I really love taking classes to learn new skills. I've just finished a French course, pottery course and done a one-off furniture painting workshop. I like finding new things to learn and trying my hand (sometimes more successfully than others) at new crafts. Last year I did a glass coaster workshop with some friends at Inlight Contemporary Glass Fusion in Hove. We got a good deal from a Groupon voucher, although we didn't end up doing a different workshop with her afterwards, because she wouldn't let us use another Groupon voucher - as we had already attended one of her taster sessions. That was a bit annoying. Anyway, I digress, and would still recommend the coaster session because it was a lot of fun.
I had some big ideas before the class as to what I would like to make. I knew we could make two coasters and one of them would obviously be a tortoise. That might not be all that obvious unless you follow me on Twitter. I bloomin' love tortoises. For the other one I thought I might make a Jaws coaster for my friend Charlie. I done sketches and everything...
Sketching skillz - dream big people
1) Cut pieces of different coloured glass into shapes. This involves scoring them and snapping them like they were pieces of chocolate, which is incredibly satisfying. Then, using a really thin watery glue (which doesn't even seem sticky, but does the trick in the kiln), position the pieces on top of one of the coaster. The other coaster just sits underneath. Imagine that the sheets of coaster glass are the toast and the coloured glass bits are the beans - does that make more sense? Mmmmm. Beans on toast.
2) Use confetti glass. This is so thin that you can just snap it with your fingers without any scoring. It reminded me of thin pieces of icing. With this technique you build up a picture by positioning the confetti glass on top of the bottom coaster and then placing the other coaster on top. Imagine the coasters are the toast and the confetti glass is the cheese, like a delicious cheese toastie. Mmmmm. Cheese toastie.
I knew that the tortoise was the top priority for me, so I went to work on cutting out the pieces for the shell and the body parts. The teacher was a little concerned that I was biting off more than I could chew, but I was bloomin' determined (and stubborn - I am quite stubborn). The tortoise took quite some time to construct - well over half of the lesson time was spent on this little beauty - but it was time well spent.
See the two pieces of coaster glass I was rambling on about - one is sitting underneath it all
I used this glass filing wheel to curve the sharp edges of the limbs and head, and to make the shell pieces straighter. It looked a bit terrifying and I had to wear goggles over my glasses, but it actually felt really soft, like a buffer.
The teacher kept referring to him as a turtle, but I ended up letting this slide because she was French and both turtles and tortoises are called 'tortue' in French. See, those French classes were money well spent eh?
Look at him, looking all beautiful
The teacher cut for me those tiny black pieces of glass for his eyes, so I forgave her for all references to turtles.
By the time I'd finished with my tortoise I only had about half an hour left for my second coaster, so it was a complete rush job. No way was I going to have time to do the Jaws scene I'd intended (also they didn't have any grey glass). My mum is a big fan of poppies and I could think of a quick poppy image to create using the confetti glass, so I decided to crack on with that instead.
The confetti glass was both easier and harder to use. Easier because you just snapped it and threw it onto the glued coaster, harder because it sticks to your fingers, doesn't land where you want it to, and the tweezers suddenly move all the other carefully aligned pieces by mistake.
Poppalicious
For the stems I used copper wire, which makes bubbles in the final finished piece, by trapping air between the sheets of coaster. The grass was a really pretty glittery green confetti. The flowers themselves are partly designed to look abstract and partly 'oh-God-there's-only-ten-minutes-left-and-I-am-never-going-to-finish-this-in-time,-chuck-it-on,-chuck-it-all-on'.
My panic crafting - right up to the wire - paid off though, and I left feeling very happy with my lovely two creations.
They were then to be fired in the kiln by the teacher and collected in a couple of weeks. On the day I collected them I was going straight off to a beer and cider festival, so part of the reason I'm so proud of them is that I managed to get them home unsmashed after a lot of cider.
And here's the final result!
I love them!
My Mum was dead chuffed with her poppies coaster, which came out way better than expected for such a rush job, and I adore my tortue coaster, which sits on my bedside cabinet, pride of place.
That wasn't that quick of a quickie post was it? Once I get rambling I really do ramble.
See you next month, take care.
xx
