Demopalooza- First Demo- Rick Frank Enamelist

You know, usually I think the word "amazing" is sometimes overused, but in this case, I don't.

Saturday night's kickoff for Southern Flame's Demopalooza was enamelist, Ricky Frank.  Perhaps you've seen him at a really big show, like American Craft Council or similar.

Ricky agreed to make a fully enameled piece in front of our very eyes and he also demoed a second piece to show us some variations.  It was great energy.  Seems like people who use glass enamels speak some of our same glass language, COE's, color reactions, firing temps and other shared terms were a big part of the evening.  But we also sat there "amazed", while watching him put together his pieces while telling stories, his philosophy and chatting with his darling daughter who came along to keep him company.

Ricky used to do more cloisonee work, but has changed his style.  He uses the silver or gold wire for emphasis and showed us how he can work without it, while using the enamels.  His dexterity and artistry was a delight to behold.

Later this week, I'll go through more of our Sunday line up.  For more information and great photos, visit Ricky's website.  www.rickyfrank.com or www.rickyfrankenamels.com.

My Video from Demo Daze (And Sylvie Lansdowne too!)

My friend, Sylvie Lansdowne and I were the featured artists at FlameTree's Demo Daze for the month of June.  What a blast!  Lots of folks showed up and a good time was had by all!  Had to say it, but it's true.

Here is a link to a condensed video of the demos that Maureen McRorie made. It has my seahorse and dog with a bird balancing on its tail and Sylvie's three part delightful mermaid.

Well need to give you a little of the background too...  The room was very comfortable temperature wise, with a large air conditioner blowing hard.  This made the much hotter torch than usual play a few games.  And I had chosen dark ivory glass because of its "gooeyness".  So you can imagine what it was like in there, if you melt glass.  I felt like an acrobat with that hot ivory moving all over the place. I chose that glass, because sometimes I get chatting during the demo and wanted a glass that had a little more "give" to it.  It sure did!

And later, as Maureen was putting together the video and adding music, she asked me, "what song do you want?"  Does anyone out there know what music goes with a seahorse?  I thought perhaps reggae, maybe Hawaiian, but I ended up just picking Jessica by the Allman Brothers.  Although it has nothing to do with seahorses, it just sounds "happy" and that's what making seahorses does to me.  Hard to feel sad, when you see those cute little faces appear.

So that's the behind the scenes dirt on the demo...  Now here's the LINK so you can watch it.  (you thought I forgot, didn't you?)

And if you can come up with seahorse music, please post and let me know.  There must be something out there!

NOTE:  I just heard, the music is copyrighted and Maureen has temporarily taken it down until she can find some "free" music to use.  Sorry to tease.  The video is fun and the seahorse is so cute.

Meet Guppy ~ From Plushie to Focal Bead

Meet Guppy. Guppy is the favorite stuffed animal of one of my customers' little girl. Apparently, Guppy isn't allowed to go everywhere the little girl goes, so her Mom decided to find her a stand in who could.

So she contacted me through my etsy shop and sent me a variety of photos of this beloved pink seal. I was touched. Obviously this is a well loved "friend" and as a fellow Mom, I have my memories of how attached my kids became to certain toys.

So let's talk about the process a little. How did I get from step A to step B?

I looked at the shape, the texture and the face on Guppy, to decide how to form this and where the hole needed to be.

Then I picked my colors, which you fellow glass artists know are limited, when it comes to pinks.
I used the Effetre pink and CIM's Gelly pink for the two shades.

My first two efforts, (not shown) were pretty scary. I had tried to give Guppy some texture, so she'd look more like a plushie, but she looked more like a seal wearing a lion costume, as I added fur around her little face. Needless to say, those two got scrapped, but they were helpful in figuring out the body shape and flippers.

On to a smoother and more refined Guppy. No textured fur. I built the body like a large donut shape at first. I wanted to get my height of the body with that. Then I started adding on to parallel sides. A little bit on the side where I would attach the head and face and a lot of glass onto the back side. It looked a little like an asymmetrical torpedo. I wasn't worried about the exact shape at first on the back flipper end, but wanted to get the mass of glass in place.

I added the head in the Effetre pink and flattened the part where the CIM pink face would go. Two dots where the eyes would be added and then the face. Just a bit of black stringer for the simple eyes and nose. I chose not to make the whiskers, because when they're fine lines, they tend not to look very good...at least when I make them.

I shaped the front flippers with a little bit of detail made with pliers and then heated the back flipper side and slightly pulled it out for the elongated shape. I added to large dots of CIM and gently mashed them for the back flippers. A little more plier work for details (and maybe a touch of razor blade for more definition and we were good to go. Guppy is on her way to be wrapped for Christmas. What a fun gift and an everlasting memory.

You can see more angles of Guppy in the sold section of my shop. Just click here to get to it.

Do you have family favorite items that can be translated into glass memories? Or have you done it already? This was my first custom order like this and I really enjoyed making it. I could easily imagine a little girl loving that pink seal.