Tag: glass artist

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What inspires my glass designs – travelling with my beloved camera (and Bob ❤️)

In normal times Bob and I spend a couple of months a year travelling round Europe in our motorhome, Tandy with scooter, Kisbee,  in the boot.

We also usually sneak in a winter week or two somewhere warm and exotic but have to fly there. We tell people we are doing it while we can, spending the kid’s inheritance and it’s what we do. 
I never go anywhere without my beloved Panasonic Lumix camera hanging round my neck … I wore the shutter out on my last one  ! Thank goodness for digital cameras.

I love to travel but I also love making my glass, addicted really, and as soon as we return from our travels I can’t wait to get my glass cutter out to make the new designs inspired by the wonderful sights we have seen.

I thought you might like to see some of the places we have been and the suncatcher designs they inspired.

Australia   To visit my daughter when she was in Melbourne for 2 years

Brittany France    Sunset Beach

California    Dream Catcher

Cornwall England    Cornish Cove

Cornish Cove

France    Beach Huts

Beach huts

INDIA  Udaipur Lake

India udaipur lake
Ireland  (Galway)    Shamrock Horseshoe

Ireland Horseshoe shamrock

Lyme Regis Jurassic Coast     Ammonite

Jurassic coast Ammonite

Lake District     Landscape

Lake district landscape

Motorhoming    Across Europe

Motorhoming across Europe

Green Northern Spain    Picos Mountains

Spain picos mountains

Scotland   Scottish Mountains

Scottish Mountains

Singapore   Orchid

Singapore orchids

South Africa – Addo Elephant Park   Elephant

South Africa

Goa   Tropical Beach

Goa Tropical Beach


Sri Lanka   Turtle

Sri Lanka
Switzerland   River

Switzerland Chur River
My Staffordshire Garden   Water Lily

My Garden Water Lily

Wales Near Harlech     Welsh Lanscape

Welsh Landscape

I hope you’ve enjoyed a tour round some of my favourite places.

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More Squashed Glass!

I’ve had another go at the squashed glass technique and this time I used opalescent glass which reflects light as opposed to transparent glass that transmits light.

I love the effect that has been produced where the various coloured pieces have met and merged. There has been some reaction where some different coloured pieces have overlapped and merged caused by the chemical make up of the glass colours I have used in this piece. Various colours have Lead, Copper or Sulphur in them and when they meet you can get some special effects ranging from subtle to dramatic. 

This piece has some subtle reactions where the sulphur bearing red has overlapped the copper bearing greens and blues.

In addition a particular colour called Steel Blue has a tendency to dramatically change to a matt steel colour on the surface exposed to the air in the heat of the kiln. This hasn’t happened to a great degree because it was covered by the kiln shelf except for some subtle areas on the edges of the Steel Blue bits in the piece.

I shall square off the edges and slump this in a gently curved mould to make a lovely platter to be listed in my shop.

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How to photograph fused glass?

Ever since I started selling online I have struggled with photographing my fused glass pieces to show them at their best. As you can imagine the main issue is light reflection on the glass. I have tried reflecting the lights off white card, black card and silver backed card. Pointing the lights at the backdrop, directly at the glass, and at the reflective card. All have produced mixed results and I seem to try a different set up every time I have a new piece to photograph.

My most recent set up is featured in the picture above and involved using two clamps to attach the light that is hanging down to a handy shelf above my ‘photo studio’ corner. I got a nice new camera for my recent birthday which has lots of handy features which have made a big difference and I shall probably be retaking pictures over the next few weeks.

Wish me luck!

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Hearts aren’t just for Valentines!

I have had a lovely time over the Christmas lock down period making fused glass hearts in a cast iron pan. Thanks to an excellent tutorial from glasshoppa.com me and my daughter whiled away the time, when we couldn’t see the rest of the family, coming up with various combinations of glass to pile up in the mold ready for a hot fuse.

Once out and cooled down they needed a bit of grinding and cleaning before going back in the kiln for a nice fire polish.

Now I’m waiting for some little box frames to be delivered so I can mount them and then put on sale in my shop. Should make a lovely little letter box gift to send to those we love.

