Pictures from the Glass School

its a slideshow - press play

Aquila Glass School

1628 N Columbia Blvd, Unit A - Portland, OR 97217

This is where I teach torchworking classes - look how much fun people are having! I love this place.

Melting Scrap Glass into Art

Meet my new kiln tool - its called a screen melt system. Basically you melt glass thru the screen and it puddles in the form below. My new friend Steve made this for me, its awesome and I have been having fun experimenting with it.
The idea is simple: melt glass thru the screen and the right balance of clear and color will create chaotic patterns in the finished puddle of glass. I have hundreds of pounds of scrap glass accumulating and this screen melt system could be a way of transforming it into beautiful art.

Here's what I've been doing in my kiln experiments...

- first I weigh out the glass so that the scrap used will equal the volume I want in the finished puddle (I have been using about 800grams to make a 9"plate)

- then I transfer this scrap onto the screen in the kiln (I have prepped the screen by laying fiber blanket against the steel of the form that the glass melts into and along the kiln shelf (so that final puddle will not stick to anything)

- then I melt the glass, using a program that cooks the glass at 1600degrees Fahrenheit

- once its cold and cleaned off the scrap has transformed into a puddle!

Here are my first three melts, I think they are beautiful.

I have been learning a lot along the way. These experiments will probably turn into bowls in my kitchen.

the View from the Shop

The shop where I teach is in North Portland in an old train barn on Columbia Blvd.

There are three key things that I associate with my commute to work:

• the train (I love the colors and shapes of the graffiti and train cars)
• the smell of cookies (there is a Kraft (used to be Nabisco) plant a few blocks from the shop)
• the view of Mt Hood

The train always honks as it goes by the shop (there are 3 bridges it passes underneath, so they all honk 3 times). There is a lot of industry around the shop that uses these trains, as they head to and from the big ports on the river. They only thing I do not like about the trains is when they honk just as I am opening the front door - this makes me jump and I think they do so just to see my reaction! Its loud!

The cookie factory is always pumping out cookies and crackers, they make Oreos and Wheat Thins. When the insanely wonderful smell of chocolate wafts in the breeze my brain always says "brownies!" - I used to think they must be making brownie mix in that factory, but I have since learned it is the chocolate cookies for Oreos! And what I thought was the intoxicating smell of Vanilla Wafers in the making, is the vanilla cream stuffing for the Oreos. Yum. One day I hope to get a tour of this factory. Oh yes I do!

Best of all though (does it get better than the smell of cookies?!) is the sight of Mt. Hood. The view is amazing from Columbia Blvd. She glows majestically, perfectly framed by trees around the road. I always want to snap pictures, a few days ago I couldn't resist as the sun was setting and the mountain looked so amazing. That is the photo above.

The view of Mt. Hood has always been a present factor in my work as a glass artist. The first shop space I rented was in a barn up on Mt Hood. I rented there for a couple of years. Learning to snow board in the winter and enjoying the cold rivers in the summer were integral parts of working on Mt. Hood. It was an awesome way of working as a glass artist. And now I will always have this positive association with the view of Mt. Hood.

In my garage studio at home I made a painting of Mt. Hood and hung it behind an old window (there's a wall that I thought should have a window and so I put a fake one there!).

Inspiration: Plant Starts

A great use for my Handmade Glass Lolipop Vase - a little sprig of your favorite plant!

Put in water or sand, give love, water and sunshine... watch it grow!

Kiln Glass Resource Centers

Let the glass flow...

Last night I had the awesome opportunity to join a group of artists at the Bullseye Glass Company to discuss KGRC. That would stand for Kiln Glass Resource Centers. Everyone is in town for BeCon and Bullseye generously hosted a meet n' greet round table event for the owners of Kiln Glass Resource Centers. We had a great discussion - I have so many new ideas now! And it was great to meet so many incredible people. Nathan Sandberg gave us a great presentation about achieving movement in fused glass. It was called "Going with the flow" and featured the work Bullseye did with artist Jun Kaneko. Really inspiring. I am drawn to movement in artwork and this presentation was all about causing motion in the glass with your kiln forming process. Very interesting.

