Black Friday/Cyber Monday Special!

I am having a special in my ArtFire shop (GlassFancy)for Black Friday/Cyber Monday. From Friday, November 23rd through Monday, November 26th, free shipping on all jewelry. This special is only on my jewelry section. Lots of fused glass pendants! Some are Christmas themes, some dichroic glass, millefiori, decals. http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/GlassFancy/1/7/11707//

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday!

Just got back from Ruby Tuesday. It is really disappointing to see how they have gone downhill. Their $5 drinks now come in on the rocks glasses (yet the menu shows them in tall glasses) and we got a big plate with two tiny little turds of cold dried up biscuits on it. We didn't eat them. Our plates had no garnishes, so my crab cake looked very lonely on that big old plate all by itself. The crab cake didn't slide off the plate because it was stuck on the plate with the remoulade sauce. Very appetizing! My husband ordered a fried shrimp plate and what he got was the shrimp and a baked potato on a big plate. Very plain and unappealing. They were cleaning 3 tables beside us when we came in, but left all the trash on the floor. Nice looking at a shrimp tail and various sugar packets, skewers and straws getting stepped on while we ate. Not worth it even with a coupon. We noticed that the restaurant was not even half full, a far cry from what it was two years ago. Sad that they ruined it by being stingy and cheap. Goodbye Ruby Tuesday.....

I am enjoying having a kiln. Fusing glass is addictive! These pendants are available in either my Etsy or ArtFire shops (links in the left hand column).

So Long, 2011!

I sit here, wondering when I will take down the Christmas tree and decorations. But, there's no time limit, so it will get done when it gets done. I no longer make New Year's resolutions, I make revelations. I realized that I was always pushing myself and staying in a rush for no good reason. No more of that.

There were a couple of nice changes in 2011. We adopted a young male lab/pointer mix as a companion for Gremlin. They are inseparable now and sleep in the same bed much of the time. He has ended up being more like a moose than a dog and eats like one, too.

I also bought a glass kiln. I wanted to move away from stained glass, into glass fusing. So far, I have slumped wine bottles. My next project will be fused glass pendants. I'm ready to learn!

Recycling Bottles

I bought a kiln this year. I will eventually be fusing glass, but at the recommendation of some of my fusing friends, I have started out slumping wine, beer and liquor bottles. The are really cool! They can be used as snack or cheese trays and beer bottles make good spoon rests.

It has helped me familiarize myself with the kiln. I know that it's going to take 5 hours for the program to run from start to finish. The hardest part is waiting for the kiln to completely cool down so the glass is room temperature. Have to wait until the next morning.

I guess the neighbors think we are lushes, there are boxes of bottles people have saved for us in the garage. The laundry room looks like a liquor store with cases of bottles stacked. At any rate, I'm having fun!

Nashville Zombie Walk 2011

Parrot Panel Installed!

I finally finished the parrot panel and it has been installed. It is the focal point of a bathroom in Kentucky. The beautiful glass looks great day and night. This was my final leaded panel, and I am proud of the way it turned out. I painted the parrots' facial features on the glass on both sides. They would have been such tiny pieces of glass, and would have been lost if leaded. The beak of the 2nd parrot is a foiled overlay onto the window. It gives some depth and dimension to the panel.

My next project will be with glass fusing. I just bought my first kiln and although I have a lot to learn about fusing, I am excited about trying something new. I will still make stained glass suncatchers and do some mosaics.