Mosaic Owl (3x3)

4"x4" mosaiced tile

Almost an auseklis (3x3)

4"x4" mosaiced tile

A Brown Explodey Flower (3x3)

Hmmmm....... It's been a while - eh?

I spent a week in Michigan teaching glass stuff this summer. That was fun. Inbetween questions, instead of staring at the backs of people's heads or something, I decided to keep my hands busy. Also, I needed some glued glass to demonstrate "how to grout" without demo-ing on someone else's work. The next few posts are of the little things I finished while teaching.



4"x4" mosaiced tile

I'm not sure, yet, whether to turn these in to coasters or decorative wall hangings.

Sketching in lino, Part I

A couple of art nights ago I let myself just "sketch" in lino.... apparently I had bugs on the mind since both prints turned out to feature bugs. Here's the smaller of the two:



I can't figure out a consistent way to cut nice-looking circles in lino. I think I want to make friends with a dermatologist so I can appropriate one (or more) of those sharp little tools that punch out perfect circles from skin that's going to be biopsied. I bet those would work on lino.

My kitchen was busy last weekend...

This is what just over 4 hours of canning will yield in my house:



(14 pints of canned peaches plus a medium batch of peach jam [8 jars], a medium batch of cherry-rhubarb [8 jars], and a small batch of peach-cherry [5 jars].)

And then you get even better/faster at it :) I've since also canned 5 pints of elderflower cordial (yay urban foraging!), but that stuff isn't very photogenic.

Repurposing glass for garden art

Later this week these dishes will be in my garden as large(ish) garden flowers:



Very much a borrowed idea, but it was too neat not to try out on my own. The plan is to use epoxy and then use my oven to anneal/strengthen the bond. I have another box of glass still in my car from last weekend's flea market trip waiting to be made in to some more once I find some inexpensive and interesting colorful second hand glass dishes.

Stained glass progress

The other day I realized that in August I'll be helping to teach a stained glass/fused glass class and yet I haven't actually finished any stained glass in.....well, years. So. Back to this project started in 2008....

Over the course of about 5 hours (across two days) I finished grinding, washing, and copper foiling it to get it to fit in the frame (with a few design mods due to carelessness and limited glass to make up for mistakes. ooops.):



I've since also finished 80% of the soldering, too, but have yet to take a picture of that. I'm still working out how I want to finish the outer edge and what patina to use on the solder. This is intended for my bathroom window, but I don't think I want to permanently install it. So..... lead came? Or a wooden frame? I'm not sure yet.

Copper disk earrings

I finally started using this etched piece of copper that I made in a class some 8 or 9 years ago. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the metal sheet before beginning to cut it up. Sigh.

First, a pair of earrings:

Sushi plate experiment

Last week I visited my parents. You never know what kinds of adventures you might encounter while over there. This time, my mother turns to me and says, "I want you to make a sushi plate."

OK (^_^) of course! Here are the results. One worked, one did not.

Bails

Last week I practiced both basic soldering and mass production:



My mom asked for some bails for her glass work projects. The first 15 were kind of tough and rather annoying, but the next 20+ were easy peasy.

Sock monsters

I found an amusing book and decided to make sock monsters an activity for an art night. Here are the ones I made:



now what do I do with them?
I don't even really like stuffed animals...
Hmmmmmmm.

The Inspector

This is what I see every time I get in to my car and it makes me smile! I've had my car for just over 2 years and it's never had a name, but suddenly I'm inclined to call it "The Inspector".....

Ghetto buffing station

I found a small grinder for $2 at a garage sale last year that I just couldn't pass up. Earlier this spring, I got the parts to make my grinder in to a buffer for jewelry and now I am using it wherever I find room. Hence "the ghetto buffer". Usually I'm on this chair in my kitchen. It doesn't work so well, though, since it bounces around and I end up using one hand to hold the machine in place while the other hand is holding and buffing the jewelry.



That's not so safe. So. Today I will be mounting this .... somewhere sturdy. And possibly making a backsplash type shield to stop the flying bits from escaping all over the room.

Blue Comet Pendant

Here's another new pendant finished during last weekend's efforts:



I'm definitely excited to take more of my doodles from work notebooks and turn them in to something I can hold in my hand. (or rather, wear as jewelry!)

Small Green Pendant

I finally sat down to play with metal and fire this weekend and here's what came out!



Very plain. Very simple. But still pretty. AND confidence boosting. I finished it in far less time than I'd expected AND now i have several more studio-type things set up and ready to use! (most notably: my buffer is up and running!)

Rhubarb mimosas

Pretty drinks this morning at brunch (before the sparkling part was added):



I made rhubarb syrup earlier this month and this was its first public debut. It turns out I like it better with a lemon-lime soda than with champagne, but there is still much room for more experimentation!

Iridescent glass plate

My mother's nifty glasswork (I love iridescent stuff):

New lino project!

I have been experimenting with printing on different surfaces. At the moment, the favorite result is the one where I print on book paper and turn it in to a card:




I am hoping to get some old Latvian books to use for this in the future, since I think printing these on Latvian text (instead of English) would just be much neater - eh?

Strawberry Lemon Cake

Last weekend it was a dear friend's brithday. We planned a semi-surprise party and I was in charge of CAKE! Here's what I made. A lemony strawberry cake. This involved making cake, lemon curd and lemon mousse. YUM!

Asparagus hunting!

I've gone asparagus hunting a couple times now this year. I've only found a few stalks, but it's really nice to spend time walking with a purpose outside. Here's the most interesting asparagus that I've come across. I wonder what made it grow this way?