always good for planning but I am not very good at sticking to them. However I will try.

Here are my finished pieces for Friday the 5th. I do need a name for the series. So all suggestions for names will be greatly appreciated.I will do in different colours. My friend Shari says it reminders her of jelly. They are fused to a contour finish. The shapes of the pieces remain but there are no sharp point. All are soft and rounded.

Flickr Tags: framed fused glass wall art,wall art,fused glass,fused,home decor,kiln worked

Unfortunately not the best pictures in the world. Glass is very hard to get a decent picture of.

The 2 in one frame is a wall hanging only and the single one is a stand up frame.

Flickr Tags: art glass,framed glass art,fused glass pictures,framed fused art,glass,fused,fused glass,fused glass panels

February Project

I have decided to take my friend Janet up on her challenge. http://scarfaday.blogspot.com/

I will work everyday in February except for weekends either at the kiln or finishing projects from the kiln.

Hopefully this will kick start me in the right direction for the season.

So I started today and have several pieces in the kiln. One is the second firing of a panel I want to give tomorrow. Nothing like cutting it close. The worst is I usually do these in one firing and not sure why this time I decided to do it in stages. Hope it works, I slowed down the ramp up times as well as holding longer at the annealing time. Keep the fingers crossed.

Also have my first attempt at a mirror frame in the kiln. As well as 4 other pieces that are simply experimental getting ready for some frit painting.

 

As well I will shortly finish a piece I worked on yesterday. Will post a picture later.

Flickr Tags: February project,fused glass,fused glass panels,fused glass frit painting

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.

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

 

 

 

New Casting Rings

Today I picked up the new casting rings and can't wait to get started however I have some orders that need to get done first. Today was an absolutely beautiful day in Cape Breton so took the time to visit Laura Moore in her new shop in Bras D'Or. Laura is the owner of Finders Keepers and we have agreed to put some of my cast shells done from recycled glass in her shop. http://lamooredesigns.com/
Check out her website.

Some new pieces

I have been ignoring this blog and shouldn't be. So I will bring you up todate on some new pieces.

Janet has set up a ring for Cape Breton Artisans and apparently my blog on wordpress isn't going to link over so I will keep this one going as well as the other one.
This one is on the same site so will work fine.
These pieces are cast from recycled glass and will find themselves in a few shops on the Island as well as one in Mahone Bay.

Glass is in

Alright with the help of 2 of my sisters (Joanne & Lorraine) and 2 really good friends (Shari & Janet) the glass got into the studio. I must tell you it was no easy feat. The studio is small and everything else is bulky.
I was going to do a kiln firing tonight but after slaming my finger in the front door trying to block the dog I decided that today has been long enough. Maybe tomorrow. Want to experiment with some star sun catchers and some sea related paperweights. I will post as they are produced.