works in progress.....

OK, a few weeks ago I showed you a frit mold before firing, here is that picture again:


Here are the pieces after the first fire, and a close up of one of them. As you can see, they need some work before they are ready. You can see sort of raised bumps on the red close up? those are actually sharp points made when the frit melted and contracted. I either knock or grind those off. I usually add another layer of glass, or dichro or whatever seems to be "missing" from a piece. Then after that firing, I look again until I either feel it's "done" or I don't feel like working on it further. This is why some of my pieces are fired several times... I want it to look a certain way. If I can't achieve this, then the cab gets tossed in a pile, to work on at a later date, or maybe I turn it into a magnet. That way I'm not wasting any glass. I imagine if I get a big enough pile of rejects, I can turn them into frit the old fashion way and start over! ( old fashion method: insert glass into a pillow case. Take hammer)

Here is another piece in progress. This is all sterling wire and will be a necklace when I'm done. I will probably use pearls or rock crystal or both... how I want it to look keeps changing around in my head, so I'm not sure yet. It's a good start though, no?

I have several projects going right now. Like most artists I suspect. It's not that we don't want to pick something up and do it start to finish. Sometimes real life gets in the way, sometimes we have to start something else.. say a custom job, and have to put down what we are working on to get that done instead. And sometimes the vision in our heads change, or grow foggy. There is nothing wrong with letting the creative juices simmer abit. You can ruin something by not giving it time to properly gel. Sometimes you put something down, and don't pick it up again for a long long time, if ever. That's ok too. As long as your are learning something, even if it's as simple as "this isn't my bag", it's valuable.