Loving astronomy, and becoming a glassblower, it was only a matter of time before we would try re-creating the planets and Sun in blown glass. It is an interesting challenge to figure out the right mix of colors, the density of the colors and how big or small the chips of color (frit) need to be so that they will mix and swirl together and look like whichever planet's atmosphere.

Some planets are easier than others. Venus is pretty homogenous in color, as is Neptune. Yes, there are some mild variations, but no wild storms, no oceans and land masses and certainly no rings! OK, yes, Neptune and Uranus have some thin rings, but for the purpose of re-creating the planet in various sculptural form, their rings are usually, but not always, omitted.

But the rings of Saturn.... You just can't omit those, or it just isn't Saturn! But creating those rings when you're working in blown glass is a definite challenge. Since we want to make our Saturn sculptures more scientifically accurate, we couldn't go with just the basic gestalt of rings that comes from trying to do them from molten glass in a big blowy furnace. The way we decided would be best to showcase the planetary storms and the patterns of the rings was to do the planet itself as a blown glass piece, but to do the rings from sheet glass, using carving and etching to detail the pattern of the rings, shape and relative size.

First we decide how big we need to make the planet section of Saturn. Currently, I'm building three of these sculptures. The planet size needs to be just under 4.5". So we go out and blown the glass pieces, measuring when they're blowing larger and larger until we get the piece to be the 4.5" wide. Since Saturn itself is a bit oblate (squished), the glass piece we blow will be 4.5" wide, but a touch less tall, instead of perfectly spherical.

Here is a photo of one of the blown glass pieces that will become a Saturn sculpture:

Blown Glass Saturn without the rings

Then we work on the rings. First, we have to figure out how big to make the rings. We know from science that Saturn's rings are about 2 1/4 times the diameter of the planet, so if the planet is 4.5", then the rings will be 10" across! So we cut flat sheet glass in a 10 inch circle and then, using a ring saw (appropriate don't you think?), cut out the center 4.5" so that the blown planet that we made will juuuuust barely slide all the way into the hole.

Using a saw to Cut Saturn's Rings and center hole

We then use a vertical lathe and an etching tool, along with research data from the Cassini mission, to carve the ringplane as accurately as we can. We use the Cassini imagery so we know where to place the rings, the gaps, how far away from the planet to start the first ring, etc.

Saturn Rings with ring detail etched

When the rings have been etched, and the planet and rings have been all cleaned up and polished, we go about setting the two together. Hopefully, if the ring carving has been done right, the rings will slide over the planet and just touch and hang at the planet's equator. I know I've done my job right if the rings will sit there by themselves, but any touching will cause them to fall through. I then brace the rings at the spot where they just touch and apply a type of glue that when it cures is actually stronger than the glass! After two weeks, the rings will be forever attached to the Saturn planet and the sculpture will be complete!

Testing the fit of the rings to the Saturn

Now it just needs to sit on a lighted base to truly make it shine!

Dobby gives Saturn the Sniff Test

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Recently, we ran a Kickstarter program. Kickstarter.com is a place for creatives to post a project they're trying to raise money for. There are art projects, films, books, inventions... all kinds of really cool things on there, all trying to get funding so that they can be created. The artists/writers/inventors/whatevers post a story about the project they want to do and offer "rewards" to anyone who will donate to their cause. It can be as little as one dollar, or as much as the supporter wants to give.

With ours, it wasn't so much a donation as the people supporting us were buying our artwork on sale. We offered a better piece of art than the going rate if they supported our project NOW rather than waiting until Christmas to buy or whatever. We get the much needed funding to travel and exhibit our glass art at the Space Symposium and they get a wonderful piece of art on sale. It's a total win all the way around.

I hadn't run a Kickstarter program before, so had no idea if it would work, what all I needed to do to get it going and what would have to be done to get it to completion. What I found was that it wasn't so much that the Kickstarter website promoted us to a range of people that hadn't seen our work before. I had no idea of course, but thought that the pledges would come from new people. What I wasn't expecting was that nearly all of the pledges came from our circle of friends and supporters. People stepped out of the woodwork to help us. It was amazing.

We reached our goal and could travel to the show and display our glass art knowing that we had the money to pay for the shipping, hotel and travel expenses. When you're an artist, working day to day and on such a random income, knowing that the funds would be there was such a relief to us. We could work on putting up a fantastic show without the stomach churning stress.

The thing that became most clear to me is that I have the greatest group of friends and supporters. The money was of course a huge help, but what actually hit me harder was that people close to me and those I didn't know well had been watching our progress and wanted to help us succeed. The emotionally impact of that realization is/was tremendous.

