Unfortunately, not everyone survives colon cancer. Kim Hanson, the daughter of a friend, did not survive. Kim was diagnosed with stage IV colorectal cancer in August of 2008. She was 37 years old and known for her ever-present smile and signature “live sassy” slogan. Kim lost her courageous battle on December 31, 2009. While fighting her cancer, Kim spent each chemotherapy session at Fort Bragg’s Womack Army Medical Center with a cozy blanket. It was her wish that every cancer patient who is “in the fight for their lives” should have some comfort during it. With that, Comfy for Chemo was born and is dedicated to providing blankets for every active duty military, retiree or dependent receiving chemotherapy.

According to the National Cancer Institute, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death from cancer in the United States. The number of new colorectal cancer cases and the number of deaths from colorectal cancer are decreasing slightly each year. But in adults younger than 50, the number of new colorectal cancer cases has slowly increased since 1998. A look at some of the stories on the Get Your Rear in Gear website will attest to this. I was surprised to see how many young adults in their twenties have colorectal cancer.

Colon cancer is an equal opportunity disease. It strikes both young and old, men and women. I encourage you to get screened if you are over 50, or sooner if you have risk factors. Because of hereditary factors I have already had three screenings. And while its not the most fun way to spend a day, it could very well save your life. (I will tell you that if I could dedicate my donation money it would be to find a better prep method… just saying.) Obviously, this is very personal to me. I would like to invite you to help provide comfort, to educate and to fight this disease.  Here are some ways you can join in this fight:

• Visit the Comfy for Chemo website and provide a blanket for a chemotherapy patient.

• If you live in the Kingwood or Atascocita area, Comfy for Chemo will be the Guest Charity on Friday, February 17th at the free Keller Williams Concert at the Harbor. Raffle tickets will be sold from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. There will be some great raffle items including one of my custom fused glass plates. For more information visit the Keller Williams website.

• Also, in honor of my mom and in memory of Kim, my husband Mark and I will be doing our second Get Your Rear in Gear walk. If you would like to support us by contributing to this cause, you can visit my personal page by clicking on this link: Get Your Rear in Gear My Page. Whatever you can give will help – it all adds up!

Comfy for Chemo Raffle Item

I have been fusing glass long enough now that I have quite a collection of fusible scrap glass. Actually it is a bit of a misnomer to call my leftover pieces of glass “scrap” glass. Glass fusers save every piece of glass. It can always be used some way in another project. So it’s not really scrap glass.

To make the stacked glass plate, I first cut a piece of black glass as the base. Next I went through my leftover glass bins looking for square and rectangular pieces that were about the right size. I placed these randomly, and didn’t really give a whole lot of thought to the colors I was using. (I haven’t met a color yet that I don’t like.) The second layer of glass stacks was done pretty much the same as the first. I did have to cut a few pieces of glass to get the second and third layers to fit. There was no measuring or planning in this process. It was totally random. The full fuse was flawless and I got the exact result I had hoped for. The slump went perfectly too. I love it when a piece goes together so easily. Believe me, this doesn’t happen often enough! I put the plate on my kitchen counter and had no intention of selling it.

When two friends saw the plate in my home I suddenly had two commissions for similar plates. Now this got me thinking. How do I recreate a piece that was purely random? I could study the piece and copy what I did, but then it would be neither original nor random. If I just wing it again, it may be too random and I risk it not turning out they way they expect it to. I decided to draw out a grid with different size pieces on it to use as a general guide line. This helped assure that I would use a variety of sizes. I used the same colors as in the original piece. This time, however, not all the glass came from my leftover bin. So while it may not have been completely random, I did keep the placement random and did not refer to the original plate. The result was great. Both plates have a similar look and feel as the original, and yet each one is unique.

I know I’ll be making more variations of this design in the future.

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I couldn’t identify what the spots were. They looked like tiny water spots. After unsuccessfully cleaning the plate several times with various cleaners I tried a cleaner I had for Corning Ware. Corning Ware is glass right? So why wouldn’t it work on this? I tried it only to find that it made the glass dull. Ugh! Now I was thinking about sandblasting and refiring the piece. This is not a problem when the piece is still flat, but once it is slumped in a mold, it’s a bit trickier. Fire too hot and the piece could lose its shape. Fire too low and the top might not get glossy.

