Color Mixing Glass

Perhaps it's my old watercolor painting influence, but I love custom mixing colors in glass.  Whether it's actually mixing the two together, or layering transparents over opaques, it's always fun to see if I can get an exact shade that I am seeking.  

I mingle Vetrofond, Effetre, CiM and even some Devardi into my mixes.  Some play together better than others.  It doesn't seem to depend on the brand, but more the actual specific glass color.

And since I do this so freely, I also am teaching a class on color mixing.  My first class was in Austin at Blue Moon.  It was designed for non torch users- like mosaicists and fusers who could translate it into use for their specific projects.  But I was surprised at the number of flameworkers who signed up too.

Just wanted to show you a few and ask you, if you mix glass colors or layer, what are some of your favorite combinations?  

Blue Moon's Glass Camp- Woohoo!

I'm so excited, I can't sit still. Next Sunday I leave for Austin, TX to go to Glass Camp with Jim and Rose Berry at Blue Moon Glassworks.

You see, they offer a lot more than lampworking at their studio and although I am teaching sculptural glass class there in September 2010, this is to learn other types of glass from Jim and to work on possible collaborations that mix multi areas of glass. Woohoo!

So I've got a list of things I want to learn a mile long and I don't know how much of his time I can take, but here are some of the things I've been dreaming about.

Learn how to cut glass really well, and solder it. And to learn how to fuse and how to adjust my kiln and not be scared to death to try something that I am not sure about.

And he's got sandblasting, and cold working tools as well as one of those really cool things that you fill with glass chunks and then it melts it and you pull out the glass in swirls and then play with it. A pot melt?

And of course there's stained glass, mosaics, tons of other stuff too. I've looked at the photo gallery on his website and it looks like a playground any glass lover would enjoy.

If you haven't met Jim and Rose, here is a photo of them.

I'll be teaching a quickie evening sculptural Santa class on Tuesday night while I'm there as well. Jim reported that it filled in 2 days. I know that we will all have a lot of fun and laughs that evening too.

So where to start? I'm leaving that to Jim. I'll just be so happy to get the chance to learn a lot from him and his areas of expertise. And of course I'll be blogging about what I attempt and posting photos too, so you can learn along with me and see what I'm experiencing too.

So if you have suggestions of things I should request, please speak up. So much of this is totally new. I can melt glass, but there are so many other things to do with it too. I just hope I can sleep this week while waiting.

See you tomorrow right here on http://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com

Delightful Glass Art On Sale Now

I belong to a great group of glass artisans who sell on Etsy. We are the Etsy Glass Artists, also known as the EGA.

You can find us by going to www.Etsy.com and typing in the term, egateam in the search and our listings will pop up.

One of the things I like most about this group, (besides the sharing of info), is that we are all different. Not only are there fellow lampworkers, but we have stained glass, fusing, enamels and other forms of glass being made. It's nice to learn a bit about all of the aspects and share ideas about tools, designs and general knowledge.

Here are the members who are participating in the current Fall Sale which ends on Monday, Oct. 26th. Please click and visit their shops to find great buys and lovely items. I know I'll be doing some of my shopping there too!

http://www.StudioMarcy.etsy.com (Marcy Lamberson- that's me!) -- buy one get one 1/2 off
http://www.mycabincreations.etsy.com -- 20% off everything
http://www.Giapet.etsy.com -- buy one get one 1/2 off
http://www.GlassCat.etsy.com -- Fused and Dichroic Jewelry 20% off
http://www.jewelrybynatsuko.etsy.com -- 10 - 30
http://www.41Design.etsy.com -- 25% off everything
http://www.RWillisglassartist.etsy.com -- 20% off all fused glass items
http://www.LeahPellegrini.etsy.com -- 20%off everything
http://www.susansheehan.etsy.com -- 20% off all glass items

New Wonderful Website for Glass Fusers and Us Too!

A few years ago, I found http://www.glassfacts.info, which is a website dedicated to "a daily dose of glass art knowledge". I love it and still go back to read and learn more about glass.

Now, the founder of that site, Paul Tarlow, of Helios Kiln Glass Studio has started another website which looks to be equally interesting and noteworthy, http://www.fusedglass.org.

I've added a shot of his online glass tools, because these pot drops have always interested me. It seems like a great way to use up some of our shorties and stubbies of leftover rods. (if anyone does this already, please post and tell us about it1)

He also has a forum, glossary, reviews, art glass news and lots of other areas for information. I love some of the definitions and use similar ones when explaining during classes .

For the final kicker, if you join his site and post, you get your name in a hat for a drawing for 10 lbs of free Bullseye Frit. (Feel free to send it to me, if you don't use it- I'll trade you out for some glass and/or beads.) Hope you get a chance to check it out. The drawing entries end late Sunday night, so do it soon. www.fusedglass.org