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Showing posts with label glass. Show all posts
Showing posts with label glass. Show all posts

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Upcycling

Because it sounds so much cooler than "not being wasteful".






So remember this?

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of course you do- (assuming that you have a better memory than a goldfish)

and if not, you can scroll down to my last post.

so I took those (ends of glass rods, bead that cracked or just looked down right stupid)

and made it into this:
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glass frits


First, I tried to do it the quick and dirty way with

a hammer

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latex gloves

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placed glass on news print (I know this is blue glass, but I didn't take pis of the green during all this)

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and smashed away


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This was quite unsuccessful and more glass went flying about than was getting smashed.




So then I made a simple ball mill largely based off of these instructions on instructables ( I love this site)

On a rinsed out maple-syrup container made of heavy-duty plastic, I marked and cut a hole in the bottom.

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Then I placed a screw through the hole and tightened it on with a nut

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Then I covered the end of the screw with epoxy and stuck it in where the drill-bit goes and added more epoxy.

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Waited for it to dry.....

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And put in about 40 nuts (these are substituting the 'balls' in the ball mill)

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added my glass and held the trigger till the battery died.

My glass came out nicely crushed


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and then I added a little this

glass rods 2


and this







and made this :)

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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Its not easy being green

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Beads and such from the glass graveyard (aka f-ups and broken bits)

Tune in tomorrow to see their fate

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Find Your Centre

So living in a not-so-populated place you wouldn't expect to find a thriving art community. But not so in Grande Prairie! This was further made evident to me at the Third Annual Art Board Auction and Show where the Centre for Creative Arts here in town invited artists in the community to make a skateboard deck into art for their Healing Arts Program. My board was there along with over 40 others. Check them out on their website (and even bid on one if you are so moved to!)

image from http://creativecentre.ca/


In other news- I will soon open my etsy shop! I know I planned to earlier than now, but I am not quite ready yet. I am aiming to have it open by Sunday, June 14. Keep your eyes open for a grande opening promotion! In the meantime, here is a pendant that will be for sale in my shop.

It's called Tangled up in Blue, one because it looks like blue string all knotted up, and two because I sang Tangled up in Blue the whole time I was making it- in my totally awesome Bob Dylan impersionation.

Tangled Up In Blue

Early one mornin' the sun was shinin',
I was layin' in bed
Wond'rin' if she'd changed at all
If her hair was still red.
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Mama's homemade dress
Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough.
And I was standin' on the side of the road
Rain fallin' on my shoes
Heading out for the East Coast
Lord knows I've paid some dues gettin' through,
Tangled up in blue.

She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess,
But I used a little too much force.
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best.
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin' away
I heard her say over my shoulder,
"We'll meet again someday on the avenue,"
Tangled up in blue.

I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell.
So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin' for a while on a fishin' boat
Right outside of Delacroix.
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind,
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew
Tangled up in blue.

She was workin' in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer,
I just kept lookin' at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear.
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I's just about to do the same,
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, "Don't I know your name?"
I muttered somethin' underneath my breath,
She studied the lines on my face.
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe,
Tangled up in blue.

She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
"I thought you'd never say hello," she said
"You look like the silent type."
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin' coal
Pourin' off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
Tangled up in blue.

I lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air.
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died.
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside.
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn,
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew,
Tangled up in blue.

So now I'm goin' back again,
I got to get to her somehow.
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter's wives.
Don't know how it all got started,
I don't know what they're doin' with their lives.
But me, I'm still on the road
Headin' for another joint
We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue.

The Indigo Girls also did a cover of Tangled up in Blue. Haha- get it? Indigo? Blue?

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Blue Raspberry

Ok- so here are a few beads pics that I plan to make a necklace out of.

The color combo is in honor of my love for slushies in the summer.




And a bit closer up...










And a possible clasp...




Now onto making a necklace!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Merry Christmas!


I know its not Christmas, but there is snow outside and I got a package!


Isn't it beautiful? I just love getting glass. Looking at all the colors is really inspiring to me.







I ordered these from Frantz Art Glass. They have an amazing selection and were super easy and friendly to deal with. Drawback is I live in Canada so shipping was over $30 US, and then I had to pay $10 to customs. Boo. I might have to look else where if I'm going to keep buying small quantities. Lauscha Canada has a good web site and plenty of colors, but that seems to be it for soft glass here in Canada. What I would really like is a actual, physical store within walking distance of my house where I could go and look at the glass in person. No such luck. Oh well, maybe some day I'll own my very own glass shop and I'll get to order glass from Italy, Germany, and Japan :-).

Update: Louise of Fireseed just sent me a link to another glass supplier in Canada. Looks great!