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Squashed Glass?

So what is squashed glass? This is a fused glass/kiln forming technique that I’ve been having a go at. As described it is glass put in the kiln to fuse but you have to weigh it down with a second shelf to ‘squash’ it as it fuses.

Glass is viscous at high temperature and up to a certain heat it conforms to the glass fusers mantra “the 6 mm rule”. This basically means that however many layers of glass you put on top of each other the finished fused piece will always end up 6 mm thick, unless you dam it, but that’s another technique! 

Squashed glass is multiple layers of glass weighed down with another kiln shelf on top (and any other bits of kiln furniture you might have to hand) so that the pressure of all that weight will go down on the piece and the glass will flow and merge together. The finished glass piece is nice and level and will have a smooth texture from the kiln shelf.

After that you can cut up your sheet of squashed glass and cold work the edges to smooth them out and slump in a mould to get the shape you want for your finished pieces.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS with love from JOYsofGLASS XX

An Enormous Thank you to Dottie for setting up this wonderful Handmade British site for artisans and artists and craftsmen (should that be craftspeople ?  ?). 

Thank you also to all those who have visited my Joysofglass shop and stopped to browse and even to buy.  I do hope you have enjoyed what you have seen and look forward to seeing you again soon. 

The British Craft House has not been here long, less than 2 momths, but it’s been blooming fantastic so far.
Onwards and Upwards for 2020.

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Welcome!

I just thought whilst I was photographing, listing, measuring and generally sorting what planters and window boxes I have made it would be a nice idea to introduce myself properly. 

This is my world of Metal Garden Planters. 

Welcome, my name is Fiona, I have 2 children (12 and 9) 1 mini dachshund and an OAP Cat who thinks he is a teenager still. I live in the town of Grantham in Lincolnshire, famous for being voted the most boring town in the UK one year, being the birth place of myself, Margaret Thatcher, Doris Stokes and Sir Isaac Newton to name a few. 

The image is of me, no makeup, not having done my hair and dressed for the cold,  about to set off in my VW Flatbed, with some roofing sheets on the back. I sell a variety of Box Profile and Corrugated roofing sheets, and manufacture the flashings to finish the edges in house. It was from the waste I was generating in terms of making the flashings which lead me down the path of making metal boxes. 

I was on the hunt for an office bin one day, and the cost shocked me, let alone the fact they are all fairly boring looking so after some cutting, measuring, and general faffing with the Guilloline (not the kind the Frenchman used to lop off the heads of Aristocracy) but a blade which can cut thin metal sheeting safely, and my bending machine (its clamp with a lever that once lifted puts a fold in a metal sheet in its simplest form) A bright yellow tall, square bin was created, and 6+ years later it is still used daily. 

So thats how I started, if you have any specific questions for future blog posts I would be happy to answer them, in the meantime I will continue selecting troughs, and planters along with a special gardeners gift pack I am pulling together. 

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and a bit more about me, Joy of JOYSOFGLASS

I work in my studio (otherwise known as the big garage ?) in the garden of my house which is surrounded by green fields and single track, 60mph, country roads. 
I spend rather a lot of my time making stained glass suncatchers using the Tiffany Copper Foil technique and have an abundance of designs in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours which will, I hope, delight you.

I also make small fused glass pieces, all one-offs as my kiln is limited in size.

I will always try to keep my shop filled with an array of beautiful glass so that there is something for everybody and every taste.  

Please contact me if you have any queries, have an idea for something you would like but it isn’t showing as in stock or have seen something you like but would prefer it in a different colour.

My suncatchers come ready to hang with a silver chain securely attached and a strong suction hook in the packet with them.

All my suncatchers are constructed very carefully to be as strong as possible. They are made of glass and if you hit them or drop them onto a hard surface they are liable to crack so please do treat with care. They are finished with polish containing Carnauba Wax for protection and shine.

If they get a little dusty after hanging in the window for years and years  ?   then they are quite happy having a wash in warm soapy water and a gentle polish like any glass.

Like dogs my suncatchers are for life not just for Christmas.