Great Glass Projects...

We've had some great Fused Glass classes here at Starry Night Creations!  Last month, several students created some beautiful dichroic glass bracelets in which the square beads themselves were created with holes.  This class, New Style Dichroic Bracelet, challenges the student to cut & measure many pieces of glass in order to create the glass beads.  The results were absolute beautiful, especially when combined w/glass beads!

This particular class will be offered again in late Summer/Fall.  It's a two-day class consisting of construction of beads in 1st class, and construction of bracelet in 2nd class.  

Another class offered was the Basic Bas Relief class, which is an interesting technique of creating dimension in fired glass.  Here's a beautiful class creation featuring a fish under sea:

At the end of this month, I'll be attending the Glass Craft & Bead Expo out in Las Vegas!  I'm looking forward to learning some new techniques... and discovering new products at the Show!  I look forward to perfecting these & other techniques & teaching students some new things down the road!  Some FUN Classes are coming up this next month & will start on April 16!  For advanced notice, feel free to add yourself to the Learn 2 Fuse Glass News mailing list!  Keep on Fusing... :-) 
 

Flowers are Fun Anytime...

I LOVE Flowers... love planting them, seeing them grow, tending & encouraging new growth, and Receiving them... they're definitely a "feel good" hobby for me!  So it's a pretty good bet that I'll want to incorporate flowers into my creativity with glass!  For a long time, I had no idea how to make petals, then learned how from an accomplished teacher, Christine Stewart of Australia, during a fused glass mosaics class.  Taking a class to learn tricks is definitely the way to go as you can pick up SO MANY tips to incorporate into your own creations!  So even the Teachers take classes to learn tips & tricks!  :-D LOL

My upstairs bath has been a work in process as I wanted to incorporate purple floral accents.  It was really hard to find purple accents, to be honest!  And it's taken a few years for the bath to really come together with the "right" purple color.  I felt a perfect touch would be to create a purple soap dish!  I've created a few soap dishes in the past, but found this design worked better for me & my bath.  So after practicing & perfecting cutting glass petals for flowers, I decided I would create a pretty Purple Soap Dish with complimentary flower colors I already had in the bathroom.  (It's SO fabulous & feels great to create EXACTLY what you want for your own space!)  So here's the start of my soap dish:

Pink, lavender, and periwinkle flowers on a purple base, with complimenting millefiore glass centers: heart, flower, and angel.  Initially, I was a little concerned about the periwinkle color as you can see it blends in perfectly with the base glass; but I didn't want it to because then it can't be seen after firing.  But then I also knew that the base glass is gold purple striker glass.  What does this mean -- "striker glass"?  A striker glass is one that "strikes"/changes to another color when heated to a high temperature.  In glass fusing, the highest temp could be between 1400-1500+ degrees, depending on the kiln.  So I figured it would be ok.  As you can see, the petals were all outlined, then cut and placed.

This next photo shows the flower petals all sanded, and cleaned up, ready for firing.  Typically, we don't want to leave the black lines on the petals (unless we like that affect) as it will fire into the glass that way.  I liked the idea of switching the pink & lavender flowers & incorporated a different millefiore glass for the lavender flower.  Additional stem lines were added with Glassline Glass Paints so the flowers don't look like they're just floating on the background!  This project was then fired...

And here's the final piece!  You can definitely see the base glass changed to a warm purple, which matches perfectly in my bath!  And the periwinkle flower compliments nicely with the other flower colors!  Here's how it looks in my bath; adds color at the sink & its size fits perfectly...

 

Stay tuned for more adventures with glass fusing at Starry Night Creations, in St. Augustine, FL!

 

Happy New Year!!

WoW!!  Can you believe we're into 2016 already?!  It's been a Crazy Busy year here at Starry Night Creations!!  Many classes were offered monthly & taught by me, and we also welcomed Master Glass Artist, Wesley Wong, in early October to teach us how to create his awesome Butterflies, Dragonflies, and Fish!!  All (3) classes were filled with excited & anxious students ready to learn some intense & advanced glass techniques!  Here are some pics below of all the items created by the students:

Students Creating Their Butterflies...

I even got to create a Dragonfly and a Fish (lower middle, red w/orange)...

Wesley Wong & I surrounded by my many glass creations!

...but I had to finish my Fish Tile later as there was much to clean up after all the classes!  Here's my Dimensional Fish Tile below, finally ready to get fired this week!  :-D  I'll post the results in the next article!

