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Thursday, March 1, 2012


POCKET PROJECTS WORKSHOP
 
SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2012
9 A.M. 'til Noon (or 1:00 P.M.)
Fee:  $42.00

 
 
 Make projects like these above and below!
 
Cat Martin, Artist
MARTIN'S GLASS HOUSE

Where Imagination Turns into glass

307-399-6441
dts@martinsglasshouse.com
 
Call or email to sign up!





 Workshop includes all materials, kiln firing and instruction
to make your choice of one of the projects shown here!
 
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
  • Basic glass scoring and cutting skills.
  • How to use kiln fiber papers to make pockets out of glass.
  • How to use various glass elements for 3-dimensional effects on your project.
  • Various techniques for hanging your  glass project.
  • General understanding of kiln firing    for special projects such as these.
  • General understanding for using these techniques for  future glass sculpting  and 3-dimensional projects.
 FINE PRINT:
 
PRE-PAYMENT IS REQUIRED.  
Cash, Checks and Credit Cards Are Accepted
A minimum of 6 students is required for class to be held.  
 Invite a friend to join you!
(Class may be held with fewer students at the instructor's discretion.)

 SAFETY FIRST!
Please wear closed-toe, hard-sole shoes and long pants.
Safety goggles and gloves are available for your use, or bring your own.


Saturday, June 25, 2011

WOW! ART SHOW - RATED "M" FOR MATURE ARTISTS!

Here are some photos of pieces that will be shown at the RATED "M" art show at the Laramie Civic Center - Opening June 30th, and running through the whole month of July.


Morning Reverie
This piece (glass only) is almost 12" square, so it's pretty large/tall in the display stand.  It's very cool, though, I think.  You should go down to see it in person!
 
'57 T-Bird: White with Pink Interior

This is one of my favorites!  I like it even more with the diamond plate stand!  This is a "pattern bar" piece.  The "striped" pieces that form the echelon shape are wafer-thin cross-sectional slices from a glass tile that I made, then arranged to formed a repeating pattern on the whole fused piece.  The tall aluminum bars sticking out above the glass are "antennae".  I still hope to get to the salvage yard to find some old, but good condition, car antennae to insert into the posts.


Blonde Bombshells
OK.  I love this one, too!  It's a 9" wide bowl, about 2" deep, constructed with repeating pattern bars to form the "blonde" ladies holding red and yellow shopping bags.  You can tell which is the bottom of the piece - the ladies are wearing red shoes!

Coliseum
 This is the smallest piece in the show -  only about 5" x 9", another pattern bar piece.  The bottom is where the blue water is... sort of reminds me of a Venice canal.


Ikebana Sunrise
This was a fun piece to create.  I made it with "vitrigraph" - pieces of glass that I made by "melting" scraps of glass in a clay flower pot, then pulling the melted glass through the hole in the flower pot to create twists of stretched glass.  It's my impression of an Ikebana floral arrangement, just from what I learned about Ikebana by searching the web.
 

Potential Energy
This was another FUN piece of art to create!  The green, white and clear "stripes" you see in the photo are really strips of glass that are turned on edge, arranged into a circular pattern.  Within the circle is a tile that I made, also turning strips of various colors of glass on edge and forming the zig-zag pattern.  Once all of these pieces were arranged - a very time intensive process, the whole thing was fused together into one beautiful piece.  I love it!


Hope you enjoyed the photos!

For this show, I collaborated with Josh Meranda who made custom-welded display stands for me.


 There are some new items in the WOW! gift shop, as well. Ya' all get down to the show and buy something! I have a lot of display stand expenses to cover!  :-)  


c@

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

ZIPPER FLIPPER SEASON


IT'S ZIPPER FLIPPER SEASON at MARTIN'S GLASS HOUSE!




I don't know what the weather is where you live, but here at Martin's Glass House we've been having some severely frigid temperatures this week - like 38 below this morning!  It sure looks sunny, but it sure isn't warm!  Even the dog doesn't want to go outside!



If one is brave enough to venture out in this weather, the possibility is great that a Zipper Flipper might be necessary on your jacket.  If the wind and snow are blowing, you'll want to be able to zip your jacket ALL the way up as fast as you can!  If you have gloves on, you can do this easily if you have a Zipper Flipper on your zipper pull.  You'll find it right away - and up it goes!

