Other glass crafts ......?

Still, no harm in asking here I imagine ..........

Later

David K

Hello David. I'm Don in Ohio. Amateur basement bandit here. I have a homemade cabinet and a TPtools pressure pot. I use it for stained glass effects and for decorative etching. I don't carve deep very often.

Wowzer! You may call yourself an amateur, but that is some spectacular work. I'm really impressed. That butterfly panel is something else!

Thanks for the compliment. I sell my stuff, and not always to mom and auntie, but until I make more money than what I've spent on tools and materials, its probably more realistic to maintain the stance of being an amateur. I've been at it a long time and have the fancy tools. That doesn't have the significance nowadays that it used to....everybody's buying belt sanders and custom kilns. I don't have either of those things, exactly, but I have really good stuff nonetheless. You see the same thing in other crafts and arts with us old farts these days too....55 year old men with $3000 electric guitars, custom car shops in their garage with finishing tools that rival the LA shops, industrial scale woodworking equipment (some of these guys spend thousands on dust collection systems alone). Just boys (and girls) with toys.

WOW pretty amazing stuff Don. How many hours does it take you to complete something like the Dandelions?

Don,

Your work is outstanding. You obviously invest a lot of time and effort into your creations.

I certainly enjoyed looking at them - thanks.

Methinks 'amateur basement bandit' is a bit of an understatement!!

Later,

David

Don, Nice to see someone mixing melting glass tecnic and your basic tecnic. You are think out of the box and with great skills as well. When and were will you have show of your works?

Bragi.

Thanks JK. I don't get much opportunity to work for long stretches on anything, so its difficult to estimate total hours per piece. But once a design is settled, it doesn't take too long to fabricate/paint the thing. Probably about the same as a complicated/plated tiffany-style landscape the same size, except kiln time does add to it..

Thanks Bragi. I don't have any shows planned. Sometimes I enter a piece in the local art/craft show in my neighborhood.

And modesty precludes you showing us the trophies/awards?

Really nice stuff, I went back several times to look at it out of fascination. Do you teach?

The reason I asked is I was wondering how you could figure out pricing for such complicated procedures. I'm guessing a simple formula is out. Even though you do this for fun, at some point you may want to sell some of this. Let me know when that day comes.

Thanks again. No I don't teach. I have gotten a ribbon at the local art show. And I'm not that modest. I put my stuff up on the web to show it off, and I fish for compliments over at warmglass.com all the time. So I am fairly convinced that my stuff is widely appealing. I think I know where I stand in between the usual chili-pepper-suncatcher work and Harry Clarke's Honan Chapel, and I just want to keep moving farther to the right.

So you're buying a new kiln. Its a good time burn a little lead-oxide in it. Get some paints and have at it.

I think I'll reserve the new one for glass. The older one, however, I don't care much about, so if I get a chance, I may play with some painting. Any "fumes" can't hurt it much. I've never fired paint, done plenty of watercolors back in the day, so my brush techniques are at least "there"...I hope? It's been a while.

Top firing? Side firing? make any difference? do the paints work on most all glass? Anywhere from float to BE? Tell us more. I'm looking for some winter projects.

Top Firing and side firing both work, and are subject to same schedule constraints/issues with thermal shock as in kiln-forming/fusing. The paints work on most glass, from float to BE. I put up a glass enamel FAQ at

Thanks so much. That is a terrific FAQ. I learned that there is a bunch I don't know about all that part of glass.