Empty...

 

This morning I removed the Valentines Day decorations from the front window. 
Now the glass is all empty. 
I am not much into getting into placing EVERY kind of holiday up in those windows...
I am NOT about holidays anyway. 

I am about expression.

Teaching others how to express themselves and perhaps learn to be creative.
Passing along the insights already expressed, with the abundance of wonderful artistic expression throughout the Gallery. 

Or by giving them personal instruction through the many class offerings.

It is not about the holidays but more about personal growth.

Sometimes I wish I had gone with my original plan to name the place "Stuff". 
I think that titling the place with "Gallery" scares the people.
They think everything in here is off limits expensive.
BUT
When they FINALLY do come through that door, they discover how affordable these artists have kept their prices.
Because...they realize this isn't New York City.
An actual comment...
"I tried and tried to NOT come in here...(sigh)....because I KNEW, I was going to LOVE this place..."

For One OF A Kind works,
not a replica that has most likely been ripped off from the originating source,
that then needs to be framed...

but finished, framed, and not a copy, not the same as the place around the corner, not a fad... an individual, personal, resonating that the creator helps to bring forth.

A unique YOU individual form of expression.

So the window is going to remain empty of holiday types of "advertising"...but stay FULL of the priceless fantabulous works from the originators, who are still alive!!! and hence, affordable.

Periodically, IF I am in the mood, I may 'decorate' the windows with some kind of message...maybe.

So come on by the Stagecoach Gallery...where dreams are wild..in the west.

I want to thank all the Artists who keep sending their amazing work. 
And the people who recognize them and adopt their pieces to go to their new "forever" homes.
And continue to want to learn...

♥

Thank you for allowing me to ramble this morning :)

Last of the Christmas orders...done

these are the last 2 commissions that were to be done for Christmas! the 2 small bevel panels were shipped out today...and will arrive Thursday...close!


then the grandma platters...the first set we chose glass that plainly wanted to misbehave...which had me nervous over the whole project..what if the next glass does this too..(it can happen)

so client came and reselected a different sheet for these granny and Nana platters
the children's hands were traced and then i made a stencil of their hands


first i used frits and powders but the purple and pink colors that were to represent the girls were to close to the base composition of the substrate glass
so i ended up having to use enamels..which still set the tone of the color..even tho the bottom plate looks as if both of the pairs of hands are purple
the bigger hands are pink..just where i took the picture absorbed the true colors
these are lead free enamels

the irregular edge lends to a unique arty appeal that says i ordered this just for you
i think you are special!

done in time for Christmas gifting...


how is that list doing there for you??

ho ho ho...

AEDM day 3

This is day three of AEDM. I was not in my studio today so I finished a sag in the kiln as my piece of art to post. The kiln can for the most part operate alone. If i had a kiln sitter i could program the kiln the schedule of ramps of heat up and it would also go through the cool and anneal stage all through the program...but

i don't have a kiln sitter...it is just me...but i KNOW my kiln and how long everything takes

and i am not fearful leaving it for small periods of time.

This bowl is part of my "splat" series. I call it this because to me it looks as if a drop of molten glass dropped to the floor...splat!

The bowl measure 9 inch diameter with a 1 1/2 inch drop to the scoop of the bowl. It is a taupe color with a light gray mix and black frits...the PERFECT size bowl to serve brie...just saying..

:)

Thanks for dropping in to see what was done today and I hope if you haven't joined in you consider doing so. Art is your friend...you will feel better for playing and creating....go on ya know ya want to..

///

Bleu Vase...AND!!!!

This vase is cobalt blue..cathedral (see through) glass...even if my photo doesn't show the clarity the glass possesses it is the perfect candle vase. I was going for a more nuggety look like the red vase...but forgot I had the kiln going and over fired it a bit...and it became the more drippy edged series i do as well more than the lace edge...still a nice vase.

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!

www.maryshuntstudio.com

Christy finished my website...I am all put together. I wish I had more past work to place up for example, but on the move up here all my photo albums were lost on the travel...I think Jack mountain got them...but as I find them stashed here and there in books and such I plan to scan and upload them MYSELF thank you very much! so over time the website will become fuller.

The perks of this new site I never had on any of my other sites (I have had sites previous to this but I couldn't work on them and over time gave them up) It has been 10 years since I had a site..
this site :::
will house a classroom for my on-line classes!
a store, to sell pieces!
updating gallery!
announcements page...and the blog can be accessed from it...

I am excited!

