So, if any of you out there are glass artists, you will totally identify with this particular project. I was in my studio to get something and suddenly stopped to realize what a mess my workbench was. I had not cleaned up after a recent work binge.
I diligently and swiftly started putting tools, glass, rulers, pens, etc back into their rightful places. I had some small pieces of glass that were cut-offs of the recent projects I had done. You know, too big to throw away, but too small to use for a project. I have (literally) bins of scrap glass like this. Every now and then I will be able to reach in and use a scrap here and there for something small.
Here is the bin of clear scraps - all fusible compatible - and you can see the other jar of differently colored glass as well. This jar is actually all of the half-leaf shapes that are left when I make my coasters (another story). It hit me that I wasn't going to be able to close the lid on this bin if I added even one more piece, so a project suddenly formed in my brain.
I have done scrap bowls before, but this time I wanted to use the leaf shapes in the bowl which means a little more careful placement of pieces.
You can see that each "leaf" has a colored half and an ivory half. So, I fired it, it melted and smoothed out, but I knew it wasn't "done". I next painted on the tree branch and leaf veins in black and copper paint and fired it again, slumped it, signed it, and voila!
The scrap method inevitably leaves holes in the glass somewhere. I chose not to fill the holes in the re-firing as I like the look - as if there is hardly anything holding it all together.
I know that more scrap plates and bowls are in my future - I have to use up the scraps somehow - and I think they will include more trees, landscapes and painted images than in the past. Always something new!
