How I Make A Glass Ornament On The Torch

Step 1: One end of a glass rod, with a small neck pulled out a little ways from the end. This end is closed, the other end is open.

Step 2: A thinner rod of glass in a different color is melted onto the tube to make stripes.

Step 3: Using another rod of glass attached to the closed end of the tube, the striped portion is evenly heated until slightly viscous and twisted.

Step 4: The same area is evenly heated until uniformly molten (very important for a nice round, symmetrical shape) and then inflated by blowing into the other end of the glass tube, which is open.

Step 5: Using the torch to melt the necked area, the ornament is separated from the tube, a tiny relief hole is made, a loop is formed with tweezers at the top, and then the piece is annealed. Voila!

This Is Going To Be a Great Time

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Xmas Tea & Craft Sale Instagram'd

Christmas Tea & Craft Sale

It is time for Round Two of the annual Christmas Tea & Craft Sale at Ogden Baptist Church in Spencerport, NY! It will be held this coming weekend on Saturday, November 17th from 9:00 am until 4:00 pm. I will be vending there for the second year running, this year adding a few more items to my inventory alongside the pendants I sold last year, and it is sure to be a wonderful time! 

I have been intensely busy in recent days, working toward "Vitrified" at Spot Coffee, trying to keep all of my local businesses stocked with my pendants along with my Etsy site, which took a beating when I removed a number of pendants for my show, and moving my entire studio in the middle of it all.

I managed to get down to Corning this past week and make some fun things, including lemon reamers at the request of a friend and one "pretty little vase." Here I am paddling a bottom!

This piece didn't make it out alive unfortunately, but you make mistakes and you learn from them. So the trip was certainly productive.

I hope to see you at the Christmas Tea & Craft Sale this weekend! Or if not, there's another one at Spot Coffee coming up the weekend of December 7th and 8th, so stay tuned!

First Friday November 2012

First Friday was a resounding success! Audrey and I had so much fun showcasing our work together. She is such a talented photographer, and I'm very glad I had the opportunity to work with her! Sara T. put together a few photos she took at the show:

The work that Audrey showed was a series of photographs in which my glasswork was featured, included models and was largely shot outdoors. Artwork within artwork style! Super cool!

The work that I showed was displayed in two different formats. Inside two shadow boxes there were a number of pendants, several pairs of earrings, miniature ornaments, and one black glass tree branch necklace. Additionally, I mounted four shelves on the wall and displayed five works inside them including a woman with tree legs, a corset vase, a thin, viney black glass sculpture entrapping a figure entitled "Bramble," and two goblets - some new work and some that is a few years old.

As a result of this show I learned a lesson: Walls that are so thin that bass and live music causes them to vibrate are not good walls to mount your super-thin and fragile glasswork on. Not to worry, the only piece that broke did so several days after the opening, and it is fixable. Still a bummer, but live and learn!

A gigantic thank you to Brendon M. for making the lovely plexiglass encasements for my work, and also to Ana C. for the use of her studio while mine was in transition. I never could have done it without you guys.

Next, it's on to the holiday season, and I've got ornaments in the works along with two upcoming craft shows. I would say it's time to get busy, but I never seem to stop being busy! But I'm pretty sure that's a good thing!