February 22, 2020
It has been quiet here on the blog, but I have been busy behind the scenes. Here is a quick roundup of what I have been up to over the last few weeks.
New glass
I traveled to the glass mothership, Bullseye glass in Portland, Oregon, for their big winter sale. This was something to behold. I got there right as the doors opened on the first day and it was packed. Everyone working there and attending(!) were friendly and helpful. My husband (Brent) came with me and I was super glad to have his help because glass is heavy. And I … made good use of the sale. ?
I picked up lots of glass in the colors below – green, orange, and red.
(Note: the preview from Instagram may not be visible on this page if you are using the Firefox browser)
New kiln
This was a surprise / not a surprise. I found it on Craigslist several weeks ago. Thought about it. Ruled against it. Thought some more. My husband said ‘do it’ so I decided to ‘just have a look’ at the kiln, as it was still available.
It came home with us. It is huge. Larger than if I was formally kiln shopping, but it was available, the price was right, and I am super excited. I can use my current kiln for smaller batches, part sheets (design components) and use this one to minimize the number of firings/hours my little kiln runs.

It came with a metal stand. This was fine with me. Brent said he could build a better one. With caster wheels. So off he went to his shop…

Now here is (yet another) way we are different. If I could weld, it would be a crude rectanglish thing. He had to put in all of the angles to fit it exactly. No stubbing my leg on this one! I am excited to get this thing up and running.

New classes
Back in October 2019, I attended the Refract glass expo in Seattle and had a blast. So fun! And I met so many interesting glass people. On the last day, I went over to Bainbridge Island to check out the BARN — Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network glass studio and glass exhibit.
They were so welcoming and I had a great time. We got to talking, and… long story short, they invited me to teach lampworking there this spring. I am so excited!
I am teaching two classes: beginning beadmaking and lampworking for fusers. If you are in the area, please join us.