Kristina Logan bead

I was directed today to You Tube by Bullseye glass via Facebook today. Bullseye had posted a link to a video, put together by Corning Museum of Glass, showing Rudi Gritch doing some cool fusing. You can see the glass that he has draped over some rods slump down to meet the other glass he set up…oh just go watch the video. Very cool. Or should I say hot stuff!

More Kristina Logan beads

And while you’re on You Tube checking out the video you may be tempted to check out some others in the Corning Masters Series. I watched a video by Kristina Logan, a certified glass goddess and queen of dots, as well as the first president of the Society of Glass Bead Makers (now it’s the International Society of Glass Bead Makers). And you can keep viewing videos about fusing or bead making or slumping or more bead making…what did we do before the internets?

And when you’re done checking out the site look at the tutorial. The possibilities are endless with what can be done. What are your favorite colors? What’s the feeling you want to create? You can take the resulting bars and cut the slices and use them for another fused piece or use the slices as tiles for a mosaic or tiles in a bathroom. How about jewelry? They can be set in silver or metal clay or drill a hole, add a jump ring and there’s a pendant. If you try this I’d love to see what you do. Send pictures. It’s such a cool project!

If any of you read Watch Me Create, the team blog that I manage and write for, it is no surprise to you that I love hearing about artist’s creative processes.  Ranking right up there at the top of my favorite things are pictures of designing in sketch books.  So you can imagine my delight when I came across Lucinda Storms’ blog post at Belvedere Beads.

If you visit Lucinda’s blog you will also find some of her paintings and other projects she has been working on.

This glass cabochon mold from Delphi Glass provides the perfect vehicle for creating cabs out of frit or glass.

These molds have intrigued me for a while now.  I’ve wanted to try something like this for my own jewelry pieces to be set in silver or to somehow make them into beads.  I’ve considered building my own molds for a more organic look but these seem like they’re be an easy way to try out some of the ideas kicking around in my brain.  Be sure to check out the link above for other great mold shapes too.

Thank you to the Tyler-and-Jeff-Savings blog today for bringing this to my attention.

Steve Immerman, surgeon and kiln-formed glass artist discusses the similarities between his vocation and avocation.

Above is a bowl made from scrap glass by Plum Wind Glassworks in Texas.  Follow along as you are walked through the process of cutting a mold from fiber board and then see the variations (bowls and votive holders) you can get with different sized molds.  As her title says on the blog:  Throw Nothing Away.

Read about 15 year old glass fuser, Caitlin Feldman over at the St. Louis Handmade Blog.  Learn about how she started her business, “Abstracted Faces” and all kinds of other info about her and her art.  Maybe even follow one of the links and pick a piece up for yourself?

Lynette over at the My Journey in Glass blog titled her post “A Slow Start” but if you take a look, I think you might agree with me that she’s off to a great start.  Her pendants are so crisp and clear in the design and the colors just dance together.  Wow.

So, it’s Christmas day and maybe it’s a little unconventional to post pictures of latke plates and dreidels but I’m going for it anyway. Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah. They’re happening at the same time this year, you know.

My daughter would love this fused glass latke plate…not just because it is funky, but she loves latkes. What makes it a latke plate? I really don’t know. But that’s how the Style Insider is touting it.

If that isn’t enough, check out, further down on that page some cool glass dreidels.

This one is stained glass and has chunks of colored glass inside. I like it.

As you can see, this is no ordinary fused glass.  Lyn has such a sensible sense of color and has translated it into glass, which is not always an easy feat!

Be sure to click over and check out the rest of her incredible work and browse around Angela’s blog too.  I know I bookmarked it…it has a lot of inspirational art throughout the pages.

Learn how to make a fuzzy santa mitten with this pattern from Glass Fusing Made Easy.

Lani over at the Bullseye Glass Company talks about this fact frequently and more people should know the truth about compatibilities!  Just because things might look good on the surface, there is stress in them thar’ glass pieces!

See what it takes to test glass for compatibility over on the To BE or not to BE blog.  And check out the pictures of the hidden stress that appears when two incompatible glasses are used together.

Fall brings in all kinds of images.  Fallen leaves, pumpkins and Indian corn.  Now you can make your own.  Check out this tutorial for fused glass Indian Corn at Glass Fusing Made Easy.

It’s a kiln in production mode in Meagan Chaney’s studio.  Read her blog post about production of hundreds of fused glass pendants and learn some cool equipment set-up tips for your own studio.