But a moment of brilliance prevailed! I had some cerium oxide on hand. Cerium oxide is a very fine abrasive powder used to do a final polish on glass. It is mixed with water and usually applied with felt disks on flat grinders. I don’t have this kind of equipment (yet), but I do have a Dremel tool. I used some on a felt polishing tip and it worked like a charm. Now it’s perfect!

This piece is designated to be a raffle item for an upcoming event benefiting Comfy for Chemo. I’ll be posting more on this in the near future.

Let me just say that I am a sucker for books. I love books. All kinds of books: cook books, travel books, craft books, art books, and computer books. I could spend hours in a book store. So it came as no surprise that I ended up buying two books; neither of which was the book I originally intended to buy.

One of the books I purchased was Joy of Fusing written by Randy & Carole Wardell. This is an excellent book for the beginning glass fuser. The first 30 pages cover all the basics in a clear concise way. The rest of the book has 27 projects that incorporate various techniques.

For the beginning glass fuser, one of the most valuable parts of this book is the section that explains how to make sample tiles complete with six firing schedules from an elevated tack to a deep fuse. Even though I have been fusing for almost 3 years and know my kiln fairly well, I plan on making a set of these sample tiles. Not only will they help me with design considerations, but they will be a great visual tool when I teach classes. Speaking of visual… one of the best parts about this book is the abundance of photographs with step by step instructions for every project.

I highly recommend this book. To see sample pages visit the website: http://www.wardellpublications.com/bookdetailpgs/JOF.html

I seem to have a fascination with those zippered plastic bags that bedding comes in. I collect them thinking they ought to be good for something. It seems like such a waste to throw them out. After all, they have a nice zipper on them and a handle too! I got rid of all but one which is holding extra pillows. And I wonder where my son gets it from… he can’t bear to throw out boxes.

But the hardest thing to let go this year is my 1976 prom dress. My prom date was a handsome young man that four years later became my husband.  The dress was one-of-a-kind made by my mom. She did a great job! There is a definitely a lot of sentimental value in that dress. Oh oh! I had better stop now because I am feeling the urge to put it back in the closet!

Oh and check out those platform shoes my hubby is wearing! I am pretty sure that was my doing.

I do most of my Christmas shopping online these days, but when it comes to clothes, I do like to see it, touch it, and feel it before I buy it. So, earlier this week I got in the car, turned on the Christmas tunes, and ventured out to the mall. Let me just say that shopping with the masses can really test one’s holiday spirit.

Coupon in hand, I stopped at Macy’s. Either the economy is rebounding or there are a lot of people going deep into debt! Macy’s was packed with shoppers and a bit overwhelming. The checkout lines were 4 and 5 people deep. I found one item I was looking for, but my coupon required me to spend a certain amount. (Pretty smart those marketers.) I spent the next half hour searching for something else to purchase. When I finally had my two items I was lucky enough to find a checkout with only two people on line.

As I stood on line, I heard the first woman standing at the counter grumble, “What, I can’t use this coupon! Well never mind!” I’m guessing she was in her 70’s. She stomped off leaving behind all of her items. Her husband who had been sitting on a display cube waiting for her followed dutifully behind her knowing that now was not the time to ask what happened. The next woman on line didn’t have much luck either. She was younger and way more vocal. “Really! Are you kidding me! You are telling me I have to come back tomorrow to use this coupon! I hate Macy’s!”

Then it was my turn. I was already preparing for the worst reminding myself… It’s the most wonderful time of the year… Sure enough my coupon didn’t work either. It was only good on sale items and one of mine was not on sale. Smile I told myself… good cheer to men… peace on earth… “Okay, I’ll just take the one item then.” I said smiling kindly at the cashier. I made the mistake of paying with cash. For some reason the cash drawer would not open. Several attempts later and finally with some help from an assistant, the appropriate buttons were pushed and I got my change. And still I am talking to myself… Tis’ the season to be jolly… Unfortunately the machine that removes the security tag wasn’t working either. So I found myself strolling to another checkout with the cashier. Tag removed, I could now say… I’ll be home for Christmas…

I was quite proud that I managed to keep smiling. Truth be told, I am not the most patient person in the world. I don’t even think it looked like one of those fake plastered on smiles. You know the one I’m talking about. I’m smiling but really I’m going to explode any minute.

Next year no one gets clothes!

Why is it that something I’ve done many times before all of a sudden doesn’t work. The last two vases I made were disasters. The first one I knew I over cooked because I missed when the kiln reached the process temperature.  This last one, I thought I watched closely and stopped in time. But apparently not. One of the corners folded over the edge of the stainless steel form. The only way to get out the form was to break the vase. Let’s hope the third time’s a charm…

Today I am sharing a failure. Let me just say that it is so much more fun to share successes! But I do  learn a lot from the failures. And since I promised to share the journey, this is part of it.

A few months ago I made custom handkerchief vase for someone. She loved it. Unfortunately the cat jumped up on the table where the vase was sitting and knocked it over. So she asked me to make another one for her.

I will start by saying that whenever I put the glass for a handkerchief vase in the kiln, I always set the temperature alarm to go off when the kiln reaches the process temperature. The process temperature is when the glass takes its shape. I program the kiln to hold at the process temperature for 10 minutes. But in reality, when the kiln reaches the temperature I watch it very closely. The trick is to stop the heating when the glass has taken on the shape you want. Sometimes it takes just 2 or 3 minutes. Other times it has taken 15 or 20. It all depends on the type of glass, and how thick it is.

I put the glass for the replacement vase in the kiln. I set the alarm and went about doing some other things. Several hours later I began to wonder why I hadn’t heard the alarm yet. I went to check on the kiln and discovered that I had set the alarm for a higher temperature than the process temperature. The alarm never went off. I had a dyslexic moment when I punched in the numbers. This meant that I had totally missed the process temperature! The kiln was already in the cool down phase of the process. The glass was at the process temperature for 10 minutes and I had no ideas what it would look like.

When the kiln finally reached room temperature and I could open the kiln, I was not happy!  Ten minutes was way too long. The glass had draped too tightly against the form. As I removed the form a piece broke off.  Not only was the shape not what I wanted, but the color had changed as well. Some glass changes color when heated. This is referred to as “striking” and the results vary by temperature and how long the glass is heatworked. The glass that I put into the kiln was a dark burnt orange color that was transparent. What came out was a brighter, lighter orange that was opaque!

So the lesson was a very basic one. Check the numbers very carefully!

As I was looking through my large sheets of glass, the piece of glass in this picture came falling out crashing on the floor just inches from my toes. Fortunately, I always stand to the side of the glass while I am looking through it, and I always wear closed toe shoes. Sometimes sheets of glass can have a small crack that isn’t noticeable. It’s not until you try to move it or there is some pressure on it that splits it right off. As a child in my father’s shop I remember passing the glass rack once just as a piece came falling out. My first reaction was actually to catch what was falling. My mother’s scream, however, made me jump out of the way. Thanks mom!

Always handle with care and respect!

This fused glass bowl is one of those pieces that evolved into the finished design. The original design was from the Bullseye Glass website Tint Tone Plate. This is a great website for technical information on glass fusing and design ideas. I used strips of glass in a bronze cathedral, opal ivory, and clear. Mine was going to be a rectangle measuring 12.5 inches x 7.5 inches. During the first full fuse firing a “mump” developed. A “mump” is where air is trapped between two layers of glass and can’t escape.

Plan B

I used my tile saw to cut the piece in two where the mump was. Then it went back into the kiln to fire polish the cut edge. Next I slumped the rectangle into a stainless steel mold. I am sure I mentioned in another post what a pain it is to kiln wash stainless molds. When I took the piece out of the mold, the kiln wash left a lot of texture on the back of the piece. I probably needed a few more coats of kiln wash. Sometimes texture is good. In this case I wasn’t happy with the way this looked.

Plan C

I sand blasted the bottom of the plate. I liked the look of that, and then decided I also wanted to sand blast some of the top for added interest. I masked off a few stripes and went to the sand blaster. I liked it; the texture added interest, but somehow it didn’t feel right. There was too much contrast.

Plan D

I sanded the mold to remove all of the kiln wash and then use a boron nitrate spray as a release agent. I put the dish back into the mold and did another slump fire schedule in the kiln. This softened the sand blasted areas leaving a very subtle texture.

Finally! I am happy with the end result. Here are some pictures.

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