"Maybe we're just too old to spark," my sister laughed. We were standing in a strange bathroom with the lights off, trying to get wintergreen Lifesavers to light up as we crunched them with our teeth. Nothing was happening. Correction: Something WAS happening, something that had nothing whatsoever to do with blue-white sparks shooting out of my mouth. We were just [...]
In Part I of this series, I gave a (long-winded) description of designing, making and refining a model for a pate de verre garden panel. It's about 5x7 inches and maybe a half-inch thick (or a bit less), meant to hang on the wall. In Part II (this post), I'll talk about making the refractory mold. Part III will cover [...]
If I had to pick a last meal, it’d probably be a sandwich of fresh, crusty (REAL) sourdough bread, spread with home-made mayonnaise and topped with thin slices of really good ham, Wensleydale cheese and heirloom tomato…with an ice-cold glass of home-made limeade. The sandwich might be optional, which explains why I spent much of last Saturday making fruit syrups [...]
Pate de verre combines glass casting plus frit-painting plus sculpting plus moldmaking plus coldworking. Each of those can be daunting by itself; when you combine them, pate de verre can seem awfully difficult. In this project, I'm trying to reduce the complexity for beginners and still come out with an acceptable pate de verre piece. Most pate de [...]
“Your house,” he said solemnly, “Leaks like a sieve.” “…and that would be….good?” I asked, a bit anxiously. “Kinda depends on what you’re hoping for, Cynthia,” he grinned, “What it means right now is that your house could probably benefit from additional weatherization.” […]
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I headed down to Eugene--my first trip to Eugene, by the way--for a PMC class from goldsmith-and-PMC-expert Carolyn Scott Kent. Jo Ann's brushing the fired PMC3 with a brass brush to bring up the silver. PMC, or "precious metal clay," is basically ground-up metal in an organic binder, so you can [...]
Every so often you need a game-changer, a slight step out of the ordinary to freshen your thinking, anneal-soak the stresses out of your brain and slowly cool out some of the thermal shock of life. A breather, I guess you’d call it. That’s what I’m doing this weekend, in Eugene: I’m taking a PMC class, and having a ball. [...]
The waiter calls me “darling,” with a dreamy smile on his face. He’s about 19, with the beginnings of a goatee, an honest-to-god twinkle in his eyes, and the thickest black horn-rimmed glasses I’ve seen outside a movie screen. Huarache sandals, black t-shirt and black jeans, turned charcoal grey by the dorm washing machines. I’m in Studio One, a little breakfast place in [...]
Just a quick note on the barred owl that Becky introduced me to last week, at the Audubon Center. Got a note from Becky today: BTW, our owl is doing reasonably well. He/she is eating and awaiting an x-ray (don't know if it is a follow-up or the first one). I was hoping it would be happy to see me....... [...]
"Green thumb," she said admiringly, rolling down her window, "I do so envy you master gardeners!" My neighbor Rick choked on his coffee, trying not to laugh. Just as I'd leaned down to pluck a weed--I THINK it was a weed--this stranger drove up to compliment my gardening prowess. I could see where she'd get that impression: I was standing [...]
