March Updates

It's been a busy month here at Rowe Studios. We've been experimenting with making glass (cuff-style) bracelets with fusible and dichroic glass. Two of my students volunteered to be my "guinea pigs" to see how much time it would take and the amount of materials needed. We've decided that the best way to teach the glass would be in three 2-hour sessions. The cost would be $150.00 and would include the tuition, the materials, and 3 kiln firings. Tools, books, and supplies will be available for sale at our usual student discount. I tried to add photos here, but need to download again from the camera, so look for them later. This is a class that could be taught evenings or mornings, so let me know if you're interested.
We also did another class on making the dichroic glass pendants - and that was a great success. Rather than using the usual black as a base glass, we tried mint green and butterscotch ... really exciting to see new colors. 5 or 10 years ago, very few people were even familiar with dichroic glass, now it's available as raw material or in finished pieces in all kinds of stores and on the Internet. It's not cheap, but, boy, is it pretty. And since one uses only small pieces, a little goes a long way.
The next new project is learning to successfully do fused photo transfers. Not only is this technique great for making personal jewelry components (imagine a picture of a loved one on a pendant) but just about any picture or image can be scanned into a computer, printed onto special paper (using only certain printers) and then fused permanently into your glass. As I start experimenting, I'll add updates and photos to this blog.
In my free time, I've been doing some experimenting on the torch as well. Now, like everyone else, I don't have that much free time, but torchwork is my "me time". I've been trying all kinds of scrap sheet glass left over from stained glass panels, as well as some of the newer glass made specifically for beads. My latest experiment was with the Davardi glass from India - since I only had 3 colors to work with, I haven't been thrilled with the beads I've made so far, but the quality and workability as fine. I've also worked some more with the heavily silvered glass from Double Helix - I'm still learning how to manipulate heat and flame, but it sure is beautiful. I've been trying to make enough beads to make myself a 3-strand necklace, and have about 1 strand's worth done so far. I haven't made myself anything new in ages, so, if I ever get this done, I'll post a photo here.
And lastly, we got a glass order in today - small by our usual standards as there was only about 2000 pounds of glass. I should have everything marked and put out for sale by tomorrow or Saturday. There are sheets of Spectrum, Armstrong, Kokomo, and Wissmach, as well as a lot of Bullseye fusible in bright colors, black, and clear. We've also gotten in sheets of the new Wissmach COE90 glass to try - in black, white, and clear. I hope to test it soon with Bullseye just to make sure they're compatible. The price is good too. They're not making many colors yet, but if the tests work, I hope to order more in the future.
Come in for a visit - the hand rolled and blown antiques are still on the 40% off sale, so it's worth your time!

As this month winds down and we head toward March, I thought I'd pass along the following from Ann Sanborn's site:

Items to plan for your March Calendar:
All Month:
· Birthstone: Aquamarine, Bloodstone
· Flower: Jonquil
· Astrological Signs: Pisces: 2/19 to 3/20 & Aries: 3/21 to 4/ 19
· National Nutrition Month
· National Women's History Month

March Dates to Remember:
2 Read Across America Day / Dr. Suess Birthday
7 Save Your Vision Week
14 Daylight Saving Time Begins
14 National Poison Prevention Week
17 St. Patricks Day
20 First Day of Spring
28 Palm Sunday
30 Passover

This is the time to design springtime stained glass panels, or make jewelry (in my case, the beads)in colors for the new season arriving. I don't know about you, but I love the soft pastels of spring. (If only I could wear more of the light colors without feeling as big as a whale!) Just because I don't wear pink, light blue, or yellow clothes doesn't mean I don't love making beads and pendants in those colors. I get a lot of inspiration from the annual mailings of all the seed catalogs - and the ever growing pile of clothing catalogs. I've been trying to make more florals on the torch, some with less success than others. I've also been trying out different glass - not just Moretti anymore. Since we do a lot of stained glass in the Studio, we always have scrap and some have proven gorgeous as beads. One of my friends brought in a few rods of the Indian Davardi glass for me to try, and I'm on my way to the kiln to see how they came out. I experimented with them and a few new rods on Saturday after closing, (while having a glass of wine with friends), so I had to come in today to see them...in spite of the wicked weather outside and that it's my day off. You know how obsessed we lampworkers can get!

