I Get So Easily Excited!

I have been excited all evening. I finished a vase that I love and I had to teach two online classes tonight. I had to wait until I was done with those and my office hours before I could put pictures up.

This started out life as a bunch of scrap glass. I take a terra cotta flower pot and widen the hole in the bottom. Pile in the scrap glass and prop it up on stilts in the kiln. When the temperature reaches the point were the glass turns to a liquid, it flows through the hole and puddles up on the kiln tile.

This particular pot melt was different blues, some white, and some clear. The next step is to put it on a drop ring mold propped up on stilts and let it sag through the mold until the vase forms. This one turned out fabulously. I am extremely pleased with the flow of the glass through the vase.

Beautiful! Even if I do say so myself. :)

Busy, busy, busy...

Well as my title to this post implied...I have been very busy. I am currently in crunch mode finishing up building my online classes for the fall term at college. I am also trying to fire the kilns as much as I can to build up inventory for all of the fall shows I have coming up.

The first of which is coming up very quickly. October 7th, 8th and 9th I will be at the Appalachian Mountains Artisans Fest at Hilltop Designs. For those of you that are local you probably know where the festival is at, but for those of you who are not, it is right outside of Winchester, Ohio. It is a nice festival with many vendors, and all types of crafts. This is my first outside show, so I am a little nervous about an outside show and the weather. I just bought my canopy for the show last weekend, and I just broke it to my husband that he has to help me make weights for the canopy (I can't wait to see how this goes).

This is the first of 3 to 4 shows I will be doing between now and Christmas. I am really worried about having enough inventory, especially with school starting soon and the amount of time I can work in my studio going down. If you have some time, give Jo and her Festival Facebook page a little love. I know she will appreciate it.

Hello to Me! LOL.

I have tried this before without much success. Life always seems to get in the way. But, I've made myself a promise. I love making fused glass jewelry and art and I want to make a success of my business. I also want to have a kind of journal of why I do what I do. So, with that said, I made myself a promise that I am going to be diligent about blogging this time.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Kristi Hall and I own Big Grass Farm Designs (more about the name another time). I have made jewelry for years. I also teach computer science at the local community college. That gave me the opportunity to take a fused glass course several years ago. When I took that course, and opened up that kiln the first time...well, I was hooked. Every time I open the lid of a kiln after a firing it is like Christmas morning to me. You could cut the same glass, the same way...put it together the same way...make minor changes in the way you fire it and it will come out different every time. Now that is exciting!

To me, it is fascinating. As I said before, I teach computer science. Much of what I do is very logical, and very structured. So, to watch glass melt, and flow, and to see what I can create from it gives me a sort of artistic release. I guess it feeds the other side of my brain.

As I said before, there is much more to come. I am currently working on building my inventory for several shows that I will be doing before Christmas (more to come about those later, too.). I also plan on working towards getting my Web site up and my online store up. I hope that you bear with me, and I also hope that you follow me on my journey...wherever it may lead.