Stained glass workshop

I have had a busy week!

Over the weekend I was a very excited student at .Emma Butler-Cole Aikens stained glass taster workshop in the Scottish Borders.

It was held at the beautiful Abbotsford House.

Abbotsford House

It was a bit of a grey day, however the excitement of trying out something which I had never tried before brightened everything!

I LOVE stained glass so much... yet I have never tried making it.

I thought it would be ridiculously difficult. Emma the talented tutor made it suddenly accessible!

Emma makes some beautiful pieces including church windows, if you have time check out her website Here 

Well... this is how we started, although I got so absorbed in making the glass panel I forgot to take photos of the leading and soldering process.

my panel after cutting, leading and soldering joints.

Then it was time to decide on a glass design inspired by the house and its contents. Abbotsford House has some stunning stained glass. I particularly like the glass in the entrance hall. It has beautiful mermaids painted on it.

But instead of the mermaids I decided to use the drawing room wallpaper as my inspiration. We didn't have long to draw out the design as this really was just a beginners workshop so I simplified the design so I could do something achievable in the time.

Then we used posca pens to outline our designs

Finally filling in the design with glass paints.

Everyone produced something special!

I was very pleased with my first stained glass attempt... I just love trying new workshops, I have no idea if I will be able to use some of the process in what I do but I am certainly impressed by the possibilities.

Then to finish off a lovely break I had a beautiful day out at Bowhill House, again in the Scottish Borders. The house is not open to the public on a regular basis but the extensive gardens and country trails are. 

Bowhill house from across the lake

Bowhill Rhododendrons

me beside Bowhill lake

My first attempts at glass fusion!

I recently tried something NEW!!!
A glass fusion workshop!! I love glass and it is no coincidence that when using paper many people comment that my work has a stained glass look...
It is of course impossible to work transparently with paper and the idea of glass fusion has been whirling around my head for some time.
The workshop was hosted by Glass-maker Lynda Drummond and was such fun!!1

test pieces out of the microwave kiln

We started the process making a test piece nugget in a microwave kiln!! I thought Microwaves were just for reheating cold cups of tea!!!

Then we moved on to a small wall plaque
This was what I really wanted to try out to see if I could make a mini landscape.

Beginning to cut the glass

We used a type of glass called bullseye glass, the most difficult part was cutting the pieces small enough!

placing the pieces

We also made several other small test pieces.

And below is my little collection after firing!

For a first attempt I am rather happy with my collection . :)
Of course glass always looks better through a sunshiney window.
So .........

Off to search Ebay for a kiln!!! :)