New Year

Now that the holidays are behind us, we hope everyone is doing well. The stories I've heard from my customers range from heart-warming to sad. With all the emotions normally tied to these days at the end of the year and the added stress of an uncertain economy, I am forever gladdened by the optimism shown by so many of my acquaintances.
On that note, I hope this year proves to be a much better one for all of us. We continue to have our problems with not only the County, but also with the management of the complex. I keep expecting to get back to "normal" operations, but everything is still incomplete. As an old fan of disco, "we will survive". I've decided to devote even more time to teaching classes. So, we're going to stay closed in the mornings, including Saturdays, to accommodate more - right now there's a beginning stained glass, and two intermediate classes going on, and the first week of February kicks off a Tiffany-style lampshade class. Evenings are booked up too, with torchwork on Tuesdays, beginning stained glass on Wednesdays, and mosaics on Thursdays. Sundays are reserved for the full-day seminars - right now it's painting & firing, the last two Sundays are for fusing & slumping. I want to take time off in February, and then in March I'll set up some more fusing classes for jewelry projects. We're even setting up a 2-day sandblasting class in March that will be taught in Spanish. There may not be as much commissioned artwork scheduled, but we're certainly keeping busy!
In order to make more room in the Studio, we've also started selling all the hand-rolled and mouth-blown glass at a 40% discount. My ultimate goal is to reduce inventory enough to eliminate 8 to 12 feet of glass bins...that's a lot of glass!
We may even eliminate one of the work tables, but for now they're all in use.
Ultimately, I'd like to make one whole section of the Studio into a hot glass shop for both torchwork and fusing. With the proper ventilation and equipment, things can be set up so that customers can rent studio time. For that to happen, we need both space and money ... ergo the sale on glass. Since we lost the lofts, all the glass that was stored for private studio work has now been put out for sale...and that includes glass originally from Tiffany Studios in New York that Brian acquired over 30 years ago. So, please come in and take a look!

Well, we have good news / bad news today. In our continuing saga of the changes in zoning & building codes, we learned last week that the area has already been rezoned for "retail" status. Good news for all the stores in our complex, since they are now legally operating. There doesn't seem to be any problems for us, since we do a lot of retail. However, the bad news is that they will begin demolition of our lofts and interior walls on October 1st. I'm still in shock, as I just learned about this a couple of hours ago. Any of you who've been in the Studio know how much inventory we have and how difficult it will be to move everything. They have agreed to do this in stages, but all of the work has to be done in 10 days, so there's not much we can do really. I don't know yet where the job will start, but it will upset our schedules for the next month in any case.
As far as I have been able to think things through, we'll probably try to move all the finished stained glass pieces and the glass display cases to an empty unit on the back side of our building, we'll cover the work tables with sheets of plywood, and we'll try to find room to put everything (i.e. the entire office & library, all the tools, bevels, lampbases, grinders, etc. etc. etc.)
Any one who wants to help us is welcome! I need help mostly with moving things. I can't afford to pay cash, but I'm willing to pay with credit toward supplies or class tuition, at $10/hour. We'll be starting on Tuesday (the 22nd) at 10:00. All volunteers are welcome!