Wesley will be back again in early October to teach one of the classes above as well as a Mosaic project and a glass Weaving project!  Should be pretty interesting!!  Get yourself signed up early for those classes!

I've been on break from teaching these last few weeks over Christmas & New Years as St. Augustine is a VERY BUSY & Pretty City at Christmas!  But there's lots of classes already planned & on the website for January & February... and March & April will be announced soon as well!  I've also been pretty busy creating the Class Examples for the upcoming classes, and developing creative ideas for upcoming Spring shows. My website has also just been updated w/new creations:  Soap Dishes, and the Golden Triangles Serving Plate, and a new page:  CUSTOM ORDER Glass. :-)  Go There...

This month... Sign up for a Beginner's Glass Pendants/Jewelry class, Valentine Frit Ornament (great for adults + kids too), or if you are pretty "green" about Glass Fusing and want to know more of the technical stuff to ensure you'll like it... you can sign up for the Intro to Glass Fusing class at the end of January!  The latter is an all-inclusive class where you'll learn about everything in the Studio, all about fusible & dichroic glass plus create two projects!  All of the January classes are Beginner classes.  Be sure to Sign up for any January classes as soon as possible, as classes DO fill up quickly!

Into the New Year...

WOW!!  It was a Crazy Busy!! Holiday Season here at Starry Night Creations!!  Sorry you didn't hear much from me... very busy creating, selling, and teaching!  Grateful for a quieter New Year!

Classes are in full swing!  Snowbirds are back in town from New York State, Indiana, the Carolinas, and more!  They're getting their creative juices fired up and taking classes!  :-D  Not to mention a BIG Welcome to *NEW* Students who are enjoying getting their feet wet in Glass Fusing!

Said goodbye to several non-functioning grinders, and welcomed ... a *new* Gryphette Grinder for all Students to use while making/preparing their creations!  Grinders come in handy for smoothing glass corners & sharp edges making for a smoother fired piece eventually.  I know everyone will LOVE using this new piece of equipment!  Using equipment such as this in class or in the Studio makes everyone more comfortable.  :-)

Also Just Arrived... some *new* Jewelry Accessories!  Pink, purple, and black 18" rubber necklaces, silver frame pendants (to show off your prettiest pendants), silver and gold bails, multicolor glass paks, dichroic glass paks, and spiral pendant hangers!  Stop in or sign up for a class to choose something special to go with your Pendants! 
 

All Moved In...

Baptized the new Studio on Friday evening, Oct. 10th with a successful Grand Reopening Event!!  I was very grateful for all those who came out to see the Studio, and to those who didn't get to come by... you're always welcome!  Delicious raw & vegetarian hors d'oeurves by The Present Moment (St. Augustine) were enjoyed as well as a variety of refreshments.

Several Free Giveaway drawings were offered for a Free Night Light, and a Free Class!  The winners of those drawings are (respectively):  Audrey D. and Penny J.  :-)  SO MANY Attendees really wanted that Free CLASS!!  :-D LOL  Don't worry... there may be future drawings!

Kids' Glass Classes in Session!

Gave a Fun Sea Life Ornament class this past Saturday for Children!  The boys created very colorful Sea Life Ornaments out of a variety of glass pieces.  The ornaments are firing presently... after second firing, will post some new pics!  '-D  They had lots of Fun creating their distinctive & fun ornaments!  

"Just for Kids!" Classes are posted on the Learn 2 Fuse Glass website (click link).  Classes are usually 1.5 hrs.  Children have an opportunity to learn about glass, using a variety of glass pieces to create lasting works of art and encourage pride in their creativity. 

All Falling into Place...

Everything for the Studio is now falling into place!  This past Labor Day weekend, Veronica Gutierrez from Tavernier, FL Keys came up (with her two sons) to recreate a portion of Van Gogh's Starry Night on one of the walls in my studio.  The wall is perfectly large enough to accommodate such a work of Art!  I considered this a Great Honor for her to come all the way up here (7 hours!) to apply her fabulous artistic experience for this project!  Thank you very much, Veronica!

While Veronica was busy painting the wall, I was busy cutting dichroic glass to be applied as accents on the wall... and the boys were doing some "man" stuff:  putting together a large metal table that now holds a glass Saw and a lap wheel!  I've been waiting for over 6 months to use these two pieces of equipment as I couldn't fit them into the previous Studio (too small).  It felt great cutting some glass... looking forward to doing more!

So... the Studio is coming together!!  Classes are in session with some challenging classes this month, and I'm keeping rather busy creating some *new* items for upcoming Holiday shows!