Erica's tent, far left; displays in water

Then came Musikfest.  It was a rainy event.  They say it rained six days out of . . . → Read More: Water, Water Everywhere!]]> Water seems like an appropriate theme for this post!  First the rains came and flooded our creek spilling over the road and washing out shrubs and trees.  That was just the beginning.

Erica's tent, far left; displays in water

Then came Musikfest.  It was a rainy event.  They say it rained six days out of the ten we were there.  Saturday, the second last day, was no different.  Rain.  But it got worse.  About 8 PM we were given directions for evacuation.  By 10 PM we were given the order to get as much of our stuff out as possible.  Volunteers assisted and I was lucky to have Kevin and the Collins family there at just the right time.  We were able to get almost all my work out finding a few pieces the next day that were sadly left behind.  Unfortunately we could not take vehicles into Handwerkplatz so our tents and displays were left behind as well.  Sunday morning we were able to pull tables out of the still swollen creek and saved all but the battered tent and items like my bottle shelf that washed away.  But I was lucky.  Some of my friends lost their work; one lost her entire tent and displays because she was set up at the corner where the water flowed fiercely.  I was next to her and my tent caught a lot of debris and stuff from other vendors in our circle and the platz upstream.  It was definitely a sad time for the many artists who were in the Handwerkplatz circle.  I wish them all the best as we recover and get ready to move on.

But as if that wasn’t enough, along came an earthquake while we were vacationing in Delaware and then Irene!  We were in the ocean when the quake rattled the beach so I didn’t notice it.  My family and others on the beach did.  Days later we were evacuated and headed home to get ready for Irene.  Again, luckily, we were spared the worst.  There is a lot to clean up and we will be working outside for a few days.  Again, my thoughts are with those who suffered the most damage to their property and thank those out in the storm restoring electricity and clearing trees off the roads.

Is it over?  I sure hope so.  Back to business as usual.  I have so much to report so stick with me while I reorganize and move into the future with good things to come.

History:  Pat, my assistant, who is also writing this with me right now, decided to make a sink two years or so ago.  After we determined that the sinks weren’t going to work out so well . . . → Read More: Let there be light(s)!]]> I’m beginning this blog entry after the fact…well, almost after.  We are still not finished but will be soon.

History:  Pat, my assistant, who is also writing this with me right now, decided to make a sink two years or so ago.  After we determined that the sinks weren’t going to work out so well (that’s a whole different blog), Pat turned her attention away from water to the next best thing–light.  A year ago we ordered some fixtures and started doing prototypes.  Frit was the main medium type because Pat had purchased about $400 dollars worth for the sink.  Oh!

Trial and Error:  Pat’s kitchen overlooks some mountains (small but still mountainous) and she uses that theme with natural colors and even the concrete countertop back splashes shaped like the mountains outside her window.  Two lights would go over the center island and one over the kitchen table.  How easy is that?  Trial One produced lights that were just too small.  Trial two…too big…so big that we supported the mold on ceramic posts and the glass stretched and wrapped around the mold.  Trial Three didn’t do the frit justice.  At that point Pat decided that she really didn’t like the design anyway.  She also decided that she was sick of prototypes.

A call to Slumpy’s where the molds were purchased clarified optimal size.  Okay, now we know.

A visit to Slumpy’s booth at the Las Vegas Expo gave us a better idea of what the lights should look like.  Simplicity.  Ahhhhh.  Inspiration….

And then we came home.  Pat blames me for suggesting “what if we did a combing….”  and she may be right.  And by June, Pat got started on a new idea with the full intention that the lights would be hung by July 4th!  The journey, pitfalls, laughs, follow.

Hundreds of strips aligned for combing!

Pat here…and so I began cutting strips.  Color choice was easy.  I love the ambers, browns, with some red and green thrown in, almond for variety, and can’t forget the bronze.  I didn’t start out with a clear plan.  And I didn’t ask.  Not yet.  Erica just let me cut strips using my best Morton skills of course.  At the end of a few hours, I asked.  There’s no such thing as a dumb question.  Years in education told me that.  So, Erica, how many of these do you think I’ll need?  Yikes.  She rattled off some calculations and all I heard was hundreds.  Geez, I only want three lights!  Oh, and cut a lot of clear.  The look on my face prompted Erica to explain the colors and how they react together and how clear and almond will help.  Back to cutting.  Two more sessions and I had a lot of strips.  Being a data freak, I weighed them and figured I used three sheets of glass when all was said and done.  The pattern above was created by standing the 13″ x 3/8″ strips on their sides in a pattern suggested by Erica so the colors blend well.  Having complete faith, I lined up the two squares and, yes, they really do stand up by themselves when the cuts are perfect.  I guess mine were pretty darn good!

