Flower Power

I am in a beautiful show and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport, Maine. It is called Flower Power. Anyone who goes to see this show will feel so happy for being able to see 14 artists' interpretations of flowers, offered in the middle of January for extra effect!

Interestingly enough, the piece that most captivated me is lying on a white pedestal. It is a crushed copper bulb, open at one end, attached to a gently curved pipe. It looks like a poppy, in a way. The copper is beautifully and richly oxidized, and all the crenellations and dents bear the emphasis of the deep copper blue surface. So how is this so intriguing? From poppy, to crushed, to lying flat on a surface, my mind leaped to the Middle East...no further explanations necessary. It was a simple, strong statement to me on how things are in that part of the world.

I was inspired by 24 small black panels mounted on the far wall, each bearing roses of different colors and types...just breathtaking, by the artist Connie Hayes.

And somewhere along the way to her wall is a glass case with my offerings, the foxgloves and sweet peas that make up these three necklaces. They are made with Bullseye glass, and the pinks and purples of the one sweet pea necklace are hand-blended colors. I love the goofy first shot because the way light travels through glass makes my heart sing!

Making Interesting Artifacts

Well, Missing in Action, for sure. But in all the months I have not posted in my beloved Blog I have been working through a lot of glass, learning, practicing, trying to understand things that other glass artists already know.

For most of the four years I have been working with molten glass I have tried to understand how some artists are able to portray flowers, specifically roses. Kim Miles has a technique that makes the petals look like tissue paper. And after several written tutorials with Lydia Muell of Ashton jewels, I have been smitten by her venture into roses as well.

So a student studies, and I have, looking, looking and looking some more, until the lights went on, the colors developed as they should, and I finally started to get that lovely texture in tiny rose petals. Maybe it isn't how Kim does it, and that would be really good. I switched to Bullseye glass part way through last week because the glass is harder and more forgiving of the encasing process, and they make awesome colors, especially pinks.

So if you have been waiting and wondering, as I hope someone has been, here is what has come out of my kiln in the past five days. I, for one, am truly delighted!

It is Shell Season!

Shells are a favorite subject for me in glass, along with jellyfish. So here are a few new beads for you to enjoy featuring jellies swimming inside seashells.

Step into the Garden, Step into the Sea!

I love doing florals in glass. I am NO gardener, as my yard will testify, but in glass, flowers reign supreme! The detail of the larger bead gives you an idea of the depth one can achieve in glass.

Oh, did I tell you about the mermaids? It has been a goal for a long while to make mermaids, and my favorite models were by Teresa LaLiberte, in Germany. Recently she made a tutorial available on goddesses, which are the land-maids. From there I ventured toward my first mermaid. Her purpose is to germinate the sea, aka jellyfish, my passion in glass. So I got another tutorial done by Mary Lockwood and started learning her style of jellies.

I am offering you a glimpse of the first of the group, not so much to show them off, because they are the first, and I have lofty ambitions with the theme. But I am proud of them. I held my breath while I made the first one, especially as I moved off-mandrel to do her tail....if you have ever worked with glass you know that "cool" is not your friend, so you have to keep the whole piece hot while you work...a tall order when you are deeply concentrating on the placement of "pearls" around the mermaid's neck. The next thing you know there are serious underwater
fissures in your work, and two hours of prep and construction might just bite the water bucket.

So if you chance to find a mermaid, pregnant with jellyfish, with silver-laden glass details and a pearl necklace don't flinch when you see the cost of her. I am pushing my personal envelope with these little sculptures and I can tell you that the good ones would have a dear price. I am hoping some of my mermaids will be "up there" some day, for people to enjoy. And by the way, you may not want to buy such a piece for yourself but your appreciation means so much to us glass artist types! So thank you for your oohs and ahhs....they are golden.

Jellies at play

I have not posted for a while. I took some classes at Playing with Fire in Rockland, Maine, with Trey Cornette, Pipyr and Ed (b0r0), and a day with John Kobuki. And I began a new job, which has taken a lot of time and adjusting, but I am very happy. So I will catch my blog up to the present over the next while.

I am still working on jellyfish. Here is a cold-worked bead from May which has two dark jellyfish chasing each other around the center of the bead.

And after a wonderful three days with Andrea Guarino Slemmons I had to try a feather. Hers are the best, though. I am really happy with this one because it has metallic powders on the surface with give it a wonderful range of copper and bronze tones!

I also made a series of small beads with layers of dots. The top bead here is so luscious to look at, like deep creamy pools of pale color.

I am working on some pretty amazing new things. I have some tutorials from great glass artists that I will tell you about in the next few days, and share with you my newest adventures with glass.

Thank you for visiting my blog. If I could wish you to have a fraction of the happiness I get from glass work you would be so blessed...so I do wish joy and fulfillment for you in whatever you do.

Still Under Water!

Glass is always in a fluid state, even  your windows and drinking glasses, solid as they seem to be.  So, take a leap of faith and imagine a glass object with jellyfish and sea life existing inside it.

  These beads are so thrilling to look at, with wonderful colors, swimming jellies, seaweed, bubbles of air...all in beads!  This has been a very exciting week in my development as a glass artist.  I have dreamed of putting jellies inside beads, and here are some of them, fully realized at my torch.

Deep Spaces

I am intrigued by places I cannot go, those deep spaces outside my galaxy, and deep in the oceans of the earth. I have a wonderful book of underwater photographs by Sophie de Wilde, who adventured in most of the oceans of the world.

These beads are evocative of underwater miracles, living in an oceanic environment that allows them some pretty interesting forms and colors. I hope you enjoy these beads, in BullsEye glass, one of my favorites to work with! These are views of two beads, flattened to a smooth, comfortable shape.