Wednesday, 30 May 2012

Glitzy Glass - Fused Glass Jewellery Workshop

With a record turn around of just 4 days (due to the Jubilee bank holiday festivities next week), I have fired, finished and glue over 80 pieces of fused glass which my 10 lovely students made on Saturday 26th May at The Beetroot Tree Gallery.

A workshop designed to make wearable art using Bullseye glass, Metal inclusions and the amazing Dichroic... Everyone loves sparkle!

As usual, I started off with pre cut clear glass which everyone added coloured elements and sandwiched metal inclusions.....

In my portable kiln - fired within an hour of starting the worksho

All fused - opened the kiln after lunch for everyone to see

So after a very productive day I headed back to my studio to load my larger kiln with the following!

Loaded and ready to go! Look at all the colours!
Fired - I just love how much things change!

For more photos of the finished pieces, take a look at Stevie's facebook album and feel free to comment, link and share!  Enjoy!

Sunday, 29 April 2012

Landscapes at The Beetroot Tree 22.4.12

Wow, just finished firing the students work from another fab workshop at The Beetroot Tree Gallery. You guys never fail to astound me with the level of creativity and number of new ideas/designs you come up with!

As usual, I started everyone off with a very quick task using pre cut Bullseye glass. We layered small metal inclusions, thinking about texture and confetti and frit for colour....

Before...

 
And after.
So, the general theme of the day with Fused Glass Landscapes but I never hold participants to this....

We had Abstract Shapes by Mavis.

Seasonal Trees by Jackie

Gold and Yellow Shapes by Rebekah

Flowers by Frank


Every one of them beautiful.  I do want to draw particular attention to the set of works created by Karen.  Her use of metal inclusions to create texture and the subtle/atmospheric colours of glass used are a true inspiration. 
Before firing.  Look at all the different components...

Bit of a close up with the textured metals
Three fired panels.  The photos don't do them justice so sorry about that!
As usual, more images from this workshop (and more) can be found on my facebook page!
Keep in touch!

Friday, 13 April 2012

Update to my "Microwave Kilns at Home" page.... a write up and lots of photos to do with the magic of firing glass in a domestic microwave....... check it out.  Any feedback or discussions welcome! 

Tuesday, 3 April 2012

Flutterby - 14 Students at Trowell Village Hall

22nd March - I was invited by Broxstowe Borough Council to teach a full day workshop as part of their "Take Part Art" events programme.


14 students spent the day creating creative with the Flutterby theme. Here are just a few examples of the finished works and descriptions.


This is David's Dragonfly - a wonderfully sculpted image, created in wire, simple colours were added with glass powders, confetti and mica powders. I had my concerns, technically I mean, I thought the wire design might catch air bubbles, but David was happy to just see what happened. I love to teach students like this - less pressure on me I think!

A tile by Grace - this photo doesn't do it justice but the dichroic glass pieces, placed in this mosaic effect is stunning! I can't be the only one who loves sparkle! I love the process of piecing together small pieces of coloured glass and use it a lot in my own work as well as teaching a 1/2 day Jewellery course I have titled "Mosaic Pendants & Earrings". I think it is just a great way of playing with colour and shape and each pieces is 100% unique!


Finally for this blog post, although you can see the whole photo album on my facebook page, is this hanging my Helen Domleo. Not sticking with the theme but I loved Helens use of wire, you can tell she is a very talented Jeweller. I suggested she bash the wire stems with a hammer and a metal plate to flatten them slightly. I find this helps to stiffen the wire, so it doesn't bounce around so much and it gives a really interesting texture/raw edge rather than the smooth round wire. I am going to develop list more as a process as recent sampling in my own practise has thrown up some interested results!

Sunday, 18 March 2012

Flutterby - Panels and Coasters


Workshop held at The Beetroot Tree Gallery on Sat 10th March 2012.

"Flutterby" creations are those that are inspired by all things with wings! Dragonflies, Butterfly and Birds to name a few. What do you see in these images?




Want to know more about Stevie and her future workshops? Click on the links to go to her website or contact her through facebook and ask to be added to her mailing list!

Sunday, 11 March 2012

New Blog!

Hello all, this is just a quick write up to get my new blog started!

The main reason I have decided to start these web pages is to be able to showcase the fantastic range of art works and jewellery which my students create. So with every workshop I teach, an average of 2 a month, I am going to post photos and information about the work which has been lovingly made.

I am assuming that the majority of people reading this will be the students I have just mentioned.... so, feel free to post comments about your work and link to your facebook and email. However you want to spread the word about your fused glass work! Enjoy!

Examples of Stevie's Kiln Fused Glass work