Skylight Repair

Below is a picture of a skylight which I repaired yesterday. It is approximately eight and a half feet square. Fortunately, although the replacement glass was slightly lighter than the original, it does not show in the photograph. You also have to look very carefully to see the relplacement and even when you know where it is, it is not immediately apparent. If you want to try to find it it is in the bottom left quadrant among the truquoise blue band.

The access was through a narrow hatch into the loft and then through an equally narrow hatch on to the roof slates. Immediately around the skylight is a flat area, so the two of us required t get the materials and tools up were not in danger of sliding off.

Christmas Shows Time Again!

Halloween and Guy Faulk's Night are over, so it must be Christmas show time! Everybody is doing some shows, fairs, or sales. Everybody is determined to get in on this gift-fest. And I am no different.

The collaborative group in our building called, Parade Artists, is holding Shows over two weekends. They are 29 & 30 November and 6 & 7 December in the WASPS Hanson Street studio building. If you are in the area, it would be good to see you.

I will be selling glass of course, and the 2009 craftscotland calendar.

In some ways, the best part of these weekends are the studio parties after the close of the last day. The relief and a few drinks help you get to know your fellow artists much better.

Little gifts

It is rare that I am asked to design and make something where I do not also have the responsibility for installation. It is even rarer when I have not seen the location nor the final installation. I always wonder about how they look in their final location.

In this case of seeing neither the location nor the completed installation the client sent me a photograph of the completed work today.

This is a door to a bathroom on the half landing. The criteria were to obscure the view into the bathroom, to provide colour to the landing, and to reflect the idea of water. This gives some idea of the result. Of course, the photograph was taken with light in front, so the interplay of the layered colours does not show as it might. Nor can the photograph show the tactile properties of the panels. The panels were fused twice - once with a flat fuse and some of the colour, and a second rounded fuse to give a little sense of apparent depth.

In spite of the limitations of the photograph, I am grateful to him for sending it.

Absence and Return

I haven't been very consistent in posting about my activities. Apologies.

I have had several weeks of doing no glass at all! The first of these weeks I spent on a life drawing course with 7 other people. Five days for only £100. This included meals and all the paper you could use. Oh yes. And a model and an instructor. Although I was only able to do the first 4 days, it was a great experience. I normally think I can do only two hours at a time before my concentration falls. Well with an instructor, I find I can concentrate longer. It was a great group of people from all kinds of backgrounds and experience.

The last day I had to go to chair the craftscotland Board meeting. We have appointed a new chief executive, and I didn't think I could leave her to cope on her own, nor my vice-chairman. One good outcome of the post meeting discussion was that I think we have convinced the vice-chairman to take on the post of chairman soon.

Then off to London for a week to see my daughter and go to some exhibitions. I got to see the Royal Academy show that included a number of my favourite artists - Braque, Calder, Miro, and Giocometti. It was a great show with lots of big stuff. There also were a number of charming small studies in pencil, charcoal and some pastels that showed the working up of ideas to the final pieces.

I also got in the last week of the BSMGP 40cm2 (Forty centimeters squared) show at the Cochrane Theatre. This required each of the selected artists to use a square format of 40cm. This provided a variegated wall of glass against the windows of the Cochrane Theatre bar area. I was there on a bright day which allowed lots of light through all the windows. A feature of the street scape outside the Theatre is a number of relatively young trees, giving a dappled light for the panels. Lots of variety, but not many surprises. But there was enough to occupy me for a couple of hours.

I went to the Sir John Soan Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields. This is a great museum for those interested in architectural details. The attraction was the invitation to find the pieces of glass, ceramics and a few other materials that were created by students in response to the space. Well some of them were so well hidden that even with a crib sheet they were not easy to find. My favourite though was a "poured" piece of glass falling from a tap in the dressing room.

Good dinners, good conversations, and nice wines.

Then I came back to reality - work.

As you know, I have had difficulty with my large kiln over the past few months. I am now getting more confident about the results that I can get from it. The three pieces below are a screen between a bedroom and the stair up to the loft. It is more about decoration that privacy it seems to me.

The three pieces as shown are for a space 990mm by 860mm

The actual colour is somewhere between these two photographs. The upper one is as it was taken by the camera (me). the lower one is as colour corrected by Adobe. The colours are warmer than the bottom one, but not so yellow as the top. I suspect that I should take an evening class in photography.