Fused Glass Day Of The Dead Wall Art - "Catrina"
Presented here is a fused glass composition celebrating Dia de los Muertas (Day of the Dead)! This original, one-of-a-kind composition is done completely in glass (save for tiny bits of metal accents). Dia de los Muertas is a lively and fun celebration meant to entertain spirits who have passed. Hallmarks of this ancient tradition are bright colors and animated beings. The fashionable gal featured here was created using fused glass elements. Most of the elements were fired together at one time; some of the flowers were glued on after the glass was mounted to the base glass, as I wanted to create dimension in the hat…. a "flower garden" of wearable art! Not easily seen in the photos is the indigo blue "waterglass" background. This piece would be featured best if it were mounted in front of a light source… though it looks great flat on a wall as well (the background simply appears black). I finish all of the frames for my creations myself; once the glass has been fired, I use a number of different finishes, depending on the overall "feel" of the piece. This piece has a textured paint finish, which provides a muted contrast to the bold, slick surface of the glass. This piece has been sold.
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The mainstay of my shop is fused glass creations…. this can be a stand alone piece of glass, a mixed media composition (sculptural or wall-hung), or a functional piece of work (light fixtures, plates/trays/bowls,inserts for doors or cabinets, etc).
I most enjoy making custom pieces for folks… Because I am intuitive, after a short conversation I am able to "get that person" and design a piece that is "theirs".
While many glass artists began with stained glass and later transitioned to fused work, I have 20 years experience working in fused glass. I prefer fused glass for the following reasons:
- it is STRONGER than stained glass. Art glass is 1/8" thick; a stained glass pieces consists of a lot of 1/8" pieces of glass soldered together… which means that it is thin and with all of those joints, it has the potential to come apart.
Fused glass, on the other hand, is a SINGLE piece of glass; while an individual composition is comprised of as many (or more) pieces than a stained glass piece, everything is assembled in the kiln and fired into a single, final piece. Additionally, fused glass can be made as thick as you want…so, depending on the application, multiple layers of glass can be fused together (think "glass sink"). Really thick pieces are more expensive to produce because the firing process (bringing the heat up, ramping it down, and annealing) takes far longer - it is not uncommon for a firing process to take 20+ hours with a thick/large piece of glass.
Stained glass pieces have distracting solder lines which can detract from the overall design composition - fused glass has none of these distractions!
With fused glass, you have a larger "palette" to work from. You can "make your own glass" by pre-firing different glass together (to make polka dot glass, for example) and then cut it up for your design.. glass can be fired over and over in most instances.
All of my designs are from my own original drawings; if you have something specific in mind, I would be happy to work with you to create a working drawing for a project.
Technical excellence is evident throughout my pieces; I am a perfectionist when it comes to my work, and am willing to do "whatever it takes" to have a design materialize into the physical.
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