Greetings one and all.  Unfortunately, I have had a period of illness and have been unable to work on our lovely glass business.  Thankfully, I am now fully recovered and raring to go….almost.  Whilst on my sick bed, I have, however, been able to imagine designs and things I can create which are a little bit different.

Which brings me to the title of this blog.  A friend asked me recently how I liked my glass to be perceived.  I immediately thought of unique and/or unusual.  On looking on the internet, however, I see that the word ‘unique’ is paradoxically ubiquitous! That leaves ‘unusual’.  Here is the tricky bit though: unusual is very much a subjective opinion. What is unusual to some may not be to others.    I am still pondering on this: if I want somebody to find our glass on an internet search, looking for ‘unique’ and/or ‘unusual’ fused glass, actually brings up an awful lot of sites.  Clearly us glass artists all want to be seen as such!  This is something I will have to ponder on for a little while longer but in the meantime, any comments or ideas would be gratefully received!

Currently in the studio, we are trying out pattern bar techniques.  The fusing in the kiln is only a small part of it: there’s the initial firing, which takes about 24 hours in the kiln.  The resulting slab then needs to be cut into pieces on a tile saw, assembled into a ‘pattern’ and refired.  After this refiring, it needs to be cold-worked: cold-working is using machines such as lapwheels to grind into shape and polish before finally being slumped into a mould.  These are the  pieces I’m working on, the stage they are currently at, and the way they began life in the kiln.

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Left image: the start of the whole process.  Right image: how the piece currently stands, waiting to be cold-worked.

 

 

 

Below:  left image, waiting for second firing in the kiln. Right image: how it currently stands, waiting to be cold-worked.

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Our next show is for Herefordshire in Art, known as h.Art.  We will be displaying upstairs in the Market House at Ledbury from 12th – 20th September, alongside members of the Herefordshire Guild of Craftsmen (we are not full members, but are Associates of the Guild). Please come along and visit, not just for our stuff but also to see the quality of the work produced by members of the Herefordshire Guild.  They are all, without exception, seriously talented (check out http://www.herefordcraftguild.org.uk).  Rich and I are completely in awe of them all and it’s a privilege to exhibit alongside them.

Well, that’s it for now.  Back to polishing….

Becci x