Perfectly set, wrapped, and ready for firing!

Into the kiln!  I will admit that 13 inch long strips was a bad thing and Erica was nice enough to snip off a bit on each strip while I lined them up on the kiln shelf lined with two types of fiber paper for added protection.  That said, they fit in beautifully.  Planning is everything.  This is the Olympic 146GF Square 14″ kiln.  Erica can explain the process in more detail next.

The kiln was heated as fast as possible to 1700 degrees for the combing process.  The heating took a few hours and we peeked into the kiln as the glass became molten enough for us to pull and manipulate.  I have been fortunate enough to have taken several classes with Patty Gray and the firing schedule comes from her.  I have done several combings in my smaller 8″ x 8″ kiln, so I had some welding gloves that I normally would use.  Because this kiln was a bit larger, I had to invest in some better heat resistant equipment.  I purchased a pair of high heat kelvar gloves, 2 heat proof sleeves and a few high heat cover pads for protection.  I also had a pair of UV safety glasses to be able to look at the glass while molten.  If you decide to try this, please put safety first.

Over 1500 degrees!

Having only tried this once before in the small kiln, I decided to let Erica demonstrate the combing process as part of my learning experience.  Besides, someone had to take the pictures.  Each time I opened the kiln at around 1575 degrees, Erica combed one length and I then shut the kiln again so it could reheat.  This was repeated five times until the piece looked the way we wanted it.  Pretty amazing!

That's not the way it's supposed to look!

Oh no, where are my colors?  I couldn’t wait to open the kiln the next day and Erica was nice enough to wait until I got over to the studio.  We both looked puzzled when we saw the piece.  We started to think about why the red looked burgundy and the amber all but disappeared.  Nothing looked transparent.  But after a good washing, and holding it up to various light sources, we got this:

Ahh, let there be light(er)!

Now that’s more like it!  And so we proceeded with the second piece.  We followed the same process, so we thought.  Well, I’ll leave you here because we don’t have an answer or a plan.  What I’m saying is, the two pieces look different.  Why?  And can they be hung over the same center island in the kitchen without looking like fraternal twins?  Like I said, I/we leave you here and bring you along as we work through the next steps (making the circular piece in the bigger kiln, maybe another square piece, more cold working, slumping, drilling, installation) as the new week unfolds.  Maybe July 4th is a little unrealistic!

Two pieces, exact strips, exact order, but different...

July 9, 2011

Back again!  We are getting ready for the Boalsburg Festival next week and it’s been busy!  We are doing things in between with the full intention of getting these done before August.  Yes.  For sure!

The next step was cold working the pieces to get rid of the rough edges caused by the strips which weren’t all precise and the fiber paper wrap.  This took awhile but the results were good.  I gave Pat a pad to file the burrs and she got a little carried away, scratched the glass a little, and now we are scratching our heads trying to figure out what to do about it.  If we let it go and proceed to slumping, will the scratches show?  Probably.  If we full fuse them, how will the shape turn out?  Right now each piece is about 3/8″ thick.  The edges would round out and be nicer.  Any thoughts? 

The next step was sandblasting the back to get rid of fiber paper trapped in the pieces.  We headed over to ProtoCam to use the equipment.  I taught Pat how to use the equipment and she did fine.  The three pieces are ready for the next step which, for the two that will be used for the lights over the stove, will be to sit until we make a decision about fixing the scratches.

The third piece, the one with the five combings, will be used for a bowl.  It doesn’t have scratches.  We are thinking of full fusing it to see what happens.  That should help make our decision on what to do to the other two scratched pieces.

Pat took awhile to lay the same pattern into a 15″ circle.  Because the strips were cut to fit the square, it took quite a bit of piecing to get the circle done.  Pat gets a bit fanatical about using scrap glass so it might have added to her time on task!  This piece is waiting to be fired.

Our plan is to fire it in the larger kiln.  For safety reasons, I ordered a longer combing tool and we got additional sleeves.  We are going to have a third person help open the kiln lid for each comb.  We are thinking about doing a second piece which Pat and Kevin did using up more of the strips.  Well, this will happen after Boalsburg.

That’s where we are right now.  Pat hesitates to figure an actual cost for these lights but I will say that we are experimenting and happy with the results so far.  I’m excited about working with larger pieces with this technique. 

