Warm Glass

I took a vacation! I even called it a vacation. You have to know me to know how revolutionary that is. It is not unusual for me to go to a seminar or training but it usually is devoted to developing my professional skills. This was a vacation to do learn something just because I wanted to.

Warm glass is is the art of fusing and slumping glass. Glass is melted together and shaped. I wasn't blowing glass or making stained glass. In many ways it is like doing ceramics or pottery. I learned a variety of ways to work with glass which was then placed in a kiln and fired. Heating glass to 1400-1800 degrees changes it just like pottery looks different after glazing and firing.

My great works of art did not come out of the kiln looking like I imagined they would when I put them in. Sometimes I liked them better, sometimes I just had to say it was an interesting experiment. Some were totally ruined. Always it is an adventure into the mysterious.

When I put brass between glass layers it bubbled up because brass boils at a lower temperature than glass and the bubbles were frozen in the glass. Copper leaf turns a delicious blue with little regularly spaced air bubbles. We even did "pot melts" where we placed shards of glass into small terra cotta plant pots which were heated in the kiln to 1800 degrees until the melted glass dripped out into a puddle that we could then use in other projects. Mine was especially cool looking.

I brought home a bunch of 3x3 inch square tiles of my experimentation with various techniques. We each did a larger shaped piece. We got to where we could almost predict which piece belonged to someone because of the colors and themes individuals gravitated towards.

Now, I can look at glass art and have a sense of how they did it and be able to evaluate the quality of the piece. I have developed my sense of glass appreciation. I see all glass in my life differently now. I know how it is made, what stresses it, how things interact with it.

I am planning on taking another class, probably in glass print making. I am not now planning on purchasing a kiln and launching a new business or hobby. I am seeking out exhibits and galleries featuring glass. In Oct Melanie and I are planning to visit the Chihuly blown glass installation showing at the conservatory in Pittsburgh.

Loving my life comes from exploring whatever interests me. Warm glass came to my attention at the Pike Street Market when I was last in Seattle for dad's funeral. I bought a fused piece and chatted with the artist at length. This was the first class I could fit into my schedule. Art fed my soul when I was suffering after my friends death.

If life is about savoring sensory input, I have upped my appreciation quotient which helps me answer anew, Why do I love my life so much?