Merry Christmas!!

Warrior

This  Indian was done one night as an experiment.  Black powder just dusted on the glass and the figure quickly sketched in sgrafitto style.  My plans were to put it back into the jar but i really liked his warrior look so i fired him.  Eventually, i added the red as a "blood and suffering" touch and then framed him!  Glass artists should try a quick sketch..sometimes it surprises you.

Whiite tiger wins!!

My white tiger, "Big Boy", won first place in glass fusing at the 2015 Texas State Fair.  

Tutorial to make Lacy Edged Mosaic Glass Vase

Tutorial for my vases can be found on my website, www.kittiesbyinda.com.  It gives step-by-step instructions in how to cut, build and fire the vases.

Tutorial Is Complete!

The tutorial for my lacy edged mosaic vases is finished,  if you are interested, the tutorial can be found on my website, www.kittiesbylinda.com.  It gives step-by-step instructions in how to cut, assemble, and fire the beautiful vases.  I'm still waiting on the judging at the Texas State Fair...hoping my big white tiger is a winner!

New vases will be in my tutorial

I've been perfecting my vases and i'm now in the process of writing my second tutorial. It always involves more work than you plan on but hopefully it'll be out in a week.  Here are examples of my series, FIRE, WATER, FORESTS, and SUN.

New work...

I've been a busy girl and have recently completed two pieces.  The white tiger will probably be my entry for the Texas State Fair.  I haven't decided on a frame for the gray wolf but I'm beginning to like him as is on this custom frame by Joe Sitton of Ironheart Forge...check out his FB page.  While giving credits, I need to mention that the original photo of the wolf is the work of Paul Sherman, one of my fav wildlife photographers

Kitties by Linda fusing Tutorial

This past week i 've just about finished the kitten made as an example in the Kitties By Linda fusing tutorial group.  Here's his progress pic.  Eyebrows and whiskers will be added with the dremel,  if you would like to buy the tutorial you can do so by going to www,kittiesbylinda.com.  

Screamin eagle in progress..

Yesterday I received the custom stand made by Joe Sitton of Ironheart Forge.  He has a FB page if you're interested.  At any rate, i'm thrilled...it was a perfect fit. Now I can go ahead and add the finishing touches to eagle as i had set him aside until my stand arrived.  Here's the progress pic.

Memorial Day

Well, i opened the kiln Memorial Day morning to find that my eagle ruffled his feathers  and had a hand sized bubble in the lower left area.  The pic here shows that on the left and the direct shot at the bottom of the group shows the elevation.  I immediately went into rescue mode and the picture on the right shows him with his bubble repaired after another day in the kiln!  There are several things about him that i'm frustrated with so he'll probable be dremeled and corrected and off to the kiln again

Enamels on glass

 A very good FB friend and fellow artist, Evelyn Baker, was kind enough to share some samples of Thompson enamels.  I did some simple tests first...sifting some dry and then the same colors mixed with medium.  I love the way they fire; very glossy and look like the glass.  I don't like paints that fire opaquely and matte.  If i'm doing glass, i want it to look like glass!  Lol.  So yesterday i decided to do a sifted piece with roses since i loved the pinks.  This is simply sifted dry enamels fused to 1400 degrees.  Maybe later I'll slump it into a shallow bowl or plate.

Amur leopard drinking water.

This piece is now complete!  The resource photo was taken by photographer, Paul Sherman, and the stand was made by Joe Sitton.  This is made of glass powders...sifted, manipulated and then fired.  It was probably fired 8 different times.  

New website

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted here.  I've been very involved in writing my Beginner Kitty Tutorial.  I'm not an expert at all, I simply love to do kitties in glass.  I take no credit for developing anything...lol...i'm just a product of many mentors and a little God given talent.  Several people asked so I decided to just photograph and write down the steps.  This is strictly for beginners...glass experts can do far better than me!  My grand-daughter helped in building my website so if anyone wishes to take a look, it's www.kittiesbylinda.com.  I'm offering the tutorial there.  It's been fun and I'm so excited about seeing everyones kitty fused in glass.  Here's one of my recent cubs and he's already on his way to his new home in Wyoming!

The beginning...

This is the beginning of the screaming eagle in fire!  Hoping that i can pull this off....stay tuned for updates of this work in progress!

