Failures,Fragments and Fried Bread

 I haven`t managed to blog since June! but as I run a guest house in St. Ives I think I have an excuse!

 http://www.atlanticviewguesthouse.co.uk

Having said that this is the first time in fifteen years that I have had empty rooms in August.  It has been a terrible season for everyone I think and I think it is a combination of the weather, the Olympics but more importantly the recession.  The weather will also have a knock on effect next year I think.  Still we have lovely sunshine here in St. Ives for a few days at the moment, so must not complain and the September festival starts soon.  Deals on my website if you fancy a break and a superb full Cornish breakfast.

I may not have blogged about the glass but I have managed to get in the studio and do a bit, so to continue here are the results of the last picture I posted a few months back - disaster mostly! The kiln wash stuck to the back of everything and even though I soaked them in white vinegar, it would not  come off.  The temperature was obviously too high, but it is a learning curve!

 

I then decided to use some of my scrap decofloat, that you will recognise from the Jigsaw plates I did before, that is the beauty of working with glass, nothing goes to waste.  I used to hate wasting acrylic paint and used to paint on other canvases with it rather than wash it down the sink!

I really liked the samples and as they came out well have decided to use them in my range and they will be called `Fragments`.  I did not take photos of them when they came out of the kiln but will later post photos of some of them slumped into dishes.

One of the items I made on a course was a table runner, and it is very useful as you can put hot pans on it with no problems and it looks very decorative and sits on my table all the time.

will post a picture of it tomorrow.

My friend Liz has commissioned one of these but wanted a slightly different design and colour but in a similar theme.  So I produced a few samples for her to choose from.

and the results were very good.  She has chosen the one at bottom left below so I will work on this soon, she is moving house and does not want it until then.  I will need to use a friend`s kiln which is bigger as mine is too small.  Anyone that wants a table runner, just ask and I can produce it in a similar design but you choose the colours etc, they cost £100 each.

with the samples above the black bands are created using an aluminium tape, crumpled and stuck on then copper oxide is rubbed in.  I love the alchemy.  The copper oxide is quite a damp powder though and is difficult to sprinkle on as it clumps together.  So I experimented and put it in a spray bottle with water and the result is on the left of the samples below.  Just sprinkled on the right sample so you can see the difference but very pleasing effect and I just love bubbles!

These will definitely be appearing in my range and will probably be called `Bubbles` - I am nothing if not original!