New experiments: stained glass and kiln fired photo transfers

There are many things I should have been doing today, making hearts  (I have sent most of them off to various galleries), writing my first article for UKHandmade  (very excited about this new project) and photographing and listing my work on my website  (always a chore). Instead, I have been turning some of my photos into new glass pieces; I have had these photos mind for ages and I am glad to finally get round to putting idea to glass.

  This is not just reckless experimentation, I have a piece to make for OrganicARTS Open Studios Art Trail in September and I am hoping to do some collaborative photographic/glass designs with local photographer Martin Sharpe. In short, I want to be really on top of the technique before the summer.

My first respectable panel using photo transfer paper sold on its first trip to a craft fair, but if I am honest there have been more failed pieces than successes so far. The first problem being the paper fires to a sepia colour which clashes badly with most greens (learned this the hard way, but it also gives a lovely vintage feel with the right colours) and it needs to be fired at fuse cycle temperature not a painting firing, as I learned to the last panel’s cost (wrong programme on the kiln, Doh!)

Cost is the key word in all glass art experimentation, all the materials I use are expensive, some have quadrupled in price since I started working with glass and this makes the explorations and experiments vital to developing new ideas costly, which can be quite a frustration!  Fabulous glass artist Peter Gilles  talks about cost v.s experimenting very well on his excellent blog and I took heart from his musings.

Anyway nuff moaning; how does this fire-able photo transfer business work? Firstly, I choose my photo and manipulate it to have a very high black/white contrast (you can also do any kind of photoshop magic at this stage too), then print the image onto the special transfer paper using a black and white only photocopier, then cut you glass to size and float the image off the backing paper in warm water (it makes a satisfying hissing noise when it hits the water). Next float the transfer over the glass, make sure its on straight and get rid of all the air bubbles by smoothing with a damp cloth.  Allow 24 hours to set and then fire in the kiln to the temperature on the instructions.  These ones are setting and look great… but now we need to see how they turn out after they have been fired. Creases and air bubbles are always a danger and there is always the possibility of the glass failing or the transfer not taking properly….we shall see!

The images are from my recent travels and include a ruined wind pump, (from a trip back to my home of Norfolk), an image of people on the beach and a view across the Teign estuary (a view I keep coming back to in my work at the minute).

Results after firing to follow soon………..

What came out of the kiln!

Last week I posted about experimenting with Frit (ground up glass) which I had made myself you can read about that here . I basically hit a lot of scrap glass (wrapped in newspaper) with a hammer until it was in very small pieces and powder, then carefully placed and piled it on to a piece of base glass and glued it into position before putting it in the kiln on a full fuse cycle………..so what came out the other end?

Unfortunately one of the pieces broke into 3 (this was the light blue one with pink blossom, I don’t think the pink cools at the same rate as the blue base glass, note to self don’t use that combination again); another came out very well, but I accidentally scratched the surface cleaning it up and need to polish it up! BUT  sods law, the one piece I didn’t photograph for my last blog post (I didn’t think it would come out very well) as turned out beautifully and I intend to incorporate it into a larger leaded panel soon…actually the other 2 will hopefully end up as inclusions in panels too….watch this space.

Here are the most successful results of my frit experiments, what do you think?

There are lots of tutorials about making Frit out there on the big wide world web, but these are as good a place to start as any

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMIJ0FCJCqQ

http://geltdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/how-to-make-frit.html

http://pendantfusion.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/how-to-make-your-own-frit.html

Ground up glass experiments

This week I have been making and then painting with frit. Frit is glass which has been smashed and pummeled into small fragments which can be used like paint on glass to add details or paint whole pictures. I got outside on a concrete surface (steps at back of house) with scraps of glass wrapped in newspaper and thick brown paper and smashed them to smitheries. This smashed glass can be graded into different sizes by sifting through sieves with different size holes, but for my purposes this was not essential. I then went about gluing these tiny bits of glass to a larger piece of fusing compatible glass base glass, to create pictures to be fired in the kiln today. 

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My lovely love birds make excellent wedding gifts!

