Using my own glass

First off, my most exciting news: after working in my studio for over six years, we finally bit the bullet last weekend and painted the unfinished walls! As I've mentioned before, my studio is actually space that I've commandeered out of our garage through a process very much like osmosis. First, I had one wall for my art, then David built me a giant work table which took up one bay and now all my show equipment and extra inventory is taking up much of the last bay.

But since my growth—and spread—occurred so quickly, the walls have always remained the taped-but-not-textured tan sheet rock color; not very inspiring, to say the least. With how much time I spend out there and with the deadline looming for Open Studios in October, we decided the time to paint would be now, before it gets much hotter. So that's how we spent our Memorial Day weekend. The results look great and I'm loving being out there now but I'll bet your weekend was more fun.

With that out of the way, I got a chance to incorporate some of my new patterned glass into a few pieces. When I'm trying out an entirely new idea, I tend to work small, for several reasons. Obviously, if I don't like the results, I haven't wasted a ton of glass; and I get to produce a good enough range of pieces to see if I like the direction they're taking.

I'll usually sketch a design, draw my cutting pattern and then whip out a bunch in different colors. For me, it's hard sometimes not to be biased and stick to only my favorite colors so I push myself to use the full palette of my glass stock. The interesting thing about these little sample dishes is how easily they come together. I'll choose the patterned glass I want to use and then a couple accent colors, which are simply determined by the patterned glass.

I'm just so excited to have some sheets of glass that are unique only to me in these test pieces! While they're all slumped in the basic "sushi" mold, I prefer to call them dessert dishes because I don't like sushi and these little eye candy plates would make almost anything taste better, so they're perfect for dessert. These little gems measure only 6" square but I know they'll wind up being good sellers since they work well as multiples or singles, they're an affordable size, and they can just as easily hold a bar of soap or candle, or something decadent.

I've added another show to my schedule this summer. It's the Tiburon Art Festival and last year it was so much fun. 65 artists all arranged along Historic Ark Row which is a street filled with great little boutique-type shops, restaurants, homes and more. The link is posted in the right-hand column at the top of the page.