todays events

today started off with a quick trip to the post office to get a few tasks off the list (birthday present to grandma sent)

i then made my way to the glassworks to get started on some cold working. i ground and polished the blue cylinder and cups that i made previously, and i did some sandblasting tests on the cups, with the 2 different grades of sand that are on offer here. it is good to have some small tests to practice blowing glass but also to get a hand on the cold working machinery here. i think that it is a great studio and today i had the whole place to myself this morning. amazing.

the main task i had to do today was cut my cylinders in half to get them ready to load into the kiln. there are so many kilns here that you can use it is great. i fit all 5 cylinders in one kiln for one firing. just before i came home tonight i checked inside the kiln and they are all perfect and flat. this is the first step in the after blowing process for my work.

i started making some paper prototypes for some objects i want to make. i have been thinking about trying to make work that is not on the wall but free standing. i want to make cylinders in the hot glass studio, then cut and flatten them in a kiln, and then roll them back up backwards, so that the colour is on the outside but also so it looks like a piece of paper has been rolled together, (like my prototypes).

it is a long drawn out process, but i think the result could be interesting. there will be many possibilities with the different angles that i roll it back up on. I am glad to have my pal Netty helping me with this, i don't think i can do it without her.  this prototype is also sitting on some imagery that i am considering, shadows of fences. not sure if they should go on the 3d forms or not. 

i do like the idea of sandblasting on images that are very pix-elated, and maybe just a close up section of an image so you don't really know what it is on the outside surface of the form. what do you think?

i also want some feedback on these next 2 images. i have laid out printouts of images that i have taken over the past couple years that i like and that work with my process of image on glass. i want to know if they go together or if there are some that stick out stronger than others. are there any images that you are drawn to?

the size i printed them at is not necessarily the size they will be, it is just to see them larger. i am still trying to sort out what size artwork i can make that is big but small enough to be purchasable by the average person to fit in the average house.

also i am not sure what colours to make them in. black and white, or other colours, i think the image will dictate that but not sure yet. 

i am having a good time but feeling like i still don't have the direction in my work that i need to get to work. any feedback from anyone who reads this is welcomed.

when i needed a break i went to the national library to try and go to the map room. I was thinking of putting some hand drawn maps on my work. but the map room closes at 5. (i got here at 4:45) but i will go back another day.

this is the national library.

so that is my day. i am home now making dinner and lunch for the next few days, trying to relax or be inspired.