Apr 27,14 Pink and white flower

I learned from Jacqueline Parkes' tutorial of "My Secret Garden" yesterday and was able to make 1 flower made of Effetre White and Rubiro Oro. I had fun making it and will try again soon with different color flowers.

Pink and White flower, Apr27,14

Vase Beads, Apr 20, 14

HAPPY EASTER!!!

I enjoyed making vase beads. Found a marble looking glass so I made few of the vases.
I also made few heart beads but didn't take photos of them.

Anyways, when they are done and out of kiln this morning, I tried taking photos of the beads but my cat, Chibi, decided that he wants to be in the pictures also. So, why not. After all, it's Easter and he deserves to be included :)

Vase Beads with Chibi, Apr20,14

Another one of Chibi after he wanted a do-over. This time, he looks at camera

Painting Classes in April 2014

April 5, 14 my "sunset lighthouse" painting

My favorite glass place where I learned glassblowing, torching, and even fused glass started painting classes.
I've never paint before and I know I'm very bad at it, but I love to learn something new.
I took my close friend, Atsuko to go on April 5, 2014 for our first class. We were learning how to paint "Sunset Lighthouse". It was really fun and turned out not bad for a first-timer like me.

Atsuko and I at painting class, Apr5,14

Note: Since I didn't like the way my sun looks (not even half circle), I fixed it on July 22, 2014.

I also soften up the path a bit. So, here is the "edited" painting.

July 22, 2014 (Fixed/Edited Sunset Lighthouse)

Then I had another opportunity to take another class which I really wanted to take, called Mt. Hood. This time, Atsuko couldn't come with me due to her busy work. My Mt. Hood turned out not bad either.

At Mt. Hood painting class, Apr19,14

My Mt. Hood Painting, Apr19,14

Glass of milk and cookie, and a vessel, Apr18,14

I wanted to make glasses of milk and cookie beads and it turned out cute. My boy always dunk his chocolate chip cookies into his milk so these beads remind me of him.
Also I made a vessel that I usually use to hold sake and put it into microwave to warm it.
Turned out not bad for the first time making it.

Glasses of milk with chocolate chip cookie and a vessel, Apr18,14

April 11, 2014 Car beads

I saw tutorial at Beads of Courage and wanted to try making car beads. It was really fun and although not perfect, it's for kids and I hope they don't see too much flaws in my cars.
I tried to make one with "rust" on it, regular car and ofcourse pick up truck. It was really fun making these and will make more in the future.

Apr 11, 14 cars

Home Sweet Home Stained Glass, Feb 8 - Apr 6, 2014

We've been hit with Snowstorm the last 3 days. I'm feeling antsy at home but I don't know how to drive my van on the snow. So, I decided to challenge myself and make the biggest and the most pieces of stained glass I've ever made so far.. ha ha.. (I should go out more often)..
Anyways, I decided to make this panel called Home Sweet Home from Glass Patterns magazine, probably about 10x16 inches big and over 200 pieces of glass.. Yikes (the most pieces I've ever made is less than 36).

This is the journey of this panel:

Day 1:  Decided on the project and did phase 1 of cutting the first 40 pieces of glass. 6-hour of work from tracing and cutting the pattern to cutting the glass.

Day 1, Feb8,14 Trace the pattern

Day 1, Feb8,14 Cut the first 40 pieces of glass

Day 2: Another day stuck at home with freezing rain outside. I cut and grind 38 pieces of glass and cut few more patterns for the next phase. I worked for about 3.5 hours today.

Day 2, Feb9,14 Cut the next 38 pieces of glass

Day 3: It's Monday and there is still no school for the boys due to the slow thawing of the ice.I didn't want to take chance of driving in the morning so I was able to cut 38 more pieces of glass for my Home Sweet Home early in the morning and an hour before bed. I spent about 3 hours today, with 38 pieces of glass being cut.

Day 3, Feb10,14 Cut the next 38 pieces of glass

Day 4: Feb 11, 2014: I traced and cut only 23 pieces of glass on the top right part. The top part of this will be tedious and tiny pieces so I'll do little parts each so I won't get too overwhelmed.

Day 4, Feb11,2014 top right pieces cut and grinded

Day 5-8, March 9-11, 2014: I cut the rest of the pieces, then fine grind a lot of pieces so all of them fit into the frame. Tedious job but so glad it's done. The next step is to take each pieces out and clean them with alcohol before foiling them.

All pieces in and fine grinded, Mar11,14

Finally, I finished  foiling all the pieces and put them together. Took me a while and not so easy with pieces that ended up too big or too small.

Foiled all the pieces, March 30, 2014

After almost 2 months making this project, it's DONE!!! It measured about 9x12 inches.

Finished, Apr6,14

Snow Cones, March 31, 2014

I have little crystal clear frits that I want to use to make snow cone beads.
I tried it yesterday and it was fun so I made 3 "flavors".

March 31, 2014 Snow cones