Welcome to Oso Remote Studios

Martha Youdin - Designs in Glass

You sandwich odds and bods between two layers of glass, mindful of both additive and subtractive theories of color, and use the kiln to fuse it all with a minimum of unintended bubbles.

This series (3 so far) was received well in a crafts fair environment. Folks couldn't help but put hands on to achieve a more perfect alignment. Yet somehow each left that same task to the next visitor. How Zen.

This time, a square a circle and a sphere. Inclusions can be things like bits of foil and wire, fusable decals, glass stringers and frit and so on.

You may recall a third piece of the set which was featured in an earlier post.

A set of 4 translucent fused tiles. 

Opaque tiles are also possible.

We have an idiomatic expression for the ones that go off for sale though we'd rather they hung at home.

"$300.00."

(Someone paid way less than $300.)

These hangings were among her best sellers, along with things like necklace/earring sets and ornaments.

Stained Glass

The stained glass of your memories of English cathedrals and so on is colored (coloured?) textured glass divided up by lead came.

A more modern technique utilizes adhesive backed copper foil. If you've ever soldered a flexible braided wire, you would know how hard and stiff it becomes. Same thing here. You wrap each piece, flux the exposed surfaces and then run the heated solder all over, thus forming the same kind of channel system. 

This hangs in the living room.

$300.00.

This piece combines the warm glass techniques of the kiln with the stained glass techniques just described.

All these pics have linked back to Martha's flickr storage page, from where she collates images for brochures, entries, etc. One may use the actions menu to "view all sizes" which helps get you the largest available.

From the standpoint of being her photographer, I can relate to you how hard it is to capture such shiny and reflective surfaces. You should forgive me for selecting the least problematic for this post, but you are invited to peruse the entirety by clicking through.

A Taste of the Process

And the number one reason the cats have never set one paw inside the studio is...

I asked Martha to give me a heads up when she was going to start a new project involving slumping, fusing and some nice visuals. These images link to my page because of the larger storage available there.

Requiring less heat than fusing, slumping is the process which heats glass just enough to relax and re-fix it in the shape of whatever is underneath. Where these pieces wind up is still a work in progress, but what you'll be seeing is the weaving of glass strips which involves both those techniques.

First, strips are laid across ceramic forms which are treated to resist sticking to the glass. This image is a composite of the small kiln's base unit, side unit, and top

 

To borrow from weaving terms, this is the warp being slumped.

Notice the thin glass rods to be sandwiched with the weft pieces during the fuse.

 

 

The OS savvy reader is getting a jump on Martha's second career. You teachers will appreciate that she's only in her second year of retirement. I expect big things, but at the pace that keeps it satisfying to the artist. For now it's all "high clearance vehicle" and "by appointment."

I don't mind if you call it "art for art's sake."