Cementing and experimenting

Today has been a real day of 2 halves, lots of cementing my leaded panels which is pretty dirty manual work and a long session of experimenting with recycled glass fusing. I created a couple of little seaside panels, an abstract wavy panel and lots of tiles for the kiln which are cooking away as I type this….we will see tomorrow if they have worked and indeed, if the glass was fully compatible! Pre kiln firing photos below, post firing photos to follow tomorrow

I had 5 visitors today, a mixture of fellow artists, local people and a friend from round the corner, very civilised! Still 2 days left to come and see me if you are in the Exeter area.

 

Another day, another open studio!

My last late night opening today and I am getting a bit cold in my studio writing this; it has also occurred to me how quickly the evenings are drawing in, autumn is really upon us now! But we have had a wonderful day of late summer sunshine and I took some photos of my work in the sparkling sun. I have had a fabulous number of visitors today, to be honest, I have lost count! it is around 20. Some local residents, a lovely friend, a couple of very experienced stained glass artists, a ceramicist and many other interesting people….one of whom came with a fabulous exhibition opportunity which is most exciting (more of that later in the year).

So what have I managed to get done? well a whole lot of glass painting, the kiln is on and should be well into its cycle by now. In there is the much broken last piece of my teasel panel, lots of small houses for tiny winter scenes and a blackberry panels pieces which I am looking forward to making up into a new little autumn piece tomorrow.

I have also completely cemented my mermaid panel and I will clean that up in the morning……more on that tomorrow. So now I am off to back away and shut the studio, ready for another day tomorrow!

Not quite managed a post a day!

Whoops! A broken camera stood between me and Sunday’s Open Studios blog post, no point in a post without a pic!

Anyway, Sunday was a very successful day, 5 visitors and lots of sales! I sold 2 big items for my OS partner Ulrika and I sold 2 of my acorn design and a few other bits. I really cracked on with my mermaid panel and completed the leading process and soldered the whole thing up, amazing what you can do with 7 hours dedicated time without kiddie interruptions!

Monday and Tuesday my studio was closed for some much needed down time so I went to see my friend Karen McCammon’s Open Studio, she does fabulous seascapes and portraits and I brought a couple of her prints for our parents. She has a real talent for capturing a wave breaking! Tuesday I took my parents and toddler to Edge Sculpture Trail, Heathercombe and we had a magical day strolling around the beautiful woodland and interesting sculptures there.

Today was back to the studio, thankfully the high winds left the gazebo intact and 12 people came to look round today, which was a really good start to the week! I leaded up 6 small etched hills panels ready for cementing and did a lot of glass painting; mostly of houses for a small winter scenes, but also some teasles for a panel I have been making and then breaking accidently for weeks now (it was meant to be finished for the Open Studios launch!) and a brand new autumnal blackberries design which has been floating around my head for weeks…….but I am keeping that one to myself until tomorrow………see you then!

Open Studios Day 6:Bubbly and nibbles!

Had a lovely day today with 25 visitors, most of whom were are friends and were lured by the bubbly and a good look at my new kitchen! (In fact people we know really well totally bypassed my work and rushed straight through to see if we finally had a functioning kitchen!)

I managed to get my raindrops sculpture up in the garden this morning and spent the day threading the raindrops back on whilst chatting to everyone. I also managed to apply the etching creme to the glass I painted with PVA resist yesterday…sadly my camera is still not cooperating and so no photos, better luck tomorrow I hope! There wasnt time for much else as we had lots of people come round today, which was wonderful, the sunshine even came out for us! Ulrika (the ceramicist in my gazebo!) also managed a full day, which when 36 weeks pregnant is no mean feat!

There is still a whole week of Open Studios to go, so plenty of time to come and say hello!

Open Studios day 5

Had a super dooper double productive day today! I started by cutting 6 small landscape panels and painted the PVA glue resist onto these in preparation for acid etching them tomorrow. I then emptied the kiln from the overnight firing and my painted details for the mermaid panel had come out lovely, I painted the PVA resist on to this panel too, which will be lots of small shoals of fish. I had hoped to get the etching creme on the panels today but the PVA glue had not dried and will have to be left until tomorrow.

I then went on to cut 4 small Winter Village scenes, ready to be painted soon and tried to repair a beautiful teasel panel I have already broken twice and managed to break it again (its like someone is trying to tell me something). I finished off a large winter village scene incorporating painted and fused glass, but my camera is now refusing to focus, so I have no photos of it today!

We had 5 visitors today, which brings us up to 30, please come and say hello if you are in the area, we are open until the 18th September!

Open Studios Day 4

Day 4, second blog post, wonky I know! Anyway yesterday I blogged about how I had cut all the glass for the mermaid window, today I have painted on the details and got it all in the kiln. I use kiln fired glass paints which come in a powder form, you mix them with gum arabic and water to make a paste and then get going. Its a devil to work as it dries to a powder very quickly and then can not be over painted or touched up, you need to make smooth fluid lines from the off and have a very clear design to work from and have beautifully prepared glass and design….needless to say I am just at the start of this adventure, but I am getting the hang of it slowly! The window details are heavily inspired by one of my children’s favourite books, Jinny Ghost (by Jane Ray and Berlie Doherty). A strange beautiful story about a ghost who transforms nightmares into exciting adventure dreams. The kids love the story, I love the illustration!

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We had a good day today with 5 visitors so far, we have an hour left, so who knows how many more (last year an entire evening class turned up at 7.30)

 

 

 

A Warm Open Studios Welcome!

Open Studios is in full swing! In the 3 days we have been open to the public we have had 20 visitors, which I am pretty pleased with! So, what is there to see?

Firstly and most importantly I am delighted to have my friend and ceramicist Ulrika-Igraine Munoz-Alarcon exhibiting and working in my garden gazebo. Not only is she heavily pregnant, but putting up with the less than ideal weather conditions (its a bit breezy in there!) with great grace! Ulrika makes wonderful vessels and jewellery from paper clay and creates delicate and striking pieces incorporating her own graphic design decals which she fires onto her work and is busy making new pieces whilst with us.

I have spruced up my workshop with a nice coat of white paint and have hung a lot of work in my studio! I have also put lots of my bigger pieces out in the garden and weather permitting (they dont like high winds) there is a shoal of  fused glass fish and a lot of glass raindrops hanging around. I have various projects on the go for the Open Studios period, making recycled fused glass tiles for my kitchen (limited success so far), a lovely little restoration for my friend Marion Andrews (who also participating in Open Studios with her fascinating seashell workshop) and 2 panels to make for my own home. The first of these panels is a long promised window for my little girl’s bedroom, they want mermaids, so that is what I am making them, giving me a chance to further develop my glass painting skills, which are still pretty limited! Anyway, day one, the glass is cut, tomorrow acid etching and painting the pieces. Please feel free to come and see how I get on with all these projects, or keep checking back here to see how I am doing!

We are open 11 am -6pm Until 18th September 2011. Open till 8pm Thursdays and closed to remind our children who we are on Mondays and Tuesdays

39 Regents Park, Exeter, EX1 2NY