Glass Community

I am a bit of a book freak so tonight when Amazon sent me an email (as they do every now and again) saying there is a new book called Glass Jewellery by Yvonne Coffey coming out on 15 June I jumped straight onto the website to check it out - here is the overview:

"A step-by-step illustrated guide to working with glass including inspirational work from internationally acclaimed contemporary jewelry makers. This book is great for students studying either glass or jewelry, for jewelers who want to learn and incorporate glass techniques, and for glassmakers who are not necessarily jewelers but want to learn the techniques. All these readers will benefit from the step-by-step guides and will learn new skills. This book is highly illustrated, with inspirational work from an  international range of contemporary makers alongside the practical sequence photographs."

Might just pre-order that one! I have added it to the Bookstore here as well.

Stephen Byrne, one of the owners of Williams & Byrne in the UK, contacted me this week with a tip about stained glass painting...

"James Hogan – a designer and glass painter who worked on many windows in Liverpool Cathedral – made this observation:

“Stained glass painting has no relation whatsoever to picture painting.

It is an art of its own, dealing with the transmission of light through coloured material, whilst painting is the application of a coloured pigment on a flat surface upon which light is reflected.”
 
"Oi, girls, let's get Hogan - he's disqualified us!"
A neat, analytical distinction, this.

As you would expect, it risks disqualifying substantial quantities of painting on glass.

But never mind that for now. I am sure that the ladies on my left will set dear Hogan straight.

And also never mind Hogan’s assumption that stained glass painting is an art. Ah, “art” is such a slippery word – especially in these post-modern times of ours.

Instead, join me on a journey to the Dark Side.

This way, please..."  ....Read the rest on their website

Remember that song from 1979 Video Killed the Radio Star? In an age where the internet has superceded both video and radio in many respects, radio is making a comeback...online!

When I left school in the mid 90's one of the first volunteer jobs I had was on a Community Radio station on the North Coast of NSW. It was fantastic - I got my own show, I played music I liked and I got to chat with callers.

Well it's 15 years after my own radio show and 31 years after that song, and radio still hasn't disappeared - in fact it is becoming even more popular with the internet. Nowadays you can listen to thousands of stations online - so radio is no longer even restricted to the local town.

Well it's been a few months in production, but here it is...GlassCommunity.com.  Please join up, network, post your advice and most of all have lots of fun along the way!