Glass Community

I opened a new studio in Buffalo, NY, last December, and considering the economy, I may have picked the worst possible time. But there's more to life than that!  I'm pumped!  I love glass and working it at a torch is the best. 
That's why I've invited the amazing Loren Stump to be my first guest instructor. I have temporarily reduced the price to $995 through August 15. Loren's class is 5 calendar days - September 22-26 (though those of you who know of Loren know that his 5 days are like everyone else's 10 days.)
I took his class last year and it dramatically increased my understanding and ability to work with soft-glass on and off mandrel.

Details and registration are at www.expressiveglass.com .

Expressive Glass is a welcoming, safe, spacious and easy-to-reach studio near comfortable, affordable housing and food. Find pictures on my website.

Let me know if you have any questions or special needs. I hope to welcome you to Expressive Glass.

Expressively yours,
Vicki
www.expressiveglass.com
"Turn hot glass into cool stuff"
Hosting Loren Stump Sept 22-26

I have just begun a series of tips on the annealing of beads.  For those of you interested they are loacated at:
http://glasstips.blogspot.com/2010/07/bead-annealing.html
Best wishes Stephen

I've been playing a lot in my kiln lately, and I love making difference dishes and such, as you might have seen in a past post, but one thing always bothers me.

first, i trace out my mold/form shape, i score the glass
i fuse the pieces
i place my fused piece onto my mold or form and everything is perfectly sized
when i set my kiln to slump it never comes out how i'd hope.

take my last piece for instance:



when the piece slumps the edges are pulled down with it, which i'd somewhat expect, but something (like on this bowl) there's no edge left.  if you look at the left and top sides of the picture, there's no edge to the rim, where on the right side there is plenty edge.

the kiln is balanced and flat, but i'm still not getting very consistant results.

are there any tips or secrets on mataining a better overall shape?

Hello Everybody!

Every year Emeritus Senior Living (one of the largest operators of assisted living communities in the U.S.)  puts on a live (and silent) auction to benefit the Alzheimer's Association.  I was lucky enough to participate last year and it's really an amazing benefit.

I've been so swamped with my "real" job, the company my husband and I are trying to start, and family emergencies, I've had no time to work on ANYTHING!!!  I"m frustrated and cranky for it.