Here is how our booth turned out, with many examples of our wonderful artworks.

From left to right in the real booth you can see the 1/3 scale model of the Ascending Stars Lifetime Space Achievement Award Master Sculpture on a turntable atop the cabinet, our display case holding bottle stoppers, small dishes, a Red Velvet glass cupcake and atop the cabinet one of the Steampunk Rockets. On the counter next to the cabinet are some small awards, our cards and a tower to accept business cards from visitors to the booth. When they drop a card in, they receive a glass pendant necklace as a gift.

Along the back wall at left center, on its own turntable, is the Ascending Stars Lifetime Space Achievement Individual Award sculpture that was presented on Wednesday to Dr. Charles Elachi, Director of JPL, the HD monitor running our Impact Movie, a Rising Earth sculpture, a 13" Fused Glass Galaxy Platter, an 11" Fused Glass Rose Nebula Platter, a 10" Blown Glass Jupiter, the Ascending Stars Lifetime Space Achievement Individual Award prototype, our illustration portfolio book and, on its own pedestal, the Planetary Society Cosmos Award spare; its twin Blown Glass Saturn sculpture now residing in Stephen Hawking's office at Cambridge.

On the table against the right wall are what's left of 200 A New Ocean prints that BJ signed and gave away as our tribute to the Space Shuttle program; soon to come to a close.

We have nearly finished creating the artwork rewards, just a few to go. Now to think up the next Kickstarter project!

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Each year, we travel to Colorado Springs to attend the National Space Symposium. Actually, we don't *attend*, we work. First off, we move the giant glass sculpture from it's home at the Space Foundation corporate headquarters to where the conference is. When we're done moving and setting it back up, we spend the rest of the week exhibiting our work in a booth in the exhibit hall with all the Big Space Companies.

The sculpture gets moved three more times during the week for the luncheon and then back to the headquarters, so along with running the booth space, it's a long, long week! But it is a lot of fun to see people and to show off our glass work. Most of the people that attend are high military and serious space professionals - they certainly aren't hanging around art fairs being familiar with blown glass! But they're an intelligent set, so we can really get into the nitty-gritty of explaining what we do and how we do it, which is loads of fun.

But it's an expensive endeavour, to ship this heavy glass work, fly there, set it all up and stay for the week doing the exhibition. So I've set up a Kickstarter project at http://www.kickstarter.com/ to help finance this trip. With your support, we can take some exquisite glass art and introduce a whole lot of people to how art can make their lives richer. And what do you get out of it? Oh... I'm so glad you asked!! You get some of the very exquisite art that I'm talking about! Blown glass, cast glass, carved glass.... ooh, it's all so wonderful, and hand-made by myself and my partner, right here in the good ole US of A. If you help us, you'll love the glass art you get in reward, and of course the warm fuzzy feeling of encouraging and directly supporting an artist to show off our creations.

Just go here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joyalyssaday/blown-glass-space-art-exhibit-and-you-get-some-art and pledge as much as you can. Maybe bump up to the next level and have some of your Christmas shopping taken care of!

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Over the past several months, I've gotten the love bug for cupcakes. My mom got me a book for Christmas that was all about cupcakes with different recipes and decorations and then my friend, Sandra Salamony, sent me her wonderful book, 1,000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes with glorious pictures of all sorts of different decorating ideas. Of course, I wanted to make them all in food form, but what I *really* wanted to do was to make them out of blown glass. Wouldn't that be spectacular??

Of course, I had a number of other jobs going on at the time and couldn't get to thinking about figuring out how to make cupcakes out of glass for a while, but finally, I had a little bit of free time with the kilns, so gave myself permission to give it a try. I didn't know if I could even make anything decent looking, but I wanted to know, yes or no. I gave myself two days to play with different techniques to see what could be done.

I decided the best course was a blown glass cake section and then swirl on solid glass for the icing. Making solid cupcakes will come about soon too, but since the first ones I was trying were the "jumbo" size, making them solid would use a lot of glass and weigh a ton. As it is, the blown glass ones, with the solid icing still weigh over a pound each. I first made a clear one, just to try out the techniques and see what worked best. Then, let it cool overnight and see if it actually looked good.

