Fused Glass & Paper

Sometimes I think back to 20 years ago when I seriously believed I had no artistic ability.   It's funny how finally finding my artistic muse in cardmaking has led me to explored other artistic mediums with success.

I took a second Fused Glass class and was super-happy with my results.  What the studio calls a Turtle Plate was one of my favorites.  I made the Purple/Pink one in my first class.  I made the Red/Black one in my second glass for my friends at The Palms Massage & Day Spa (I love that my art is hanging out in my home town).

Here's a smaller version that I made for me.  I love how the patterned glass created a green frame around each piece when it melted … the unexpected results are a favorite thing about creating with glass.

My husband gave me the idea for this piece that I made using scraps of glass leftover from my plaid bowl I made in the first class.  It hangs in one of our livingroom windows (I have stained glass pieces in several of the other windows, so it's a nice addition).

 

These Monsters are still my favorite.  I even had my classmates giving some a try.

My biggest project was a Mandala using a Kiln Carving technique.  My paper punches came in handy as I created my Mandala pattern.  I worked on it a little each week, layering the pieces together.

Then after it went into the kiln and all of the kiln paper burned away, it looks like this.

 

Having success with this new medium made me brave enough to create a piece of art for the annual 2x2xU Art Project.  The theme this year was My Grant Wood and artists all create on a 2'x2' piece of wood that is then hung around our neighborhood for the summer.  My piece is at NewBo Market near the outdoor seating area.

My piece was an abstract Mosaic inspired by Grant Wood's Young Corn.  I used Mod Podge and Scrapbooking papers to create my design (and a couple of magazine pages gifted to me by Lauren … can you find them in the design?).  Here's my inspiration painting.  I put a tiny version of the painting up in the clouds.

and here's my inspired work … you can see my paper punches got a work-out on those trees.