Kilnformer’s murrini (you can buy)
January 20, 2011
I’ve been exploring all the different ways to make murrini cane in a kiln, and having a lot of fun with it. Check out some of these (amazingly long-winded) posts for step-by-step instructions:
- Murrini cane in a kiln: Sandwiches, Part I
- Murrini cane in a kiln: Jellyrolls
- Murrini cane in a kiln: The rod pod
- Kinda like peanuts
But I gotta tell you, it’s a lot of work and it’s not cheap. So what do you do if you want good-looking, kiln-fusing murrini that you don’t have to make yourself?
Summersnow and Zirpel
January 10, 2011
Legs bright red from the windy-wet cold, she’s walking her dog across the intersection. It’s 28F bloody degrees, and she’s wearing flipflops (with socks), gym shorts and a hoodie.
I shake my head and drive on to the grocery store, where the local Lions Club is holding its annual “Summer in January” cookout. The weatherman says an icy snowstorm is on the way…and a bunch of elderly dudes and their wives are outside manning the grill, selling burgers and soda for charity.
This, my friends, is glassland. See why I love it?
Nikolas Weinstein’s flowing, wonderful glass
January 6, 2011
A recent article in Glass Quarterly caught my eye, and I headed over to glass sculptor Nikolas Weinstein’s site to see more…then said “holy cow” for about 15 minutes straight.
Weinstein tack-fuses thousands of borosilicate glass tubes together and shapes them into flowing, organic patterns (among other techniques). The stuff he produces is quite frankly some of the most stunningly beautiful architectural glass I’ve ever seen. (Download his portfolio PDF–holy cow)
Pilchuckery
October 17, 2010
“Artist or collector?” the tuxedo’d man sitting next to me asked, “Which are you?”
“Collector, mostly,” I said, “Although I’m trying to be a NON-collector tonight.”
“My continued employment depends on your collecting,” he replied, sternly, “So…get over it and buy something.”
Sadly, I never did (score one for self-control), but by the end of the evening my humanity collection had swelled enormously. Pilchuck’s annual art auction fundraiser is a near-encyclopedic display of glassists, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
Reverse auctioneering (Pilchuck auction)
October 16, 2010
They tell me I’m doing this exactly backwards.
Artists are first supposed to take a class at Pilchuck, the famous mountaintop glass school in the northwest. They fall in love with it, then tenderly, timidly offer their art to Pilchuck’s big fundraising auction. Wait to breathe until it’s accepted.
The second year their work gets in, they’ve arrived, so they actually GO to the auction.
Or so I’m told.
Me, I’m cutting to the chase: Tonight I’m going to the Pilchuck auction. Maybe someday I’ll take a class there. Prolly never donate my work (long story*), but hey…
Microglass
September 30, 2010
The Rakow commission this year went to Luke Jerram, a most interesting choice, and he’s about to unveil it.
I’ve liked Jerram’s work for some time. It’s beautiful, but that’s not hard to do with glass. It’s merging science, technology and art, but that’s not hard to do with glass (or metal), either. At least two artists I admire do something similar, (Andy Paiko and Julian vos-Andreae) and if you’ll check around you’ll find many more.
Pop goes da weasel
September 8, 2010
Ever had one of those moments of sheer, utter astonishment, where your mouth drops open all the way down to your ankles and stays there?
That was me on Monday, thanks to the artwork pictured above. The rightmost panel quietly separated itself from its hanger and came off in my hands…while I was rehanging it. Since it’s been hanging perfectly well on that same wall for more than three years, I was, uhm, kinda taken aback.
Art fair, day 3
May 3, 2010
Wrapped up the Oregon Glass Guild Spring Gallery show last night and tallied my results:
- Roughly 825 compliments
- 26 signups for a class in casting/pate de verre
- Two customer referrals to see another work I have, in another gallery
- One request to turn Riverflow into a low wall for a center kitchen island
- Two potential customers for architectural tile
- A business card from an interior designer on the Oregon coast
- Two expressions of interest from potential shows/galleries
- Several new friends
- Met some old blog friends I’d never met in person
- Three requests to do signage for other artists in exchange for their glass (yummy)
- 12 suggestions for more effective lighting (from customers, no less)
- A second place finish for “people’s choice best in show”
- One request to design another artist’s booth
- One stalker
- One hug from a total stranger
- No sales
…and an amazingly huge amount of new information on buyer and vendor behavior, booth and lighting design, ideas for new work, etc..
Art fair, day 2
May 2, 2010
Riverflow is doing its job as a showstopper quite well--we're attracting visitors from across the hall.
So, at the end of day 2 of my first art fair, this is the tally:
- Lots of compliments
- Conversations with couple of interior designers, a gallery and an architectural firm
- A couple dozen requests to teach casting, pate de verre and moldmaking
- Four requests to cast glass for other artists (a sculptor who works in bronze, a glass artist looking to upscale, a ceramic vessel-maker and one other)
- Several photographs of booth and layout by other artists (and two requests to barter for signage and booth design help)
- One sale (Terry’s)
Conclusion: Our booth may be the hit of the show…for other artists.
Art fair, day 1
May 1, 2010
This is going to be a short post because, while I’m sure I’ve been more tired at some point in my life, I’m too tired to remember when.
We just finished day 1 of Cynthia’s very first art fair booth. Didn’t sell a thing, but the booth (and the work) got a lot of attention. And if you could pay the mortgage with compliments, I’d own my house free and clear, and probably yours, too. 
I’ll save Day 0, with its interesting booth building experiences (and my new adventures in parallel-parking a truck), for later. Three things struck me today: