My head is white .....

My head is white ..... I just did this. Cool huh!!!! Lets ring in the new year with a new colored head. I will do blue for the 4th of July. Tonight is the celebration....

Fire it up ......

Fire it up ...... here's the pre-new year's fire using my pallet collection. Burn baby burn !!!!

Lots o' Pots ...........

Lots o' Pots ...........and lots o' jewelry in dem' pots. Last nites run. Results are still coolin' down.

Orange is in ........

Orange is in ........ with this new 16" Gyre we just got out of the oven. It has 4 pounds of glass and green and cobalt blue highlights. Making some more jewelry today. It's 45F here and sticky - who'd believe this is Montana.

New holiday piece .......

New holiday piece ....... is a 13" gyre. Got soooo lazy this week I haven't made jack.... Gotta start beefing up inventory as our first show is in mid February.

The latest disaster..........

The latest disaster.......... not only is it ugly but it broke due to cold temp.  Need to stop being so damn cheap and use some real sheet glass. Bite Me !!!!

Well sometines ..........

Well sometimes .......... things just don't come out the way one expects. I had high hopes for this technique. I won't bore you with the details but i will try again. It is just too dark and dark is the enemy in the glass business. If you think this is good then tell me how much you would pay for it - seriously.

Work nevers stops .......

Work never stops ....... hey it's tough being an artist.  Everybody thinks I do a whole lot of nothin' all dog gone day.  This is tonight's bun in the oven. Looks more like a pizza if you ask me. We will find out manana.

For those of you .......

For those of you ....... who think that my job is "doing nothing all day" except playing with the dog and cats, I have news for you. Here is a flick of my jewelry and soldering bench setup. Please note the variety of tools and mechanical devices that I use in my various creative processes.  So there !!!!!

New staff additions .....

New staff additions ..... from Tokyo to assist in the quality control department. Something here just isn't right?

I am pissed off .....

I am pissed off ..... that people think I look like Elmer Fudd (for those who remember) in my new winter stylist hat.  And for those who think I look like a Russian Cossack - Bite Me !!!

So yesterday we went to Yellowstone....

So Chris, Al and I went into the closed gates of yellowstone, by permission of course and i couldn't believe my eyes! there is no doubt that Yellowstone Park is more beautiful in the winter than it is in the summer - it blew our minds!! when i can figure out how to do an album, i'll post more flicks!!

Here are the first batch of clear ....

Here are the first batch of clear pendants .... I casted them with small swirls of color suspended in the middle.

Collections ....

Here is our collection of mixed orange with reds & yellows. I finally finished drilling the holes and twisting on the silver bails  ...

Just goin' wild ....

Just goin' wild .... as everybody is shopping and waiting in lines I'm just messin' around with glass. Here is another funky leftover that Chris put on a piece of driftwood. A nice addition to the living room.

Today's Stuff .....

Today's Stuff ..... out of the kiln. Before I gorge myself to near death I did manage to accomplish something more than nothing.  The piece on the right is about 6" long - total bling - like something u would see on Jersey Shore - yea Snookie would wear it. That dude Flave would wear it too - he's the one with that big ass clock around his neck. Veronica would wear it too - she looks like Snookie but taller.

A new little something .....

A new little something ..... I threw together yesterday to hang on the wall. Yea it was a good thing to do with some scrap glass and old drift wood that was laying around. You never know what will come out of a pile of junk - that's the fun part.

Sorry but I had to post this ...

Sorry but I had to post this ... I was walking the dog in the town next door and came across this trailer.  It is actually a trailer cap inserted into the back half of a pick up truck that was cut in half.   Please also note the add-on wooden "storage box" in the front. I would like to hear from all you decorator geniuses out there on what you would approach this "interesting project". Burning it is not an acceptable answer. Your proposal is requested.

My Wonderful Chocolate Lab .....

My Wonderful Dog ..... greeted me with a surprise yesterday afternoon as u can see. Belle ate 2 t-bones and left 2 cans of empty dog food on the bed. She spent the rest of the day in time out and is currently having digestive problems - I am expressing this fact in a dignified manner !!! But it's her fault dammit.

Milk White Glass .....

Milk white glass ..... I be usin' here to make some bases for jewelry. I know I know, I keep showin' bases and no finished pieces. Everyone is buggin' me to finish some. But I can't rush the process. So I need to make more before I start drillin' holes and twisting wires.

New jewelry pieces taking a bath .....

New jewelry pieces taking a bath ..... in some nice acid. They need a bit of scrubbing and cleaning before mounting and wiring. To be continued ....

A smart cat ?????

A smart cat ????? This is Gatita. Not the brightest bulb in the box but pretty cleaver if she wants to hide. Yes she is in one of my kilns. I looked for her for an hour and finally gave up.  Then I went to start it up and there she was ... pissed that I found her secret spot and even more so that I moved her.

Todays run ....

Today's run .... we are going to finish off some glass for gift items and some smaller pieces for jewelry. We will fire polish these at 1600F. Yea that's lots of stuff.

I posted a new pot pour article in ArticleBase.com.....

I posted a new pot pour article in ArticleBase.com.....check it out there or on my web site in the "About" tab. Its got some cool instructional pic's too.

Snow and white cullet ....

Wow we have our first foot of snow of the year and it is gorgeous - this is why I love Montana. Then I love it more when the flowers bloom in late May. On the glass front, the white cullet I ran yesterday turned out nice thus far with no apparent cracks - but a day or two will tell. I will either be elated or totally depressed.  I held the temp at 1750F for 15 minutes and annealed it for 15 minutes @ 960. Maybe this new kiln wash does work. I am going to repeat this to make sure.

Liquid copper on cast glass ...

Liquid copper on cast glass ... looks like this on orange and spring green.  I really want this to come out on turquoise blue but so far it just makes a dull finish.

Some white glass ...

Some white glass ... is melting down here. This is a new kind of mild white i bought from West Virginia. It has a very high melting point and a COE of 93 so we will see if it anneals properly and comes off the shelf. I will heat it to 1750F and hold it for 15or so minutes.  Just for fun I will probably through some colored frit on top and rake it a bit.

Just something to do ...

Just something to do ... I threw this together for lack of nothing better to do as I watched my kiln run. For those of you unsure, watching a kiln run is one step behind watching grass grow - for real.

Doing jack ......

Doing jack ...... had to run errands which sucks cause it takes me away from being creative.  Ran dog in the lake...I think it was a bit too cold but there wasn't any ice. I could tell cause of her shivering on the way home.  Just so the day wasn't a total waste I'm cookin' up a turquoise piece of glass with a new kind of copper alloy blended it. Theoretically it should work if I hold the kiln at 1750F but we will see ..... results to tomorrow.

Possible new jewlery ...

Possible new jewelry ... we may be back in the jewelry business again!! Due to some fledgling demand and cause we kinda feel like it, we might just possibly get to gettin' in the jewelery biz!  I makin' some goodies in the kiln to use as bases.  Here are the latest batches ...

New cat alert .....

New cat alert ..... Just got this new cat out of the shelter the other day.  This is Sage - she is 14+ years someone got rid of her probably cause she has a chopped off tail, arthritis, 3 teeth and bites.  So we took her in, as more that likely, no one else would. Now we have 4 cats + dog - does this make me a hoarder?

Some results ....

Some results .... these came out rather nice - these is some copper in them too.  I will but them in close ups later when i start to make jewelery with them.  There are so many uses for small pieces of glass like these.

While the glass was cooking .....

While the glass was cooking ..... we made a bonfire.  We used about 9 pallets to get that sucker crankin'.

the glass pieces are cooking .....

now we are rolling.  the oven is hot and the glass is starting to flow.

first snowy day

well it's the first snowy day here in bozeman (that's montana folks).  so may as well fire up the kiln with some new stuff.  i go some small pots here that i am gonna try to make some jewelry bases.  i added some color to each - orange- yellow- turquoise - cobalt blue - then Christine did one with a mix of a couple of different colors.  so here are the post in the kiln and we are ready to go.