Bio - post Lockdown hair!

Kiln Fired Glass is a combination of Science, Art, Magic & Trepidation until the kiln lid is opened and all is revealed.  Glass is forgiving - in that if I am just not really happy with a piece - I can refire it until I am... It does mean that some pieces are fired for many, many hours!

Whilst I had a lifelong & rewarding career in Commerce which I know I was very blessed to have enjoyed for so long, I've always been a creative - with pottery, glaze and even nail art!  Upon retirement, I was able to indulge my passion and delight in glass art.  Here, however, I will reiterate something that really "got" me - I don't know who was the author - but s/he said "when you buy something from an Artist, you are buying more than an object. You are buying hundreds of hours of errors and experimentation.  You are buying years of frustration and moments of sheer joy.  You are not buying one thing - you are buying a piece of a heart, a piece of soul... a small piece of someone's life...   I totally relate to this - other than I am still serving my apprenticeship as are most of the "glassies" that I know.  By buying a piece of my art, you are helping me continue on this journey of discovery - this is the reason why most of my work is a one off - I don't have the time to replicate over and over - I've got so much to learn.  The knocks I will keep to myself - the joys I will shout from the rooftops!

I am toying with the idea of learning how to blow glass to incorporate within fused glass projects ..  This year I am working with a world class "glassie" - think large splashbacks, hob backplates, replacement windows even. I am also planning to learn welding as my glass needs beautiful stands - although I have already found a perfect partnership in this space - and I hope to shortly learn how to pull my own vit glass - actually make the stringers and flowers that I use in my work.

My new Workshop has the capacity to have three people working on their own projects...  I'm not ready yet to offer this as a service as I want to get this right from the outset but I've had a Student come over a few times - she has now produced her first piece - one of four that she wants to replace the glass with in her kitchen cupboards - her challenge is deciding what the next three panels will be showing...  At the end of the C19 restrictions I should be ready to go live with this idea...