Validation as an artist

I recently sold the Mermaid fused glass piece "Oceana". It was only the second show for her and I barely had gotten her hung on the wall. Another artist bought her. Wow, I couldn't believe it! She sold for $150.00. Pricing your artwork is always so tough. You don't want to price it too low or too high. You need to be competitive but not price yourself out of a show. Oceana had been fired 3 times and many, many hours were put into placing those tiny pieces of glass for her body. The face though was the most difficult for me. The actual drawing of her face just about gave me a breakdown. I did get through it though and I had to be satisfied with the 50th redrawing of the face. Hanging her at the first show was a great accomplishment for me. I am so happy I did her and I enjoyed the process of making her, (except for the face). Selling her, being validated as a Fused Glass Artist, is something I am getting used to. Maybe Mermaids is my calling!

All Things Mermaidia.

Mermaidia is kind of an ongoing project. Something that I should have finished last year! The small pieces of dichroic glass used in her body and her fins are pieces of glass left over from a commissioned glass job, a Theater Room that was done in 2008. Jaki and I did the job together. We must of had hundreds of small pieces left over when the job was completed. We split up all the left over glass and now I have tons of small pieces to turn into something wonderful! Underwater scenes are my fancy these days. I guess they sort of remind me of Hawaii. Mermaid artwork is everywhere there, exotic beautiful Mermaids. My little Mermaid has been a real challenge for me. Trying to manipulate those tiny little pieces to look like a fish has been just plain crazy! I would work on it for awhile and then walk away. This process went on forever. During the winter, I put her away. I needed a long break away from her. Once the spring hit, I brought her back out. While she was away for the winter, she was just glued, not fired. Time to fire her. Putting her in the kiln was a little scary. I just wasn't sure how she would turn out. I fired her using the Tac Fuse Setting. Out of the kiln she game and I was quite happy about her look. Then the huge job of the hair. How was I going to do it? Josh, my son, gave me the idea to do it in sections. Great Idea! Well, Mermaidia is now in the kiln again, for the second firing, I won't be able to check her out until the morning. I wonder how she will turn out?

Determined Not To Procrastinate

Well here I go, the first blog ever. Where do I begin? I was thinking about how I am the biggest procrastinator in the World! I know there are millions of other people out there just like me, but I have decided to make a change. A change that should make my life a bit more stress free when it comes to making fused glass pieces. I am going to try so very hard, to not put my fused glass projects on the back burner. This is going to be really tough for me. I'm not used to getting my projects done early. My friend Jaki and I are always talking about how we are able to pull things off and how much stress we put on ourselves going through it. If only we started our projects early. What a concept! Why do we wait until the very last second? Jaki is my best friend, my partner in crime. She also does fused glass. Actually, she was the one who got me started in it. She is an amazing fused glass artist and she can do any kind of craft. This whole subject of, "Why do we wait until the last minute?", comes up constantly. We beat that subject to death! Well Tuesday, June 1st, is the LAVA show at the Fenton Winery. I am showing a fused glass piece. Guess what? It is done!