This course is aimed at everyone, with or
without glass work experience. There
will not be any cutting of glass as you will be provided with the basic shapes. The pieces you make will be suitable for
displaying in your home or in the garden.
Clothing and Tools etc:
You do not need to bring any tools, all are
provided. An apron is a good idea but
not essential as it's not a messy process.It is suggested you do not wear flappy sleeved clothing - working with
frit is a bit like working with demerara sugar or coarse sand and it would be
deeply frustrating to drag a sleeve across you carefully made creation.
When cutting glass it is an
occupational hazard that I cut myself regularly. As you are not cutting glass this is very
unlikely to happen. However, Frit is
tiny chunks of glass and does have sharp sides so there is the smallest chance
to pierce your hands or fingers on it if you don't follow my instructions on
careful handling.
You really do need a steady hand -
anyone with any form of tremor will struggle to get a good result with frit.
Monday:
Introduction to your tutor and an overview of
what we plan to achieve in the week
A short tutorial on the techniques you will
need to use to achieve a good result applying frit to plain glass, including
demonstrations
Start, and hopefully complete your first frit
project
Tuesday:
Work with frit to create a further 1 or 2
projects.
Wednesday:
See your Monday creations for the first time,
fresh from the kiln (It takes about 24 hours to fire glass so would not be
ready for Tuesday). Pieces often come
out of the kiln with some small bumps and sometimes sharp burs on the edge. You will need to rub them down with specialist
diamond pads to finish them, ready for wiring.
Complete your third project.
Thursday:
Receive back your Tuesday creations and
finish them ready for wiring.
Short tutorial on the use of wire and a
chance to play with it, to see what it does and how it handles. Follow a step
by step guide to creating feet, wings or fins to add to your glass sculptures
and bring them to life. We will all be
working on the same projects together.
Friday:
Receive back your Wednesday creations and finish them
ready for wiring.
Complete all wiring and finish your art pieces ready for
displaying.