ATTACK!!! (epoxy remover)
February 3, 2010
Glass sticks to almost anything when it’s hot, and practically nothing when it’s cold, which is why I love it as a work surface. It’s also why it’s such a pain to attach something, say a hollow pate de verre relief sculpture, to a wall.
We won’t go into the time I used GE Silicone II to attach hangers to three pate de verre panels for a show, except to say I’m very, very glad that pate de verre bounces.
[Read more]
Undo-it-yourself
October 8, 2009
Paul hesitated. “Do you really need the stands for these pieces?” he asked, “I think they’d be more effective if I shot them on the table…”
So he laid a pate de verre panel down on the sweep instead of the neat metal stand I’d brought. He adjusted the lights, climbed up on a stool to take the shot, and transformed the entire piece. [Read more]
Conversations with light
September 24, 2009
Light and I have been in conversation as far back as I can remember. Most times, I just listen. Sometimes I get to talk back. Rarely–too rarely–we sing.
And it’s beginning to feel as though we’ll sing, soon.
When we sing, the light becomes a tangible thing, flowing like water, etching everything in its path, and I finally, blindingly, understand in my bones the definition of “illumination.”
Fireworks & glass on the waterfront
July 4, 2009
Did the 8 to 10:30 shift tonight at the Waterfront Blues Festival, manning the cash register for Empty Bowls. That’s a joint effort between the Oregon Potters Association and the Oregon Glass Guild, where members donate work for sale at fantastic prices, the proceeds going to the Oregon Food Bank. From what I could see, it’s been a rousing success.
Warned that parking would be brutal (it was) and the crowds horrendous (they were), I arrived early, parked about five blocks away, and headed on down to the water. I danced to a great band or three, strolled the booths, got a tattoo and did my usual chat-up with strangers, then went back to start my shift.
OGG’s artist donations apparently sold out on the first day, which is great, and things were moving briskly. It was an absolutely great night, capped with fireworks from floating barges on the river, right by the Hawthorne Bridge.
An evening not to be missed. Didn’t get as many photos as I’d have liked, but I did pick up a few:
And then…disaster. On the dark walk back to the car I didn’t see a hole in the sidewalk, my foot twisted into it sideways. I landed hard on the ground and sent Gigi-the-iPhone flying about 15 feet down the sidewalk. She seems to be working fine, but her case is cracked and slightly offset. I’ll head down to the Apple Store tomorrow for a verdict.
Wish us luck.
The Joy of Coldworking (book)
June 27, 2009
The Joy of Coldworking
A guide to grinding, smoothing and polishing blown and fused glass
Johnathan Schmuck
$49.95
Available through warmglass.com or the Bullseye Resource Center (although as of 6/27/09 it wasn’t listed in their online store)
No, the book’s title is not an oxymoron, at least not for author Johnathan Schmuck. The dude actually likes to grind and polish glass, and since his writing gives no sign of mental deficiencies I must conclude he knows what he’s talking about.
Winding down a week of glass (BEcon 2009)
June 25, 2009
Draaaagged awake Sunday morning, post BEcon and Saturday night’s Lehr-B-Q. OGG had a pre-daddy’s day demo this morning and if the instructor had been anyone but the famous Marty Kremer (or maybe Keith Richards) I’d have stayed in bed. I was tired.
Fortunately, it was Marty, who’s a pretty bright guy as well as a consummate glassist, so I enjoyed myself immensely. Anybody who skipped that class missed out bigtime; at the end Marty held a drawing for his demo pieces, and several students got very lucky indeed. We ended up at Campbell’s BBQ for nearly three hours of ribs and conversation that ranged from the Israeli glass scene to annealing cycles.
It was the perfect end to a very glassy week.
BEcon, finis
June 21, 2009
Apparently, I am 32, 6 foot 10, built like Morgan Le Fay (or maybe Wonder Woman) with waist-length coal-black hair and a princess conehead hat thingee. (think Frazzeta’s women) I walk around with a computer on my head and a chunk of glass in one hand while the other hand does tiny Queen-like wavelets to the populace. Or so folks meeting me at BEcon thought before the cold light of reality struck. (i.e., they met me)
They got the computer and the glass right, anyway.
This BEcon (i.e., Bullseye glass conference) was a showstopper in many ways, but the best part, as usual, wound up being the people I met and remet.There was as much sharing outside the conference as in, and I met a lot of generous people who were more than happy to clue me in on casting stuff I needed to know. [Read more]
BEcon, second day
June 20, 2009
OK, there's a sculpture in here some place. (Taken on the PSU campus)
You measure the quality of a conference by deltas. That’s delta as in change, not large-muddy-lump-guarding-the-Mississippi. The delta between your pre- and post-conference who/what/which/how knowledge should be at least as great as the trouble and expense you’ve invested in going.
As far as I’m concerned, BEcon’s day two deltas pretty much paid for the trip. (And you can also read about the first day)
BEcon, Day 0.5
June 19, 2009
Artlovers’ tip: When attending a busy Bullseye Gallery reception and all those warm bodies raise the temperature to sweatworthiness, visit the work in the front window. That’s where the best air conditioner vent is positioned and, since the art in the window is generally a showstopper, you can enjoy both a warm contemplation and a cool breeze.
Just don’t expect to be there alone; an amazing number of the throngs attending the BEcon opening reception tonight seemed to know that trick. I met quite a few of them already hogging my spot.
The show’s up…
March 26, 2009
…and now I’m fighting fifth hour panic, that moment when you realize that you have a long, long way to go but it’s too late to grab your pitiful little bits and go home.
I got my work to Guardino Gallery yesterday, stuck around to help hang/haul/lug/place the rest of the show, stick placards where things go and just generally make myself useful. (I wrote about it yesterday) I also got a heaping helping of inferiority complex: The stuff in this show is GOOD. [Read more]