I FUSE

Years ago I took some courses at the Kenosha Public Museum on glass fusing.

The museum was a great place...all sorts of classes on all manner of subjects...Egyptian Symbolism (took it), clay sculpting (took it), soap making (took it), astronomy (took it), Chinese cooking (took it...failed), silversmithing (took it), writing (presented them), glass fusing (took all they offered).

I got addicted. There's something fascinating about it, shards of glass melting together to create something beautiful. Glass likes to be together, to meld. Shiny. Relaxing. Gets me away from the keyboard for a while. I took so many glass courses that I ended up getting my own kilns from a friend who taught. She gave me lots of glass, too.

The kilns are in my basement, with bins of glass, cutters, tweezers, gloves for handling super-hot things, timers, etc. etc. etc. Oh, and findings, chains, cords, and the like to make necklaces.

A character in my Piper Blackwell mystery books makes fused-glass jewelry and sells it at craft fairs. I also ventured out to craft fairs...because I was making so many necklaces I had to do something with them, right? Sometimes I put them out on my book table at conventions.

Gotta have a hobby that doesn't involve writing or reading or tossing tennis balls to dogs. I also like to bead. But with four dogs in my house, two of them young Labradors, beading isn't happening right now. Beads roll all over don'tcha know. So I fuse glass when I can...which with all my writing projects is not as often as I would like. It's a solitary hobby, good for a solitary soul like me. Doesn't require company (except the dogs at my feet), and I'm well past the needing adult supervision. I've taught fusing glass. And writing about it now...makes me want to venture down to my craft room and fuse some more. Indeed I shall do so tonight.

Shiny.

 

Comments

[camille minichino]

Beautiful pieces, Jean!

[Jean Rabe]

thank ye kindly

[Ellen Kirschman]

Beautiful. A major character in my latest book makes necklaces out of detritus she finds on the beach, sea glass, plastic babes and tampon inserted. I saw the later in a museum. They were beautiful.

[Mar Preston]

I wrote a murder that took place in a glass studio that was down the street and fascinated me.

I love glass art.

[Michael A. Black]

Nice glass work, Jean. My grandfather was a glass blower. He made my grandmother a beautiful paperweight which I still have.

[Jean Rabe]

Thanks for the kind words. I love working with glass (even though I sometimes get cut...I am clumsy). I have been giving the necklaces away in contests in my newsletter.