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

Lots of Angels!

I am currently working on a panel for a couple who have just moved house and want to make a special feature in their hallway. They are very fond of angels, so this is the theme I am working on. I have made 6 quick sketches and I will work whichever one they like best into a full cartoon to make the pattern from.
The window is long and thin, and not especially big, so the designs are quite simple and stylised to make the most impact. I intend to use vibrant Mediterranean blues and greens and have a small border to frame the panel and I hope to etch individual feather motifs into the border, as if they have just fluttered down from the angels wings.

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Inspiration on the Cornish coast

We have just returned from a glorious camping trip to Maker Heights campsite, near Cawsands in Cornwall. It was a fabulous campsite, just a toilet block and a field where campfires were permitted, perfect! The kids had a wonderful time playing in the trees and walking down to the beach on the coast path and us adults played with fire and had a relaxing time. The site is an area of outstanding natural beauty and was used as various military garrassons until recently, due to its unparalelled view of the coastline and Devonport ship yard across the river in Plymouth.  They have various enterprises underway on the site, artist studios, local businesses and annual music festivals; an interesting place well worth a visit.

The coastline there was amazing and we had some great days on the beach in Cawsands. I intend to use this coastline as inspiration for some new pieces (I have lots of ideas already), unfortunately I dont have the time right now as I have 3 commissions on the go and lots of shops to restock………watch this space for some future work coming out of this lovely trip!

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