Dipping my toes in to glass fusing ...

I have an enquiring mind & a creative streak. I don't mind 'having a go' at new things.

My friend Ellie saw a 'glass fusing workshop' at a nearby National Trust property & she said we should dip our toes in to the taster session in the morning. 

It is another completely new thing for both of us as neither of us had done any glass fusing before. 

We did a glass painting workshop together earlier this year but this is completely new to both of us. However,  we booked glass fusing & were ready to go.

Our little group of about 12 of us were prepped in an upstairs room at Wightwick manor & we were keen to have a first glance at what awaited us.

Hot drinks & biscuits are always welcome so we looked over the wares of the tutor Suzie & settled at the table. 

Being a short workshop of just an hour, Suzie ran through the basics really quickly before we were free to explore the wide range of glass materials on the table. 

The various glass elements were laid out on the table & we got to work selecting & placing our bits. 

Time was of the essence so it was important to go with what you thought without too much fussing about it. 

I opted to work horizontally on my glass strip, Ellie decided to do vertical (a popular choice at the table)

Soon we were passing, sharing, chatting amongst ourselves as we arranged the various glass elements that fire differently - some spread, some stay a blob, the fish food like ones just melt etc.

I did a small floral scene, knowing that this is just a test with very new materials & I used various glass elements because I will be interested to see how the final fired product looks. 

We took photos so we can compare the before & after to see how the glass behaved when fired ... 

Suzie had a table of some of her wares & I purchased those two cute glass Christmas trees at the back.

Then it was on to a quick glass pendant using any glass shape from the selection on the table. Being so small, it was a decisive time to arrange elements that went together. 

It was over too soon & we wrote our names & indicated a direction next to each item for when the hanging loops are put on. 

We  moved around, admiring each others work. 12 of us had access to exactly the same materials & all of them were very different. I love creativity & how we all do our own thing.

We have a 2 week wait while they are taken away for firing, before picking them up & seeing if they resemble what we hoped for. 

I will update this post ... 

I hope you are inspired to try random things too, life long learning is recommended. 

Dee 🖼️🖌️🎨