I hope you will check out the progress...thank you...

have a terrific day!

The Red Vase

glass is hard to photograph! this candle vase measures 5 inches tall and 3 1/2 inches wide.
day 1 in the kiln is fusing glass to make the slab that in day 2 in the kiln is sagged over a cone mold to give the draping shape...this one i call my lace edge.
It is more cathedral than the picture shows...meaning clearer where the candle will flicker nicely...another additional benefit with this kind of edge is the flame nicely casts shadows upon the wall making for a nice ambiance...

these run around 20 dollars depending if you want simple as shown or intricate design work...

thank you for stopping in!

Part 2 Casting glass Boxes

A trio of the finished boxes...glazes applied and fire polished.
Nice heavy presence. No dog tail should swipe this off the table..I am not saying it can't happen some doggies have quite the mega force tail happening, but under "normal" tail circumstances, this should work out fine on the coffee table. But,
They are PeRfEct to place your jewelry in for keeping during the night on your bedside table or on the vanity.


This is the kidney shaped box..I see heart...in plum...The glass I chose worked up for a mosaic look, I can produce solid looks as well with any or not decoration.


Next you see the 'heart' shaped box open there is a sweet well inside. and this box measures approximately 4 1/2 x 3 inches












This is the round shape and it is approximately 3 inches diameter.









And the elliptical from part 1 is approximately 5 1/2 x 3. See the pretty drips from the glass stains. I could have easily painted any design, but I felt it competed with the mosaic look I had originally created.

Part 1 Casting Glass Boxes

Lets go through the making of these cute boxes! They are SOLID thick cast glass. The lids sit on the base. Picture one shows the glass has been chopped into frit (most of the time I hand chop my frit and sift to the size I am working with...I am old school)


The mold fuse in the kiln until all the glass is melted into liquid state!

Then after anneal is cooled down they come out of the mold, and look like this. They get a good grinding.

After they are cleaned up they go back into the kiln for fire polishing...but I added some vitreous stain dribbled down the sides to decorate them a little further.
Vitreous stain is fine crushed glass mixture thinned to work as paint...it is glass being fused to glass.


Prt two you most likely read already so you saw the final results.
Thanks for looking.

Vace Replace

Last year, at the Dakotah Prairie Museum, one of the sales from this show was a slumped vase.

Sherri, a most helpful staff member of the museum, bought one similar to this for her brother, as a gift.

He liked the vase, so much that when it met with disaster, he wanted a replacement.

He has patiently waited for me to get to his work sheet.

From memory (a very poor memory)

I tried recreating the piece, hurriedly before Craig's surgery commenced, as he was visiting sister Sherri...would have been a nice surprise.

Except I fused up the wrong color...for some reason I was remembering a lavenderish color blue.

Well that wasn't going to work, so I did a different color, with the aide of a picture...(pictures help a lot ya know!)

I think I have it right now.

This one has a really nice draping, in my opinion perfect, sits well too.

A cathedral color blue and greens streaked together.

The picture isn't the best for capturing the piece...but the best I could do this morning.

If it isn't what they want, I will take a better picture and place it up on Ebay, along with the one I mistakenly produced.

It takes several days to produce a piece in the kiln...so 2 vases is just about 2 weeks worth of kiln work...yeah, lengthy process!

Thanks for visiting

:)

A new venue

I am going etsy!

This is the listing I chose to begin things rolling with.

Glass platter gently rippled. the design is "painted" using the old master's techniques of crushed glass fused in the kiln...then the piece is sagged in the kiln...happy dragonflies to cheer up any space!

http://maryhuntstudio.etsy.com

come for a visit

thank you

The Creek Runs...

This fused glass platter started as a clear sheet of glass. Most of the colors I use are hand ground glass by me, as glass frit. Sifted to collect particle size as powder and then coarser pieces. A person can purchase ready made frit. I use that as well.
This piece has the frit added until the color saturation was the opacity I was looking for, (achieved with many kiln firings) the blue and yellow, swirled. As the slab developed it was taking on a flow.
We have gone through several years of no flowing creeks where I live, in South Dakota. When we received many inches of rain. The run off has filled the creeks.
The swirling pattern in the slab reminded me of a flowing creek.
To enhance the flow I added powdered frit to give it a little more depth.
The dragonflies wings were stamped using finely ground glass in powder form and mixing a binding agent and fluxes to the powder, creates a stain. To use as paint.
This is fired into the glass and permanent. The bodies are glass frit. Sagged into a mold to get the shaped vessel.