Variables in the Experiments

I finally had an empty kiln available to do experiments over the weekend! I wanted to control all the variables and see the effects of changing the temperature the glass melts thru the screen...

3 major things seem to effect the melts: time, temp and quantity.

So I kept the quantity of glass the same and the time it was held at the melting temp was also kept constant. What I changed was the temperature. This caused all sorts of variations: the roundness of the shape, the amount of bubbles in the melt, the patterns of color in the clear glass and the thickness of the finished piece.

The experiments continue... I just thought I'd share what came out of the kiln this weekend...

from left to right:
1700 degrees F
1600 degrees F
1500 degress F

Momma said don't play with fire

Auction at the Museum of Glass

This weekend I attended the gala fund-raising event of the year at the Tacoma Museum of Glass. It is called the Red Hot Summer Party & Auction. A collaborative piece that I worked on with Dennis McConnell was in the silent auction. The museum invites the artists to this event, and Dennis could not go, so I drove up to Tacoma on Saturday to represent for the two of us. This year the work was juried and we had the chance to win some amazing prizes, as in a week in the Museum hot shop with their team and their equipment and they foot the bill (amazing!!) and I think there was a $10,000 prize as well. We didn't win, but it was an honor to have my efforts displayed in such good company! And some lucky bidder got to take our piece home with him.
The event was a wild and luxurious. The glass artwork on display was awe-inspiring. So many of my favorite artists had work in the auction and so many of the patrons of the museum came dressed in tuxes and gowns. I hope it was a successful night for the museum, as I know they raise a good deal of their annual budget at this particular event. But regardless it was pretty amazing. I felt under-dressed. I had somehow missed the memo that I should show up in my most fancy attire. Luckily I did dress up, and I clean up pretty well, but I felt embarrassed non-the-less. Although honestly many of the artists were not dressed in their finest. In fact it made it sorta easy to assume who was an artist and who was there to shop. :) My first thought when I saw all the formal evening wear was that I had missed my chance to really dress up.

If you'd like to sorta see what it was like, there is a video online from a live stream done by Team Photogenic, its long, go to 33min to see the best couple minutes of the whole thing.

Watch live streaming video from seenliveattheredhotsummerparty at livestream.com

While I wanted to take pictures of the people and their formal outfits, instead I was snapping shots of the amazing glass.

The flowers above, made by Kari Russell-Pool were inspired by dalias in a Tacoma garden. When I look at this piece I can't help by gasp at the thought of what it must feel like to assemble this vase! Wow! I love the detail of this vase.

This cocktail set made me swoon. I want it. I can't afford it. I love it. Someone lucky now owns this amazingly perfect set.

All in all it was a fantastic night. A lot of driving, very humbling, excellent food at the dinner and the best part was a presentation about the Museum's "Kids and Glass" program. I hope to blog more about this program soon...

I took more pictures as well... they are on flickr... lots of shots of the glass installations outside the museum as well, I put them up on Flickr