My new design for the summer was launched at the Craft Hub Spring fair last weekend and I already have several custom orders for summer wedding gifts! So the new design is a vintage style bird cage with 2 hand painted love birds sitting in it on clear, seedy glass.All made using traditional leading and painting techniques, just like church stained glass windows, these panels are fresh and contemporary and will look great in any home. On my first batch I have painted the words love birds into the coloured glass areas and they are perfect for any sunny window; however, they come into their own when the love birds inscription is changed to the names of a happy couple for a wedding, engagement or anniversary. I can also make these in any colour, one of my current commissions is to use blue and yellow glass as this is the colours of the brides favourite football team!  Fancy one? I have 3 sizes for every pocket, from £45 to £8. Have I solved your present problems? Then order one off my website or my folksy shop!

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A new glass design! But how to sell it?

My new design is ready for the shops! My eldest daughter requested me make her some bunting spelling her name and it has come out so well I think it would make a really nice gift for a birthday, or a wedding decoration or gift  personalised with whatever name/word and colours you want. The lettering is simple and clear to read and each flag has a unique little hand painted folksy pattern on it in a vintage/gypsy style which are hand painted by me and fired in the kiln. They work out at £5 per letter, which makes it easy for customers to know how much they have to pay BUT I dont know how to do this on my online shops, do people have to buy lots of individual letters or should I do packs of 4 letters, 6 letters etc? Or do I just get people to email me and I list a custom item for each name? Any thoughts welcome!

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Spring Exhibition Hung and Open!

Spent a busy day yesterday with fellow Devon Artist Network Members hanging our Spring Exhibition at the http://www.exeternorthcott.co.uk/, Exeter University. with over 30 artists and over 70 works is was a bit hectic, but we got them all up and it looks great! From my stained glass, to gorgeous textile pieces and of course LOTS of paintings….I will do a post on the other artists in the next few days, by the time we had hung the work there was not much light for photos!

I have entered 2 pieces, Scorhill Stone Circle and Boats on the Estuary and they are hanging in the sunny atrium windows.

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First finished photographic printed stained glass panel!

After much experimenting with a special printable transfer paper on which I print out photographic images I have finished this piece, Sunset, Teasels and sea. The transfers are carefully floated onto the cut glass pieces and heated to a high temperature in the kiln to bond with the glass and then I lead the panel together as usual. The glass is given a grainy, slightly mat side from contact with the kiln shelf at high temperatures and the sepia of the printed image combine to give a really nice retro, old photograph atmosphere. There will be more of this kind of thing soon, but for now its for sale in my Folksy shop

The photograph used here I took on Branscombe Beach, Devon at sunset looking out to sea and the panel is framed in a specially made recycled wooden frame.

 

Lots of new glass designs and ideas

Too many ideas too little time! That’s my world at the moment, but some of them have come to fruition and I am very pleased with my new bunting designs. I have made some fused glass bunting reminiscent of waves breaking on the beach. I have been experimenting with making my own recycled glass frit (ground up glass which is then fused in the kiln) this involves crushing waste glass into very small pieces (great fun with a hammer) and it is this ground glass that I have fused to create the texture on this bunting.

I have also been working on some painted stained glass bunting. These flags spell out various words (so far sea and sun) but there are more to come! They are just waiting their turn to go in the kiln!

There are new panels on my website, new Dartmoor panels yet to be shown to the world (I am waiting for frames) and I am desperate to start my new glass casting with recycled glass experiments, but I have to work out the logistics of baby sitting my kiln for a 16 hour stretch before that can happen!

oh and I am working on a second panel in my new series inspired by my children, which I am very pleased with, so I am generally a busy buzy bee, just the way I like it!

Dropping the Yarn Bomb!

Its not all about glass in my little crafty world, I also love to attend Make Do and Mend with my other crafty friends. Make Do and Mend is a lovely group of talented crafty women in Exeter who meet twice a month to make things, learn new things and laugh, there is lots of laughing! Click on the links to find out how to join

Joe set the group up 2 years ago and as a second birthday celebration we thought we would yarn bomb Exeter High Street and some prominent sculptural landmarks in the city! Much furious scarf knitting ensued and the result was a scarf on every tree from Boots to Urban Outfitters, a saddle for the Pheonix Art Centre’s unicorn sculpture and some scarfs for various other sculptures around and about! What fun we had, it felt a bit naughty and deliciously good fun.

Luckily there were a lot of half naked students dressed in capes and pants and little else which distracted from our activities marvellously! HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY MAKE DO AND MEND, lets hope we brought a smile to the high street shoppers!

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