Bullseye has a class that Nathan teaches for this technique

Pendleton Woolen Mill Party

Friday was the big international Craft Party - Erin and I went to the Pendleton Woolen Mill to check out their festivities - what fun! Awesome party favors, lots of woolen needle felting - I made a bookmark, there were also stations to make felted soap, felted wrist cuffs, and felted banners.

Also it was a great opportunity to shop! For one thing, in the picture above, the gallery space we were crafting in is use to showcase Pendleton blankets and tapestries. There are a number of tapestries that were designed by famous artists and a portion of the proceeds from sales from these tapestries goes to the Pendleton Native American Scholarship Fund. AND these tapestries are on sale now! It seems they are converting the space into a gallery for their blanket inventory. The sale is huge. Some are only $99! I may not have the details entirely correct, but seriously, there are some amazing deals going on!

I meanwhile shopped for wool. Visions of a set of woolen blankets sewn into a sleeping bag of sorts guided me through the aisles at the mill. The night before I went camping with Tim and we froze our butts off with three blankets on an air-mattress. All night I had wakeful dreams of wool blankets to keep us warm. Even better - a woolen sleeping bag the size of a queen airmattress! Oh yeah baby. So there I was at Pendleton, shopping for wool for this project. I don't want to spend an arm and a leg, and I don't mind getting crafty. There are remnants that they sell at $5/lbs, which I thought I'd felt (so they are thick and soft) and then sew together like a patchwork quilt. Then I saw there were entire bolts of a few old patterns that were 80%OFF. That made some of them only $12/yard. Holy crap! So I bought 4 yards of 60" wide Pendleton Wool for only $12/yard. Shocking.

This Friday is THE Craft Party!

Hey Portland friends - you are invited to the Craft Party!!

There are events at the Museum of Contemporary Craft as well as the Pendleton Woolen Mill

Heres a schedule to get you pumped!

Friday, June 10

Open Craft Activities: 11 am–6 pm
Regular Museum admission ($3 adults)

Craft Party at the Pendleton Woolen Mill: 2 pm–5:30 pm
Etsy sellers bring your business cards!

Craft Party: 7 pm–10 pm
Sliding Scale Donation ($5–$25; Age 21+ only)

Museum of Contemporary Craft
724 NW Davis Street
Portland, OR 97209

Benefitting Quilts for Quake Survivors and Mercy Corps' Japan Relief Fund

Etsy's at it again! I Heart Art: Portland and Museum of Contemporary Craft host an all-day celebration and an evening party in Portland as part of Etsy's Worldwide Craft Party. We've teamed up with the Quilts for Quake Survivors project and Mercy Corps' Japan Relief Fund to reach out beyond our community and raise money to help those in dire need through our own crafty ways.

Daytime

Drop by the Museum during regular hours, 11 am to 6 pm, and craft in the Lab all day long (regular admission applies). Help sew quilts for the Quilts for Quake Survivors project or choose from three different crafting stations: embroidery, Japanese-style papercutting or a Mighty Ugly project.

See the I Heart Art: Portland blog post for details on the daytime schedule.

If you'd like to participate during the day, please RSVP on the Meetup.com page. The tickets available for purchase through this page are for the evening party only.

Visit the Pendleton Woolen Mill from 2-5:30pm and get a tour, play with the woolen craft products, view some pieces from the archives and network with other craft artists.

Evening

At 7:00 pm, the doors will open back up to the Museum and the real party will start! We're taking over the entire space with complete with food, beer and wine, a DJ, and even more crafting stations. Your door donation will get you an entry into the drawing for a whole slew of crafty prizes (books, gift certificates, handmade goods and more!), some food and beverage tickets, and a lot of crafty fun!

Throughout the evening you can rotate through hand-felting, origami, hand-weaving, and make your own crafty artist trading cards. The quilts made for the project will be on display, and Modern Domestic will have them available for sale and sell raffle tickets.

Is your head spinning yet?! This is going to be the biggest, craftiest and most awesome craft party Etsy has ever seen! Plus all proceeds will go to Mercy Corps' Japan Relief Fund, so you can get your craft on and feel good about giving back to those in dire need of help.

Learn more about the QfQ Project and Mercy Corps' Japan Relief Fund.

Im gonna Craft Party for sure. Friday is looking to be a super fun filled day! Who wants to join me!