If you're not out in the cold now, though, you might be headed that way when the temps get warmer... Say, above 0?  Maybe skiing or snowshoeing... or ice fishing?  When you're exercising and get too warm, you still don't have to remove your gloves to move your zipper down just a little, quickly and easily if you have a Zipper Flipper!
 And even f you're not an outdoor person, you might be headed to go out shopping for ingredients to make some nice hot soup!  A Zipper Flipper is great for your jacket, too - when you get to the store or when you're leaving, it's easy to quickly flip the zipper up or down so you can be on your way without fumbling with shopping carts, bags, coupons and tasks at the cash register


 Are you planning to stay indoors in the cold?  Say, sitting by the fireplace catching up on some reading?  How about a Zipper Flipper for your hoodie or Bible cover?
 






While the Martin's Glass House Zipper Flippers are not designed for children under 3 years old because of the small parts, you will find that they have been made with quality construction for others.  No Zipper Flipper leaves our studio without extra twists on metal findings to hold parts securely.  


Double split-rings are used so that the ornamental parts of the Zipper Flippers are easy to move or rotate slightly, and the rings are sturdy enough to withstand a great deal of pulling.


Get one for yourself!  Give some as gifts!  Zipper Flippers are great!




Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Jewelry Blues!

These are just some of the sets and pieces of jewelry that I have made in blues, shades of blues/related to blue, or containing some blue.  A drop in the bucket!

On black velvet... shows some teal...
On bare skin... a little transparent... looks different on everyone, and with whatever you are wearing.
Unfinished blobs have a lot of potential!

Earring options: French Hooks/Wires, Posts (dangling or not), even clip-ons.
 
Many with multiple earring options.

Earring Extenders are also optional.

Sizes generally are within 1-1/4" x 1-1/4".  This one is approximately a 1" square (slightly longer).

These pieces are made from pattern bar scraps.

These pieces are a little longer - maybe about 1-1/2".  The silver dichroic glass reflects a little lavender.

Many are cabochons with dichroic glass inclusions.

Some have crinkled dichroic glass.

Each pieces is a unique, one-of-a-kind creation.  Even earrings will have slight differences.

These have millefiori inclusions.

Many are layered.  This is a combination of dichroic and plain art glass.

There is no end to the variety of shapes available.

This pendant is about 1-1/4" round.

Pendant bails and ear wires/posts are available in silver and gold plating, or sterling silver.

Assorted pendant bail types are available.

A pendant (about 1"x1-1/4") and earrings with extenders (wire balls).

Dichroic glass reflects and transmits light.  The peach color above is from what I am wearing.

Some jewelry pieces are mounted on beaded chains.  Beaded chains can also be purchased change pendants.

Triangles are often overlapped in my jewelry designs.

Add extenders (the square links above, or other styles) depending on the length of hair and personal preference.

Most pieces are sold as sets.  Some pieces are sold individually.

Design your own pendants, choosing metal color and earring type.

Custom designed specifically for your tastes and preferences.

Don't see what you like?  Custom orders/designs available.

2nd Round of Ornaments for the National Christmas Tree!

The Forest Service offered an extension of the deadline to get ornaments submitted for the National Christmas Tree this year.  They needed to be sure they had at least 5,000 ornaments for the tree!  

So, I tried to recruit some more people to make additional ornaments to add to the batch that I had already delivered to the Forest Service Office.  (I heard later that they exceeded the 5,000 necessary ornaments!)

Leslie dropped everything and stopped cleaning her carpets to come over to make ornaments.  Phil ran next door and recruited nearly the whole family - Kim and kids Erik (10) and Ryan (8), as well as their grandmother Mary, and cousin Katie (8).

Katie's ornaments are above.  The rest are below!  

Phil and I made some extras to fill up the kiln.  Phil made his out of the scraps just laying on the table after everyone else had gone home!

Western Snowmen by Erik!












Ryan's Snowmen & Penguin!




 
These are Kim's creations!

Mary's Snowman!


Leslie's Forever West Ornaments


This is Phil's ornament. 



















Cat's ornaments.