When I saw it the next morning, I knew I was in love! I progressed right away into making colored cupcakes. After a few days of different colors, I'm finding which colors work best with the techniques I'm using and also moving into trying some other color combinations, including translucent bright colors. Here is a trio of Chocolate with pastel sprinkles:

I really love the sprinkles! But the chocolate is dark dark, so the next day, I tried to make a lighter one. I succeeded in a darned fine Red Velvet with CreamCheese frosting:

With red sprinkles. Then the following day, my partner suggested the crystal colors, so I made several each of a few bright, but very see-through colors, so that the refraction of the glass can be seen and appreciated instead of being solid. That was just yesterday and here is how those turned out:

I must say that I just *love* making these glass cupcakes! With sprinkles! What do you think? Do you like them? Have suggestions? Please leave a comment!

Peace, Joy

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I love it when things work out just right.

Ten days ago, I got a call from a lady who had seen our Baptismal Bowls website and wanted to know if we could do a custom piece for her church. The bowls on the website are large - 18 inches diameter by 5 inches deep. She needed one that was about 12 inches across by 4 inches deep. "Oh, yes!" I told her, "I can make that for you!" Here is the bowl they liked:

Within a few days, she had gotten the go-ahead from her committee and they fedexed me a check for the deposit. The bowl design they liked was one I liked and had all of the right colors for, so I didn't have to spend any time ordering glass or digging for the appropriate equipment. They were building the font to match the bowl, so I didn't have to worry about trying to make sure it would fit into a strange shape like the weird sink I tried before.

Since over that weekend, my large kiln was available, I went ahead and started the casting process on the bowl. I hadn't received their deposit check yet, but I had a good feeling about them and could certainly post the bowl elsewhere if they never came through. By the time I got their deposit check, I'd already cast the bowl and done the subsequent firings on it to get the pattern and correct shape. The day after I got the deposit, the molding of the bowl was complete. I hadn't even cashed their check yet!

I brought the bowl in and cleaned it up, set it on the counter and waited for it to dry. There were no cracks, no problem spots, no weirdnesses, no spikes on the edges.... It came out perfect, and beautiful. Yes! This is the way things ought to work. They should just *work*! Here is the final piece:

Now I can write them and tell them their bowl is already finished and they'll be delighted! Yayy!!! I love happy clients!!! Then I'll ship it down to Texas to its new home!

I love it when things just work. It's like they were meant to be. Now! On to the next project!

Peace, Joy

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A while back, I wrote a blog post about if it were better to focus on just one type of art, one technique and get really super good at it, or if it were better to focus on a number of different ones. I don't have much of a choice but to do the many, as my mind is scattered over so many different techniques and my attention span is short. I see these artists who work on the same series of paintings over and over again, making little changes here and there (like the blue dog). Sometimes I envy them. They know what they want to do, they have their inspiration and they're doing it!

I, on the other hand, usually can't plan more than a few days in advance. I never know what is coming up, never know what processes I will be working on over the next week. I guess it fits me. I think if I planned my whole month out, I would be bored before I even got started. Take this past week. At the beginning of it, it was pretty clear that I would be glass blowing, working on a new project to see if I could get it created to the client's liking.

Then my crucible kiln wasn't firing like it was supposed to - wouldn't get hot enough. Can't blow glass if my kilns aren't hot enough, so I called the manufacturer and ordered new parts. I was told it would be a number of days. OK. So I switched gears completely to finishing putting together a QuickTime movie to send out to potential clients to market our artwork. Talk about completely different mindset! I thought I would be out in the hotshop, working with molten glass with music blaring. Instead, I was seated at my computer, gently nudging frames of a movie to fit the same little piece of music, over and over and over again.

But what I didn't know was happening, is that the glass blowing part of my brain was still working - figuring out the steps that would be needed to create this new piece, so now when I go back to it this coming week (after I've now fixed my kiln), I'll have a whole lot less trial and error getting the new shape correct. Lots less wasted time, lots less wasted glass. AND I got the marketing movie done too!

The way I figure it is that is isn't that I'm focusing on one thing or many - I have my focus, as always, and it is "creating."

Peace, Joy

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In the previous blog post I wrote about the custom commission I was designing and creating for a company - their 30-year service award, to be given to two of their employees.

A risk involved with creating custom pieces is that the client may get the piece and decide that they just don't like it. When you sell a work in a gallery, the new owner sees it, knows what they're getting and pretty much is a done deal. When commissioned, the client has faith in you, that you'll produce something wonderful, but isn't locked into completely owning it if it comes out not to their liking.

Much of the problem lies with that the client and the artist are speaking nearly a different language when the client describes what they want and the artist describes what they can make. Sometimes these two things mesh, sometimes they don't. This is especially the case when the client doesn't really know what they want and the artist is mostly flying blind, creating into the wind. The artist can describe the process and what the piece will be like, even supplying sketches like I did in the post up above, but the truth is that the client often has a hard time understanding and visualizing what a sculpture will look like given just a rough sketch and descriptions.

