Since the end of October I have busy playing with my kiln and making fused-glass pieces. I started with pendants and then added earrings, then pendant and earring sets and now this weekend have tried making small plates and dishes.
I really didn't anticipate that I'd want to spend so much time on this craft or that other people would be so interested! After receiving a few compliments on the necklaces I had been wearing I let it slip that they were handmade and several coworkers expressed interest in purchasing pendants for holiday gifts. Well - once I brought them in word spread and not only coworkers from my building/department wanted to buy them but other staff from across the University were contacting me. I think a conservative estimate would be that I've sold 60 pieces! I'm selling them at cost right now so they are quite affordable.
I just love this response! It's enabled me to splurge on more expensive glass and supplies, experiment with inclusions and different techniques and get immediate feedback on some of my trials. If I was only making them as gift for friends and family than I likely wouldn't have gotten so far in my experimentations.
Here are a few of my favourites (that I have pics of!):
In hindsight I wish I had anticipated this reaction and taken pictures of each piece I made. Oh well, you live and learn.
Here are some pendant/earring sets made last weekend.
These photos (and the dishtowel they are lying on as the bails dry) don't do them justice.
This week at work we have our "secret santa" gift exchange. The person I drew loves the colour tourquoise - I made 4 small candy dishes/appetizer plates for her. Here are 2 of the plates - the other 2 have just been slumped and are still cooling in the kiln. The plates are about 4.5 inches square and were slumped into a concave mold.
This is only the second set of plates I've made. I forgot to photograph the other set before wrapping them up for Christmas.
I'm considering selling some of my pieces on Etsy and participating in craft shows. This way I'll continue to have excuses to keep making more pieces! There are a few projects I am hoping to try out once the holidays hit and I have some time off.
Not much else is going on with me. I attended my convocation in November - still feels great to be done school!
