New Farm Animals; New Hobo Signs

Jeez, I've got new pendants going on already! Clearly I didn't have enough farm spirited designs before, so I had to go make some more up! There's an awful lot of bunnies, and no it isn't because of Easter haha. I just happened to find a fantastic source for different bunny poses, so who could resist?

Along with that, you can see that some of the black tiles have neat little stick drawings on them (cough, that means not the black tiles with horses). Those, my friends, are called hobo signs, and they're part of a project I'm working on. Each sign has a different meaning, and homeless people use them as a means to help guide each other through their respective towns. They do chalk images so that they can be changed at any time (I assume), because some of the labels are much more serious than mine. They can signify dangerous zones where you should run away as soon as possible, or areas where you should be prepared for a fight if you stick around.

My symbols mean the following (from left to right of the first image);
Top Hat: Gentleman
Two Vertical Lines: Sky's The Limit
Two Circles: Don't Give Up
Cat: Kind Lady
Circle with an X: OK To Hang Out (May Get Food)

Thur March 21, 2013
Mercedes
1) 1 ↑ 760°
2) 11 @ 760°
3) 12 ↓ 516°
4) 1:12 @ 516°
5) 1:30 ↓ 390°
6) 1:31 ↓ 50°

To be perfectly frank I can't remember the exact annealing cycle I used for these pendants, but I do know that I sent it to 760° - which is the important part to me. I don't quite like how rounded they are. Paul commented that there's something nice, almost more professional about the pendants that are still squared off. Not only that, but at this temperature the glass started grabbing at the kiln wash/ kiln shelf and the backsides all need a quick run on the polishing dremel. The other pieces didn't need it nearly so much.

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Marbled Pendants Green & Pink

This was a quick test for faux marbling on different colors. Unfortunately the 'black' didn't look very good in the end, it got an awful sort of dark green tint in it that I did not want. As well, despite using Ox Gall and fresh glue, I didn't get the movement that I got before with the white and blue pendants. So sad.

Feb 13, 2013
Large Paragon
1) FULL ↑ 760° for 15 min
2) FULL ↓ 516° for 60 min
3) 1 hour ↓ 390°
4) 30 min ↓ 50°

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Fused Tree Bowl Test

Early on in my second year at Sheridan I found some really wonderful glass vessels on Etsy, and they amazed me because I didn't know how they were made. When you search online you can find a lot of what are named 'coral' vessels, which are glass strips that were fused in a pattern, then slumped over (or into) a bowl form, creating the look of, well, coral. Some people add another step to this process by adding foliage to the rim of the vessel, and it looks wonderful. 

It occurred to me one day that I had gained enough know-how to understand how those trickier vessels were made, so now it's time that I try to make one myself! Well, two actually. I'm sure the design won't be very pretty since they're my first attempts, but it's still exciting!

Here below are my two questionable patterns.

Tuesday, Jan 15, 2013

Mercedes

Fusing Test

1) 1 min ↑ 760°

2) 11 min @ 760°

3) 12 min ↓ 516°

4) 30 min @ 516°

5) 50 min ↓ 390°

6) 60 min ↓ 65°

*Annealing times are exceptionally short because this project has to be annealed two more times anyway.

To see the next step in this fusing process, where the pieces are fused and we add frit 'folliage' to the edges, click here.

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