This happened with the awards. I created the color sketch, and thought I got pretty darned close with the finished pieces, but when the awards were actually in the hands of the client, they decided they didn't like them, or the design.

I offered to change the design, color, texture and the process (from molded glass to pipe-blown glass, which would make the base heavier, more substantial feeling). For whatever reason, they didn't want to continue and give me another try. Who wouldn't want to have another piece made for them if the first one didn't turn out right? I would have thought just about anyone would say "Of course!" but this client didn't. Instead, they paid the kill fee and are sending back the awards. They're out, I'm out, there are no "winners".

I really wanted to make it right by them. I could have redone the awards, given what they say they didn't like about the first ones, and probably created something they'd love, but I won't get the chance, and I find that really sad. Yes, I also won't get the full price, but it's more about that I wanted a happy client, and I was willing to go the distance to give them what they wanted.

It's a bummer, but happens on occasion. I certainly don't like it though. I think I'll go have some more chocolate to console my bummed little artist soul.

Peace, Joy

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A really fun part of my job is the first contact I get with a new client and they say "We're thinking of something, but we don't know what. Is that possible?" and then from there, based on their budget, the use and how wild they want to be, I get to design and create a piece of artwork that is new and truly unique.

A little bit ago, a company contacted me and wanted an award that would reflect their work in the aerospace industry. They really liked the "Earth from Space" type of awards I have created before, so we went from there and I designed this piece:

Initial design for Barrios Award

Usually I design a piece without knowing for sure how to make it or if it will actually work. Then go about the process of figuring out how to make what I've seen in my head. Of course, I keep physics in mind and know basically what is and isn't possible, so don't design floating, rotating heads or anything (although that would be fun...).

With this piece, the Earth section, I've made before for a different award, so I knew how to create that part, but the pillar it sits on was a bit of a challenge. I finally decided that the best way was to use a drop mold with a triple thickness plate. Theoretically, this would drop down the appropriate amount, and be thick enough to strongly hold up the Earth section. The Earth is a 6 inch plate, 4 layers thick and then molded into the chord section, so it is pretty heavy. They wanted the entire piece to be about 8 inches tall, so I set out to make the base.

The rough part was to get the piece to drop the appropriate amount, and be able to reproduce it nearly exactly for the second award they'd ordered. I ended up with a number of samples that went in the heat too long, so they puddled at the bottom instead of making a smooth dome. Or, they went in the heat too short of a time and didn't get enough of a pillar on them to reach the 8 inch height requirement. Putting a short one back in to heat it up a bit more doesn't work well, as the glass is then uneven, so doesn't stretch uniformly. And there is no way to shorten one that is too long.

After a number of trials, I finally got one that was Just Right! Then I set out to make the second one. It took a few tries, but finally a second one came out very similar. It was about a half inch shorter, but that's ok.

Initially, the company engraving was to be on the extended part of the pillar. After working with the samples, I was concerned because that is the thinnest part of the whole piece. To engrave into that just seemed to be asking for trouble, so I made the decision to put the engraving on the base instead. I think it looks fantastic! Here's the final result:

Barrios Award Final Glass

Barrios Award Final Glass

I shipped the two awards to their new home in Houston. I'm proud of them. I hope they're loved.

Joy

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The new year brings me anticipation and hope. This past year had some ups and downs certainly, and from an economic view, it was indeed crappy. What it *did* do was force me to look into other products and skills to learn and offer. I'm not sure I would have done many of these things if not for searching for more sales, so I count it as a good thing. I've developed more items, and learned a number of techniques that I can continue to work on this coming year.

The most important thing I do for the start of the year is get several calendars. Actually, three. Why three? Each has it's own purpose, and I've found that they're cheap enough that I can just get them and use them for their own purpose rather than struggling with only one. The struggle is not worth the 10 bucks it costs for a different type. For me, anyways. If one works for you, I admire that!

First, I have a monthly calendar hanging on my wall, with a little sticky note on the current date. As soon as I walk into the studio, I can see what day and date it is and where I am in the week/month. It has a nice picture on it, so adds some beauty to my morning. I usually get this from Gladstone Media.

