It’s been two whole years since I’ve worked on a fused glass project, or even spent more than a moment in the studio. Literally ever since Covid hit, I’ve stayed away. You would think it would have been a good escape, an excellent way to fill the isolation, but for whatever reason, it wasn’t. I just had no desire.
In the past few months I’ve tried to spark some inspiration by perusing ideas online, but nothing struck my fancy until I became aware of an e-book tutorial by a glass artist I follow. And suddenly, I was curious.
But first, I had to CLEAN THE STUDIO. It took a while because everything was as I’d last left it, two years ago. What a mess. Cut glass everywhere, shards everywhere, tools everywhere. Also: cat hair everywhere. (Snoozing grounds). Ugh. But I did it. And then I got to work.
And I’m still in the midst of it. It’s a multi-fired project, and I can currently hear my kiln relays clicking the 2nd major firing. I woke up this morning knowing that I could finally see the results of the first major firing, and I was so nervous! I opened the kiln lid with both excitement and anxiety, because either it would be A-OK, or else a disaster. Whew. It was A-OK.
I started out covering a couple of glass strips with “confetti,” which is basically shaved glass pieces, ultra-thin. I’d bought a couple of jars some time ago and figured this was an excellent way to utilize it.
After fusing them, I cut up the strips into shorter strips and set them on top of stacks of clear glass, inside a stainless steel “dam” to maintain the flow of the melting glass within the dam circle:
This dam is only 6” diameter, so it’s much smaller than it looks here. It also created some havoc because the tutorial starts at an 8” dam and I wanted 6”! So I had to do MATH. And I may not have done it quite RIGHT. (As is my experience with…MATH).
The first major firing was a l-o-n-g one. I started it about 2:00pm yesterday and I couldn’t open the kiln until about noon today! (Hence, anxiety!) This is what I saw:
A-OK. I think.
I removed the slab of glass from the dam and cleaned it up, nipped off the spikes around the edge, and then put it back in the kiln without the dam for another s-l-o-w fuse, which it is doing now. You go very slow, gradually increasing the heat, to prevent thermal shock, and then “holding” the temperature at different times to let it soak and stabilize those wiggly molecules. Then you do the same on the way down, holding at the annealing temperature for a couple of hours, and then gradually stepping down from there. The slab is quite thick, and this current fuse will spread it out, thin it out, and hopefully spread out the colors to fill in more. (It’s supposed to, anyway!) We’ll see. My poor math ability may bite me in the butt yet. I’m hoping I didn’t get the ratio of confetti-to-clear wrong. Gulp. At any rate, I won’t know until around noon tomorrow…
It’s sad around these parts because our beloved neighbor lost his battle with an extremely rare cancer this week. He was only a year older than John. It breaks my heart and I know his wife is shattered. It’s just the worst.
A couple of things to mention—have you seen the commercials for “Vuity,” which is a prescription eyedrop that allows you to see up close without reading glasses?! I am gobsmacked! Oh man, would that be great or what! I read up on it, and of course there are some caveats. My reading glass correction is 1.5, and it sounds like that’s the sweet spot for these eyedrops to work the best. John’s is something like 2.75! So, they may not work so well for him. Also, the effect only lasts for about 6-8 hours. (I’m not sure if you can then add another drop; I’m thinking not). And then from what I’ve read, those who have extremely poor distance sight (near-sightedness) also may not benefit as well. It’s also expensive ($80/month), and insurance doesn’t cover it. I’m about due for an eye exam, so I may ask for a prescription and try it out. Maybe. Hmm.
I also want to mention my incandescent rage at the vile, despicable, craven behavior of the republican senators during Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings. What dregs of humanity. Absolute rock bottom.
We recently finished watching the series “Normal People” on Hulu, and it was very, very good. It may not be for everybody, but we honestly enjoyed it. It’s very sexy! Also well-acted and unique, plus the show’s music is right up there with how good Grey’s Anatomy’s at least used to be (remember that?) And, my current book is John Scalzi’s “The Kaiju Preservation Society” and I’m loving it! I would say it’s in the same vein as “The Martian” and “The Hail Mary Project,” both of which I highly recommend. You won’t go wrong. And laughing is good for us in these rock bottom times.
And now, here’s Quinn asking his mom to buy him a “cooooool” car. “When I get a little bigger, OK?”
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true. The other is to refuse to accept what is true.” -Soren Kierkegaard
