Pilchuck

Look at the top left! This photo was taken in the hot shop at Pilchuck Glass School this summer -- I am with Kirstie Rea, one of my instructors. She was working on a new design with the fellows pictured behind us. It is a very complex process that Kirstie has developed to fold glass using glass blowing methods-- she has already perfected the process using the kiln. The jumping-for-joy guy is celebrating the fact that Kirstie's new process worked! (That's a very long red beard on the fellow, and yes, I worried that it might go up in flames, silly me.)

Here is a folded piece in the kiln:

 

 And here is a test piece folded (in an early stage of the process) in the hot shop:

After the conclusion of our course in "Mastering Simplicity," taught by Kirstie and fellow Australian artist Jessica Laughlin, Kirstie went to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma where she was a visiting artist in residence for a week. Jess had been a visiting artist there earlier this summer.


This is my class -- the instructors,  Kirstie (above) and Jess (both to the left of me, here) were superb. Simply superb.