Me
After retirement I decided to embark on a new hobby and initially started attending classes teaching stained, leaded and fused glass techniques. Towards the end of 2019 I made the decision to work from home producing glass to sell at local craft fairs.
I'm fortunate to live on the beautiful West Coast of Scotland and take most of my inspiration from the scenery, flora and fauna found in the area. As a result much of my work focuses on nature. I love to make my work look realistic, especially the floral pieces. This can be time consuming because it involves lots of intricate detail but I find it very satisfying.
The Glass
Glass is a great medium to work with. It is very tactile and I love the way it reflects light. I always look forward to lifting the kiln lid when a firing is complete.
I mainly work with Bullseye fusing glass which is available in several formats such as sheet, crushed and powdered glass. I cut and grind the glass into the shapes I require before fusing. Each piece is fused at least twice in the kiln, often five or six times. Each firing takes at least twelve hours and I carefully control the kiln temperature to ensure the glass is in the correct format. Each piece can then be enhanced with the addition of paints, enamels and colourful mica powders which are added between glass layers or on top before final fusing.