Falling Waters Wall Calendar

Next, I have a daily desk calendar - one of those little square ones. Each day, I reveal a new page. It gives me the current date and day, a place for any notes and a nice little image on my desk. I start the day off by taking the prior day's page, turning it over and making a ToDo list for today. I try to pick something I'd like to look at - pretty paintings, flowers or a daily chocolate confection. I choose NOT to have a cartoon, puzzle, word or something that doesn't make my day brighter. I would spend too much time on a puzzle and something snippy or cursey isn't good for all day. This year, I have a Kittens daily, although I was considering the cupcakes one. I also got this through Gladstone.

Kittens & Friends Calendar

Now, the third calendar is the most important. I have a weekly engagement calendar. This is where the meat of my marketing happens. The other calendars are there to remind me of the day and date when I'm doing email or phone calls, but the engagement calendar is where I plot out future plans. I like to use the Audubon calendar, cause it gives me a nice picture to look at each week. Many of them have inspired watercolor or glass paintings.

Audubon Engagement Calendar

Audubon Engagement Calendar - Open

I keep this on my desk while I am working and write down notes of appointments, followups, etc. that I need to do in upcoming days. I also mark in there future conferences and then backtrack notes to when I need to ship items, when I need to have the pre-publicity flyers or mailers done by, how many of each product I need to do in each of the previous weeks ahead of the show, etc.... I also mark when to start Valentine's production of hearts, etc. and when to start Christmas production of ornaments. I make a note on the days I want to remember to blog (like today's!) and note when I need to start the newsletter so that I can send at the beginning of each month (which is also marked). I can easily pick it up and take it with me to my worktable, or on a trip.

I also have blank sheets of paper attached to it that I can make project lists on. Headings could include "Internet updates" (adding testimonials, researching affiliate sites, looking for retail outlets), "Blog Topics" where I jot down ideas for future blog posts, "Current Projects" (upcoming list of shows, new products I am developing, ideas I want to try, etc..), "Future Ideas" where I write things I might try in the future if I get time ("lamps, fountains, wavy bowls") A lot of times things on my future ideas list have stayed there for years until finally moving over to my current projects list. A good idea may still be a good idea when you have time, so write it down so you don't forget it!

This engagement calendar goes with me when I travel, even if I'm only going for groceries. If I get an idea while out shopping, it can get written into one of the lists. Or if I remember that I should send an update to a client, I can write it on today's or this week's calendar page. I have tried the computer calendar programs, but they only work well for those who are at their computers all day, which I am not. The phone apps are alright, but I haven't found one that does well enough for me yet, so I hang on to the engagement calendar for now.

For a flighty artist, this system keeps me up to date and from missing appointments or being disappointed because I didn't plan for a show well enough. I don't as often lose track of time and have a duedate sneak up on me. It's not perfect, but it helps tremendously.

Peace,
Joy

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Back a few months ago, I captured a little stray kitten along the road. When I first saw her, I also saw her mom, a small black cat, and another little kitten, black, running up the road. By the time I caught the first little one, the other two were gone. I brought that one home to keep her, but continued to watch for the mom and the other kitten.

And then came a note on my door. The neighbor who told me that the mom was wild left word that there was not just the mom and a black kitten, but there were four(!!) kittens that were wild and living under their deck. As they were getting ready to move away, did I want to come and rescue the kittens? Umm..... Duhh.... Of course!! It's not that I *need* more kittens, or *wanted* more kittens (ok, strike that... I always want more kittens), but that there were four kittens and a mother out in the wild is completely unacceptable. Must rescue. Must make safe.

At dusk, the remaining three came up for some of the stinky food I put in the trap. All three headed into it at once and SNAP!! One backed out just in time, but I'd caught the other two. The final one was caught the following morning. Never did see the mother, but all the kittens are now safe, fed, and growing up loved and together. And wow, are they beautiful!!

New kittens, hiding as best they can!!

When I brought them home, they were held in the bathroom for a few days to see how wild and healthy or not they were. They decided the toilet was best to hide behind.

Four new kittens, waiting to see what will eat them.

After a bit, just later the same day, they were all comfortable enough to stay together on the towel when I came in. They adapted to us so quickly! 

Four new kittens in hiding

 After a few days, they were able to explore the bedroom and living room a little. Since they still wanted to hide, I kept them only in the living room during the day so they could get accustomed to our sounds and us. They chose to stay in the bottom of the kitty castle scratching post. The original kitten, Winky, used these days to re-acquaint herself with them. She was afraid at first, but quickly learned or remembered them.

All five kittens, back together again

Within a week, the formerly wild feral kittens were all back together and snuggling with me on the couch. You wouldn't know they were feral at all. They are so sweet, smart and strikingly beautiful! Along with the original, Winky, we named them Blinky, Zot, Carbon and Silicon. There are four little girls and one boy (Carbon). 

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