LA GRANDE FLEUR MASKS

A few photos of the masks that I made for La Grande Fleur - shown here as window hangings, but can also be hung on a wall.

Enjoy!


"Margaritaville"
Into the kiln just before sunrise... as a result of my having too much caffeine the day before...

The parrot trimmed in dichroic glass was inspired by dichroic glass scraps that fell into the shape of a palm tree. The wing is "padded" for three-dimensional effect.

The lazy ol' sun (with black glass vitrigraph chin curls) was slumped over a bisque mask. With reflective mirror lensed shades... He's so cool.


Doesn't it just make you want to lie in the sun on the beach?


"The Pharoah"



Originally began as only a headdress to adorn a sun face slumped over a bisque mask, which isn't in the photo - but you can see it at the studio.

Became quite an elaborate piece... with frit-painted facial features on the almond glass face.

The headdress is cherry red glass sectioned by noodles of marigold and black. Plenty of dichroic glass accents on the headdress, which suspends the face with brass chains adorned with flashy glass beads.

These will both be auctioned at La Grande Fleur. I hope they go to wonderful new homes...


Don't they both just make you want to lie on the beach in the sun?
c@

WE HAVE PINEAPPLES!

What a wonderfully sweet and juicy treat we had at the Fruit of the Month workshop this month! My, oh my... the pineapples were as delicious to see as they were to taste!


I made a trip to Denver a few days before the workshop, so I was able to pick up some "Honey Pine" pineapples from Sunflower Market. Oh, were they divine!

They were great references for the projects - and some of them even had seeds in them! Next time you have fresh pineapple, look for the little black seeds in the pulp of the fruit!

In the photo above: Top Center, Tracy; Second Tier (left to right), Lisa, Chris, Dorothy; Front Row (left to right), Patty, Christy, Sara.


We had chunks and slices of pineapple to use as reference, as well as whole pineapples that were very similar in appearance to Patty's whole pineapple dish in the photo above! :-)


Once again, each person had a very unique design, though I have to admit that I had to check now and then to see whose was whose as I was unloading and identifying each!


Dorothy created a dish with both the outside and the inside design of the pineapple on one plate - and added a cherry on top!

Patty made the full-sized pineapple dish and achieved a very clever design for the outside of the pineapple. Great job cutting the leaves on the ring saw, too!

We got the kiln loaded and fired it up that night. Now all the dishes are ready to go to their homes!


Enjoy the before and after photos, below! Click on the whole image to see it in a larger format. Better yet, come to Fruit of the Month workshops to see everything being created!

What Happens at Open Studio?

I thought you might like to see some photos of recent open studio creations at Martin's Glass House.

Remember - you can create pretty much anything you can imagine at open studio sessions - but you must first attend the Fusing Basics workshop!

(Click on any image to see it in a larger format.)





DOROTHY AND ESTHER MADE BUTTONS

The sweater above is one that Dorothy made for Esther - not at open studio. We only work with glass here (and occasionally with clay)! They came to open studio together to create buttons for the sweater.

Both Dorothy and Esther have previously attended a Button Frenzy workshop. Great job, ladies! You learned a lot! They look mahvelous!

Dorothy and Esther made six buttons; only four were used for the sweater. What fun! Here are photos of the four buttons used on the sweater.







BARB'S CLOCK

It took Barb about four open studio sessions to assemble her clock inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright designs.

First cutting pieces... drilling a hole in the base... assembling pieces...

Then, assembling and gluing pieces in place... assembling and gluing more pieces in place...


Then assembling and gluing more pieces... and finally it was ready to fire in the kiln.

We did a tack fuse to just hold all the pieces in place without changing their shapes.

This is the clock - without hands. Barb strategically located four black rectangles to indicate 3-6-9-12 on the clock.

The hands will be installed at open studio tonight. I'll update this post with a photo of the finished clock when it's done.


I'm eager to see it. Aren't you?!


PATTY'S DROP VASE

I think Patty was inspired by drop vases made at the Pineapple Fruit of the Month workshop.

A little push and pull on the pieces at assembly to get them in the correct position to stretch upon dropping was all it took. It's always a surprise to see how these turn out!

This one is very pretty!

Here is a photo looking into the vase from top down.