Any thoughts on how the full fused piece would look, post please!  I will post a picture as soon as it is done.  Maybe tomorrow!

July 11, 2011

Tack Fused and Ready to Slump

We were really pleased with the result of tack fusing the one piece.  The edges rounded out nicely and the piece stretched a little but not much.  It’s going into the kiln tonight on a large square mold with corners that curve up.  I’ll post a picture tomorrow after slumping.  The plan is to offer it for sale at Boalsburg this weekend–a pricey piece! 

We will definitely tack fuse the pieces for the lights to get them thinner with rounded edges–a plus for the style of the lights. 

Oh, the new looooonnnnnggggg comb arrived today.  Ready for the circular pieces.

July 12, 2011

A light becomes a plate!

We love it!  Can’t wait to do the lights.  We’re taking it to Boalsburg and although Pat hates to part with it, we’re happy to offer it to others to enjoy.  More next week.

July 28, 2011–around noon

Back to work and back to the lights!  We decided to tack fuse the two “square” pieces that will become the lights over the center island in the kitchen.  No time like the present!  I ramped the kiln slowly–200 degrees per hour–and only put the two pieces in the kiln.  Pat was pretty confidant that this step was easy, not a fear.  I didn’t tell her all the things that could happen, and, unfortunately, one of them did.  Pat was as unstable as the glass piece!  But, we quickly turned to the brightside as I explained how it could have been worse.  Pat said that the lights must go on (pun intended) and if she can’t live with it, she’ll have to make another one to replace it. 

The unstable piece!

 Actually, what happened is that the piece, unstable from the heating and cooling process of combing, cracked during the early stages of the heating.  The good is that a pretty small piece cracked off and also, it smoothed out all edges.  The shape is interesting and since these aren’t perfect squares, it should work okay.  Pat prepped them for slumping and found that the size difference is minimal.  

 

Funky swirls!

The two pieces look similar enough.  The top doesn’t look as pronounced on the right one as on the left but they look fine in the kiln–I think it’s the angle of the picture.  Next is cleaning and drilling with a special diamond bit.  I see the installation coming very soon.

And so ends another day.  We are very happy with the results.  I’m now thinking about the bulbs!  And, of course, how the lights will jazz up the kitchen.

August 5, 2011–Drill, Baby, Drill

Glass that is!  Pat here…I really want the install next week before my company arrives so I pressured Erica to get the drill out–like she doesn’t have enough on her mind on the first day of Musikfest.  Another great job by Erica Biery.  Okay, we were both so nervous that it seemed like an eternity until the drill bit went through the glass into the styrofoam underneath it.  Erica started by marking the inside using precise measurements to fit the bit.  The bit matches the pendant light fixtures that I purchased. 

Next Erica set up good lighting, put styrofoam in the sink under the lampshade (note that it is no longer a piece of glass but a real lampshade) and added about an inch of water inside the lampshade to keep the drill and glass cool.  I held the lampshade (it feels so good to say that) steady while Erica carefully drilled.  Angle first then straight on.  We had no idea if we would crack the piece or make it through.  Because of the thickness, it took about ten minutes with a checkpoint in between to see how it was going. 

Needless to say, both pieces are now lampshades and ready for install!

 This week I will be working on the larger piece while Erica works at Musikfest.  Cold working and then sandblasting is needed before we do the second firing.  Here’s where you come in…offer suggestions on how to avoid a similar break at the beginning of the cycle as in the piece above.  I’m thinking that maybe we should use a bottle shop kiln in the garage where it’s warmer and the glass starts out at a higher temp than down in the studio which is air conditioned and much cooler.  Or maybe preheat it with a heating pad?  Okay, just a thought.  What do you think?

Installation of lights–a  month ago?? Wow

The installation process is easy enough because the existing lights simply had to be removed and the new ones installed.  One glitch was that the lights require candelabra bulbs (the ones with the small end) and can only go up to 60 watts.   I just love them!

My friend Mike did the installation.  The shade is connected by an interesting system and we hoped it could hold the five pound shade.  It did.  No problem!

And then we had light! 

 And now back to business!  We have had a crazy August and the third light has been neglected.  Coming soon….

 Took a little while, but, here is the third light.  I wasn’t happy with the shape and so Erica slumped it again.  It settled down a little!  Next step, find a fixture that complimented the light shade and accepted a 100 watt bulb.  With a little shopping around, I was able to find this one which looks much better than the straight cord I originally had.  It’s amazing! 

And here ends the story of turning glass into uniquely designed kitchen lighting!  Thanks for checking in–

Erica and Pat