Things are finally looking up here at the Studio. Although we still don't know what's going to happen about zoning, or the status of the infamous lofts, at least we have most of the organizing (and lots and lots of reorganizing) done. We've already finished a 6-week beginning stained glass class, and several lampwork (torch) beads classes, as well as one of the 2-day dichroic fusing classes. Classes will be starting up again the first week of September, and, as we continue to make better use of the space, it's easier to move around. It's amazing how much of the "stuff" from the lofts has been put away. I never thought we'd find places for everything. Now, mind you, I still haven't finished setting up the office - but at least the desk is right side up, the server has been moved and actually works, and the fax is connected again. I'd post some pictures, but I'd rather wait until things are finished. Wish I had thought to take pictures the day after we finished clearing out the lofts...but I was too depressed.
As I said, there are still some things pending. There is a zoning meeting scheduled for October that will effect many of the businesses in this complex. And, no one has decided if all or any part of the lofts can stay. But worrying about it won't change things, it just keeps me up at night.
I had a lot of fun today fusing dichroic glass. There were supposed to be 2 students, but one cancelled, so I got to play this time. Not only did I finish several dichroic pendants, I also rejuvenated some earlier experiments done with silver foil and frits on a base of black Bullseye. All the pieces are annealing in the kiln now, can't wait to see the finished product when I come back to work on Tuesday. I tried a new color (at least new for me) this time, yellow. I'll post some pictures next week, I think they're all quite nice, if I do say so myself!
Thanks too to everyone who has written, or stopped in, for the words of support. As hard as this summer has been, it's wonderful having friends to cheer me up.
Also, don't forget, the sale on sheet antique and hand-rolled glass is still on for the rest of the month. I'll put all the Genesis rippled glass on 50% sale in September, so those of you who want more texture (this glass is wonderful in borders, and for nature pieces), this is the time to stock up.
Well, I'm off to go visit my Mother and run a few errands - I'm not used to working on Sundays, but since I'm here (at the Studio), it has gotten me motivated to do more than my usual loafing around!

After a month of doing my best to reorganize things, the studio is finally in shape for classes. The tables are mostly cleared off (although, from day to day, that changes!) and moved, so there is now room enough to move around and actually work at the tables. The 2 larger kilns are set up and ready, the torch station is now accessible and even, dare I say this, organized. (That also seems to change on a daily basis, but I'm doing my best to keep things where they belong.) I even set up an area for all the glass painting supplies, so if anyone is interested in a class please let me know. I still keep finding things I didn't know we had upstairs.
I've been having fun experimenting on the torch with scraps of broken blown glass vessels, and stained glass. I've given or sold most of them, but if I can manage a photo or 2, I'll post them here. Most of the glass is working fine and turning into really nice beads. The biggest advantage to all this is that these beads are unlike any made with the traditional rods. Second advantage is that most of this glass was destined for the recycling bin, so the cost is zero. We had many broken pieces of glass up on the loft that we'll never use for beveling or stained glass...and I refuse to throw it all away, so all that isn't suitable for beads has gone home for recycling. I want to try fusing some of the thicker pieces to make cabachons for mosaics or jewelry - so I'll let you know if that works out. I'm also trying to come up with a creative use for some of the bent glass pieces we have. One idea is to make sconces - I just have to figure out the engineering.

Recycling

As you know by now, we've brought everything down from our upstairs/loft areas and are still going through things - trying to finally get everything organized. We're making progress, and the last couple of weeks have been filled with cleaning and sorting out all the bins and tubs of glass pieces from antique panels.
So, I was thinking (after all, what else can you do when you're standing there with a tub of water full of dirty pieces of glass, a scrub brush, and lots of towels!) what a fun idea to recycle all this glass...but not by putting out by the curb for pickup. How about doing a 2 or 3 hour session where you come in, go through the various bins of glass, and design a panel using all these "scraps"? There are lots of colors and textures of border strips, some shapes (like diamonds, commas, squares, etc.), and broken pieces to chose from. Not only do you save all the work of cutting and grinding, but it's a lot cheaper this way - only $4/pound. If you want to learn how to build a panel with lead came, this could be a pre-class addon. Let me know if you're interested.
There's a new session of Beginning Stained Glass starting up the week after July 4th, and next week I have a class on making the fused dichroic glass pendants. Check out the calendar for schedules. I'm going to do another pendant class on the 12 & 19th of July (Sundays) too for anyone not able to do an evening class.
I was asked this week to teach a class on painting & firing again. Anyone interested? I imagine I would teach it on 2 Sundays in August - so let me know on that too.
The sale on discontinued handrolled glass is going well - I so need to free up some space in the bins to put more glass out. All the Chicago Art Glass, Genesis, Fusion Dynamics, and Fischer Opal are on sale for 30% off (35% off if you take the sheet as is, no cutting). There are some beautiful sheets here, so come take advantage! The sale will continue through August, or until I run out.