New Handpainted Pendants Available on my Etsy Shop!

For the last few months, I've been tossing this idea around in my head about taking a bunch of fused glass pendants and painting them with lovely little nature scenes. (My first problem was that I can't paint, but I'm reasonably happy with the results!)

I got these wonderful acrylic enamel paints way back when I first sprung for all my glass fusing supplies, and they basically sat there, untouched, until last fall when I finally started feeling up to working with the glass again. I tried a few cuff bracelets with them, and they worked out pretty well, and then I decided to try my hand at painting a few pretty little scenes.

The photo on this one isn't very good, but you get the idea.













For this piece, I fused some white frit into the background to make it look like snow!













This is a much better photo of a painted pendant with a lone pine tree on a snowy landscape.













And then, just in case you were getting bored with the snow, I painted a few summery scenes. I love the way I can get texture from the paints by adding water or using them "dry", and because I am painting the top clear layer of glass, there are shadows underneath that give an unexpected depth to the whole piece.






I'll have more of these for sale as I finish them. The process to make them takes several steps in the kiln. First, I have to cut the pendant shapes from the glass and then full fuse them at 1550 dehrees Fahrenheit with a layer of clear on top for depth. After the pendants have cooled, I grind down any uneven edges and then firepolish them in the kiln again. Once the basic shape is perfect, I paint them with the enamels and allow the enamels to dry. Then it's once more back in the kiln, this time to a temperature of about 1350 degrees Fahrenheit to allow the enamels to cure and melt. Because the enamels are melted into the glass, the design is permanent and will not chip, fade or wear off. Once I'm happy with how everything looks, I will add the pendant finding, a length of satin cord or a fiber necklace, and put the little beauties out for sale!

As I'm gearing up for my last big show of the holiday season this coming weekend, I'll be working with some fusible paper in my designs this week. Once I get those done, I'll of course post some photos and some techniques here on the blog.

I've also been tossing around the idea of starting a jewelry makers guild up here in the Adirondacks, or at least revisiting the idea of starting up a bead society once again. (Tried that when I had the brick and mortar store, but I wasn't terribly motivated then, and I really am now!)

This weekend, I'll be at the Christmas in the Village celebration in Essex, N.Y. on Lake Champlain! I'll have lots of new work for sale at the Adirondack Art Association Gallery on Main Street in Essex on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 5, 6 and 7 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. each day. Let's hope the weather cooperates!

It's not just a hobby anymore...

Well, this summer just flew by. I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving!

I feel like I learned a lot this summer. I decided to try my hand at the Farmers' Market and craft show venues in the area, and have to say, it was quite an education.

The first thing I learned: using a leftover bug tent from a bachelor party does not work when doing an outdoor farmers' market at a windy field. I spent most of my first day there in the blinding heat and the whipping wind holding on to the tent so that we did not end up in the middle of Kansas. We went out and bought a real tent, and the difference was amazing. It worked great. It is now, thankfully, in storage for the winter, because you can only put that damn thing up every weekend for so long without getting really sick of it.

The second thing I learned: there are lots and lots of wonderful craft show venues within a 45-minute drive of my town. There are even a few that are literally right down the road from me, but unfortunately, they all conflicted with other shows this year, so I did not have the opportunity to roll out of bed and roll down the road to a show. Maybe next summer.

I also learned that there IS a local market for my work. Granted, many of my customers were tourists from out of state or even from out of the country, but wow, it was great to meet so many people who loved my work! I sold pieces to people from Belgium, England, Australia, South Africa, Germany, France and Portugal, just to name a few. I was thrilled when a family from Belgium came to my booth and bought jewelry sets to take home with them as souvenirs from their trip to the Adirondacks.

So, now I am gearing up for my last two holiday shows of the season, and I had an experience two weeks ago that I am going to blog about in a separate post because it is going to be long and it is going to be one of those soap-box posts that I need time to prepare. I hope it makes you think.

I am also working to update my Etsy website and shop in hopes that I can continue to generate income from my work. It was a great feeling to be able to do that over the summer!

I am also working with the wonderful and talented people over at the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, the Northern Adirondack Trading Cooperative, and Stellar Marketing Solutions to give my business a complete makeover! It's a very exciting/terrifying/gratifying experience, and I think that this will be just what I need to be able to make this venture something sustainable over the long-term for me and my family.

So, now that I'm done with the boring stuff, on to the good stuff - the photos of my recent work!

I have started using a few new techniques with my fused glass. The first, and the one that I think I love the most, is using enamels to paint designs and scenes onto fused glass pendants. The design pictured here is white enamel fused to a red glass pendant, and is a traditional henna design. I found that henna designs translate very well to glass jewelry, and I am hoping to have a complete line of these designs available next year, including earrings and bracelets.





The other technique that I am using is including pieces of cut paper to make little scenes, like this underwater "fish tank". (I have always loved fish, and we always had a tank of them when I was a kid!) This involves cutting each little piece out of a piece of special, fusible paper that won't burn away when the glass is fused at 1550 degrees Fahrenheit. The pieces must be layered in between clear glass to prevent discoloration and to allow gasses to escape, so the piece is quite substantial. I think I have figured out a way to make them lighter and use less glass.


I've also been doing some beadweaving, and I'll have pictures of that work later on, too, but for now, I've got to go make some lunch for Colden and me!