Time to refill my Etsy store

Slowly but surely I am working on adding some more pieces to my Etsy store. It’s about time too!

The first piece I added was the deep pendant from the last post. But I also finished two more pendants that are now available:

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Photo Update of a Matching Art Glass Pendant

I finished a pendant that matches the cocktail ring I posted a little while ago.
Here are some pictures:

The glass is cold worked and very deep. So, the view from the side is quite dimensional, especially since some of the glass is perfectly clear.

Once I have a little time to spare, this pendant will likely end up in my Etsy store.

My new Glass-Fancy.com Website

I have been spending some time updating my website.
The old one was looking a bit patchy and I really wanted something smoother looking.

Well, … here is a sneak peek!

It may or may not be fully functional yet, so if you do run into any problem, please check back in a few days and everything should be up and running.

Let me know what you think, please!

One of these things is not like the others

Recently, I have finished 4 new cold worked fused glass pendants.
Actually, none of them are very new at all.

I tend to keep one or two fused pieces from most of the batches I fire and put them into a box for safe keeping. They usually remain there until there comes a time when I have too much other stuff going on and don’t have any time for fusing. At that point, I grab one here and there and finish them.

When I looked at the 4 finished pieces, what popped in my mind was the Sesame Street game and song “One of these Things is not like the Others” and it’s basically been stuck there ever since.

So, let’s line ’em up and see if you can figure out which one is not like the others:

… ♫ … before I finish this song. =)

Mixed message

The way I create my fused glass pieces is sometimes a bit odd.
At times, I fuse a whole lot of pieces to fill up the kiln and then about half of them go into a box and I don’t look at them again until a couple of week or months later, depending how much time I have.
It mixes things up a little bit and a lot of times I totally forget about the pieces in the box and it’s fun to rummage through it and rediscover them.

So, I rediscovered one piece this way and it’s sending me a bit of a mixed message.
It’s a large piece because I intended it to be cold worked so that it has distinct edges and a perfect rectangular form.

I make a lot of pendants because pendants are an easy piece of jewelry to wear and because a lot of my designs have a vertical tendency. Brooches, on the other hand, have a more horizontal tendency in my opinion and somehow that doesn’t come natural to me.
This piece, however, could really be both, a pendant or a brooch and I have trouble deciding.

So, what do you think: vertical pendant like in the first photo or horizontal brooch like in the second photo?
Which one is it?

Pure retro-ness right out of the kiln

At the moment, I am very much lacking in the time department. Between work, my husband’s business and the college class I am taking, I am spread very thin.
The little bit of time I spend in my “dungeon of glass” is stolen from my college class and I have trouble really enjoying it because the whole time I am thinking: “I should really be writing my lab journal right now.”

Nevertheless, I finally managed to fuse the load of glass that has been very slowly accumulating in my kiln for more than 3 weeks.

I was trying to develop something like a line of retro-looking fused glass pendants. The idea is taken from a pendant that I made a couple of years ago and that really stuck in my mind.
The design has fine silver geometrical patterns at two different depths and, in my opinion, it looks great no matter what color you put around it.
Below you can see the deep layer of fine silver circles peeking through.

I have to apologize but I am showing you the pieces exactly how they came out of the kiln because I am honestly not quiet sure when I will have the time to finish them.

And now I will finish writing my lab journal! =)

My first run-in with glue-on

I wanted to show you my new glue-on bails!

From now on, I am going to create a number of my pendants with these nifty glue-ons instead of drilling and then working sterling wire to connect a bail.
I still think that the drilled pendants are probably more sturdy but eliminating one whole firing and also some additional costs for the diamond drill bits and the sterling wire is a good argument to give it a try.

A few of these pendants are already listed on eBay. I meant to try selling on eBay for a while now but never really got going with it. It seems to be the time for firsts!

I start the kiln and melt for you! Part 2

My strategy from the first part of this post has paid off.
I picked two more color combos and filled another kiln shelf. Here is a photo of the pile of glass that resulted.

The design that requires the smallest number of firings and therefore got done the fastest are my donut shapes.

I took some photos of a few of them separately and once I get more pictures, a selection is going to be listed in my Etsy, 1000 Market and Artfire store. (Click the thumbnails to see a larger version.)

I am still working on the other pieces to make pendants, earrings and cold worked designs but I will need some more time to finish the next badge. So check back a little later =)

I See Green; Progress Pictures of a Metal Clay Ring with Fused Glass Center

It is very unfortunate when life gets in the way of playing with your favorite toys. That is exactly what happened to me this week. I had very little time to do what I love and had to concentrate more on what I do not love.
But now I am back in the game and in the middle of another metal clay ring. I thought I could take some progress pictures and share them with you.

Here is a picture of the fused glass that I am using for the ring center. It is my usual combination of spring green, olive and sparkling dark green. I fused a relatively large piece and after cutting out the middle to use on the ring, I will still have some glass left to maybe make some earrings or something similar. I shaped the piece that I need into a rectangle to match the rest of the ring.

Next, you can see the fused glass piece placed onto the ring the way it will be when it is finished. For now it is just laying there so you can see the concept.
I chose the same principle as the last two rings, just with rectangles. But this ring is going to be smaller than the last ones. I wanted the silver to feel more like a bezel for the glass this time rather than having so much silver surrounding it.
It is pretty much ready to be fired but since we are having that storm with near hurricane force winds and downed trees etc., I did not think it wise to start the kiln for a long firing when the lights are already flickering. It will have to wait until things have calmed down a bit.
Once it is finished, I will post an update with pictures.

Hey, you messed up! All these brooches have a hole!

Once again, I have successfully managed to avoid making any pendants this week.
My selection on brooches or pins was getting pretty low and so I concentrated on making a few of them with a bit of a new look. They are almost a combination of brooch and donut pendant since they all have a hole.

My favorite one out of the bunch is the green one. I am very much taken with the combination of a deeper olive and the bright spring green. By itself, the spring green is almost obnoxious but when combined with the more settled colors it adds something fresh and cheery to the whole thing.