September 7

I'm finally going to use my deep bowl mold. First I'm fusing a two layer disk, then I will slump it in the mold. This is a tricky one (bullseye glass, the manufacturer of it said so) I have to put on special green glasses and look in the kiln to stop the slump when the center hits bottom. That will be tomorrow when the disk comes out of the kiln.

The pictures were taken this morning with poor light, it is pouring rain here, and the camera needs to be recharged.

Bottom layer - sliced to let air escape.

Top Layer

THE Mold

UVA colors made by a HOKIE!

Halloween is coming!

A little geometry!

Heading for Dulles Expo in November

Exciting news -we will be taking our plates, trays, dessert sets, sun catchers, windchimes to the Northern Virginia Christmas Market at the Dulles Expo Center mid November.

Busy little kiln

The center of this one was made from torchwork that Nancy did - I put on the border and cooked it. It's not done yet!

Waiting to go into the kiln for its first fuse- wonder which way the torchwork will fall.

Just out of the kiln

 

Busy week and DAR invitation

Last weekend I did my first two day and one night show flying solo at St. Aidens in Alexandria. Lucky for me Bo helped me set up and take down and he did all the lugging in the rain so I could stay dry. Both last year and this year the weather has been rainy for this show but it did not stop people from coming out. Gina Lee, the organizer, did a great job and had wine and cheese for shoppers and vendors on Friday nite. Lucky for me Bo was able to help me set up and take down the booth. I stayed so busy I never got to take a picture of the booth but here is a picture of the show at St. James - it was the last one Nancy and I did together, a few days before her surgery.

Nancy has had her stitches out and can move around on crutches - but only for 5 minues each hour - she has to have her foot elevated at waist height the other 55minutes.

We had an exciting invitation, from the DAR in Alexandria, to participate in their Christmas Bazaar. It seems their Regent saw us at one of our previous shows and liked our work. So the first week of December will be a busy one with two shows in 5 days and my dentist appointment in the middle.

So far this week I have two trays out of the kiln and cooling right now are two candle plates. I have a load of "jewels" waiting their turn to go in.

Viking knitting, band aids, and roses.

Monday was good - went to Williamsburg for my lace group meeting. We did Viking Knitting, we had all taken the same class (although we did not know each other at the time) three years ago but none of us had done it since then. It is done on a dowel or hex wrench. The tape at the end just holds the wire on. When finished you pull it through a hole in a dowel in everything evens out. Once you get the first couple of rows done it is easy. Check out page 2 of this link and see the end results http://www.fineartbyrocio.com/vikingknitdirections.html
Late afternoon I went to Glitz and Tommy gave me a great haircut - 3" off feels so good.

Tuesday - this is where the week started to go downhill - if I picked it up I dropped, spilled it or broke it. Not exactly the day I was looking forward to getting blood work done.... but I went to Labcorp (read that as vampire center) on Midlothian signed in and started reading a Janet Evanovitch. About 70 pages later (and trying not to laugh out loud) I looked around and everyone was still there. 2:30pm, an hour later and no one had left the waiting room - there was only one technician. Now I have really tiny veins so I decided by the time it was my turn that would be one grumpy technician so I checked out. I went across town to pick up a piece of glass I ordered and decided to try the the location on Forest Avenue. I only waited only a few minutes and and everyone was pleasant - the technician had "the hand" because I did not even feel the pinch of the needle going in. If you need blood drawn go there. I started to get a migraine on the way home as the barometer was dropping for the evening thunderstorm. I decided to make something to go in the kiln but wound up with 3 band aids from glass cuts. I did not make it to TNK.

Yesterday got better after playing in the garden and cutting roses to bring in I put the designs elements on a plate I had fused and experimented with a new firing schedule so that it would remain 3 dimensional - took it out this morning - success! Here it is - I need to take a better picture but I want to get started priming the hall wall. Wish you could smell the roses.

Nancy sent me a picture of a windchime she is working on - there is a caterpillar on the leaf but I can't see it in the picture. Today she is having a root canal but is here on Friday for a weekend of "fusing fun."