Sunday, April 25, 2010

And NOWWWW where they put me up!!!


Dacotah Prairie Museum put me up at the Ward Hotel, a historically preserved hotel on main street. Gorgeously kept up and restored!!
My room was small but cozy and CLEAN . This is what i saw as i entered



Then from another angle the other side... HUGE window! overlooking main street









This closet was nearly as large as the room..I can only think so to put out the extra bed if you needed one??







the bathroom..









waiting for me at the desk...was this gorgeous bouquet of flowers Colleen sent for my birthday!!! they smelled so good like wildflowers as you walk the field...

I really enjoyed my room...I didn't get to see much of it as I had duties to keep me at the center until late every night...everyone else was done by 3 right after the last session...but firing the kiln kept me going some longer...it was worth the efforts
The hotel had a restaurant too and their food was delicious!!!

Days for Aberdeen Class Seminar Arrive



I arrive in Aberdeen and set up the classroom.

You see along the wall under the windows I set up assembly style.







After a brief lecture about glass in general and about points specific to fusing...the students make a tile.






After much dilemma over kiln issues...no plug after all, for my huge kiln I brought along..a borrowed kiln that essentially wouldn't heat up well...I pushed the little quick fire I brought along to handle the many fuses of the day and here are the students results.
Bails attached and ready to send to them...this about 1/2 of the class projects..at the time the others were in different stages of completion.

All in all I think the students had a great day!

3 other artist involved were
a couple: Nick and Nichole Fisher represented murals
Rocky Hartberg for Story Illustration
Michelle Bacon on Ceramics

Judging workshop with Nathen Cantwell and Emily Williams Wheeler
key note speaker: Brad Bachmeier


We had a full 2 days...it went smoothly and I think everyone teachers included came away with information to ponder.

:)

Prep for Intro-Glass Fusing


I am late late late...posting the process for this class.

This class was given through the Dacotah Prairie Museum in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
April 22-24

For the past 15 years they invite High School students interested
in art to this seminar to learn more on the subject through accomplished artists shown through the museum.


To prepare I made samples of their project.


Cut blanks they worked on decorating with glass powders and frits.






Shows decorated tile before firing in the kiln.








Tiles coming out of the kiln. You will see in another post the students work from that workshop.

The top picture of the necklace was demonstrated to show them where they can take their finished tile.
Glass drilled with holes and jump rings made to fit...created a wearable art piece.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Film at 11:00!!

It has taken forever for me to get to this point! First, not everything I needed did I order with the camera...frustrating! (they should have a more complete list) but, the piece arrived and I finally filmed something.

THEN, all the 'fun' begins...NOT!

The program discs that were sent with the camera to work through editing and such tasks...a task as necessary as getting the film OFF the camera were so confusing. It took me 2 days to get the film off the camera...then editing oh shuuuure ...that wasn't happening.

Then I remembered I had a different program that I had ordered a long time ago when I was considering getting a camcorder... Corel VideoStudeo Pro X2...

I am removing those other programs!

This came with instructions! the Canon did not..these instructions have pictures! ThankYou! VeRy Much!

So here is my debut..How to Drill Glass...In the bazillion years of instructing glass techniques..one of THE most frequent questions I have been presented with "how do you make holes in glass?"

Diamond tip bits, and water to keep the glass cool are the most important aspects of the process. This shows the simplest set up for single layer glass to be drilled..the thicker the glass the setups change however, this is a basic introduction to the process.

Now you can take those little pieces of found glass shards from a walk on the beach or park, drill them full of holes and incorporate them into all kinds of projects...from jewelry to decorating journals and fabric projects...lets go find some glass!...(hey or shells...)

I need to add that your hands remain dry while using the drill..just the tip of the drill bit is actually wet. Remain aware of what you are doing at all times so you prevent shocking yourself.

There are available foot operating pedals that you can use for turning the drill on and off, you may want to investigate one of these tools for other applications such as the grinder...they make excellent partners to equipment.

Be careful, if you do have any questions please do not hesitate addressing them here..

Thank you!