Exhibition Opening Heart of Swansea

Friday the 12th February saw the opening of 'The Heart of Swansea' one of an number of exhibitions that is being held through this coming year to celebrate 75 years of the Architectural Stained Glass Department at Swansea Metropolitan University.
These pictures show a exhibition of water-jet cut hearts that have been decorated by sandblasting by school children, students, lecturers and alumni of the glass department.

Collagraphs

I have been working on a couple of new collagraphs at Seacourt over the last few weeks. I have been working on a two plate collagraph using two colours of ink which when laid on top of each other gives a third colour mix. I have been using a similar image to the thistle I did but using a second plate with a lot of texture on it. This together with using yellow ink gives the effect of gorse. The yellow plate is placed on the press first and rolled through and then the second plate which is blue is placed on top of the first print and rolled through. I have then taken what is known as a shadow print (second plate plus any ink that has transfered onto the plate from the first plate) This gives a much softer print which I really like. Will add an image of the shadow print when I have one.

Submitted Art Work

Art work has been delivered to Jan at Space craft in Belfast on monday, I just need to sit back and wait to see if it gets through the judging panel. I should know by monday 15th February.

Creative Legacies

Had a letter from Creative Legacies to tell me that my application had been successful and although it doesn't guarantee me work, I have been but on there list and if any public art projects arise for glass they will contact me. It's good to know they have seen my work and value what they have seen.

Final Finished Pieces for 'Inspired By'

After days of snow or rain I finally had a dry day suitable for cutting my slate. I didn't want to do it indoors as it always makes such a mess and I usually get soaked in the process with the tile saw.
This was the last component I needed to prepare to put my art pieces together, having spent a few days painting my MDF board white and rubbing it down in between layers.
Drilling the holes in the glass proved to be tricky and nerve racking as one of my drill bits wore out after making my first hole. But managed to find a drill bit that I used to drill some holes in some porcelain tiles last year and that saved the day.
So all I needed to do was assemble everything together and that wouldn't take long. Wrong! Every screwdriver or drill piece didn't fit the dimension of the fixings and after a hour search for one that I knew would fit I decided it would be quicker to buy another one than search anymore. But finally all now put together eventually and ready for submission on monday. Just the paperwork to finish! Keeping my fingers crossed that it is excepted.

Finished Stained Glass Mirror

Kiln Fairies are Good Fairies Today

I pre-fired the mould overnight and wash the 10 mm float glass and placed it in the mould. I wanted to be in my studio when the glass reached its top firing temperature so I could open the kiln and flash vent it to reduce the risk of devitrification, which can occur if the glass is held at a high temperature for too long.
So I set the firing cycle and put on a delay so that I would be back from my print class in Bangor. All worked to plan but as I was going to vent the kiln I realised I had forgot to level the mould. Lucky all worked out well and the kiln fairies worked with me.
I just need to drill it and and display it ready for the exhibition. Have fired a second one just incase anything goes wrong. I will put a final image on when it is ready.