Test eagle

This is the beginning test of the screaming eagle.  My goal is to figure out the feathers using glass powders.  I'll use the same process as my previous (side view) eagle by layering powders.  The end will be the screaming eagle coming out of flames!

Eagles!

I haven't posted in a while.  This is my new piece.  It turned out actually better than i expected.  This is done with many layers of glass powders each fired to 1400 degrees.  The beak and eye is done with Reusche enamels.

L. S. U. Tiger has a new home, too.

Even though my son, David, went to Tex. A. & M., he and his wife, Cyndi, rec'ed. my tiger for Christmas!  I went to L.S.U. In nursing and David was born and raised in Louisiana, so it's in his blood. I almost entered this tiger in the Tex. State Fair but at the last minute decided to enter, Jett, my leopard.  Jett won first place but this tiger could have competed, i think!  My daughter, Laurie, got a tiger, too!  Both pieces were done totally in glass powders.

"Reveille", the Tex. A. & M. Mascot has a new home!

This is my grand-son, Reed and his beautiful wife, Lauren...both Tex. Aggies!  So it was only fitting that Reveille would be theirs!  He is done totally in glass powders.  I worked on him off & on for a year.  I lost track of how many firings but i would guess at least 8-10.  The frame is also fused glass.

My real passion in glass

I hope to continue with this blog even though the 30 day sgrafitto challenge is done.  My real passion in glass seems to be animals but especially cats; large and small.  Here is a batch of kitties that i'm working on now and i also wanted to post a pic of one or two of my big cats so that you can see what i do.  These are all done with glass powders applied in layers and manipulated some with very small tools.  They undergo several firings in the kiln to fuse the glass...a simple one may have 1-2 firings but more complicated ones may have 6-12.

Small collage

This is a small collection of thw work done during the 30 day sgrafitto challenge.

Final Day of Sgrafitto Challenge

This is our last day and here is my self portrait done in glass powder.  It's in the kiln now...i decided to fire it and keep it because it's probably the last portrait i'll ever do!  For those of you that don't know this was organized by Kelly Algae, powder sgrafitto artist.  She put an enormous amount of time and effort into this and we are ever so grateful.  I learned something every single day that will help me along in this glass journey.  Thanks Kelly!

Day 29 of Sgrafitto challenge

Oh gosh, a selfie!  Lol. I really thought i might not be able to do this since the portrait of old Albert wore me out.  But

i do want to be able to say i finished the challenge...so here she is...my selfie!  

Day 28

Here's the final on old Albert!  Definitely a very difficult and tiring challenge....so i just had to find a stopping place and quit!  You can just pick and pick on something like this and run the risk of making it worse instead of better.

Day 27 & 28 of Sgrafitto

Most difficult so far...portrait of Albert Einstein!  Oh great...never been ok sketching humans but we have two days.  This is at tne end of Day 1... I'll have plenty to do tomorrow

Day 26 Sgrafitto Challenge

Well, not proud of this one so it went back in the jar right away.  The task was to draw a tree upside down and you could only use your right hand on the right side and then only your left hand on the left!  Bingo, turn it around and you should have a tree????  My brain just doesn't get it upside down...lol

Day 25 of sgrafitto challenge

Today we still have to do a tree drawing using the non- dominant hand.  Ugh!  We are allowed to use any of our tools so hopefully it's better than yesterday.  I can't control the tremor when trying to use my leftie...there's a reason i'm right dominant!!

  I'll save this one and see if i can correct tomorrow using my good hand before firing it.  If all fails, it goes back in the powder jar!

Day 24

Do sketches of tree using your non-dominant hand and a business card only??  So this is done on a random piece of glass as i know it's going right back in the jar!  I'll barely be able to keep the powder on the glass!!  It was easy to spread out the powder with my left fingers but when it actually came to shaping trees....a nightmare!  Not willing to spend a lot of time here...but here's my trees done with my non-functional  left hand!!

Day 23 of Sgrafitto Challenge

Today's assignment was to sketch something from your personal collection.  This is the powder sketch of one of my favorite

little antique figurines.  I've had her since i was a little girl and always thought she was a princess!  Hopefully, she will improve after firing and coloring.

Day 22 of shrafitto challenge

A disaster today!  The assignment was to do a safety pin highlighting the shiny areas to make it look like metal.  Well, it took forever and just as i was getting my pin in line to do my highlights, i dropped my pen in the big middle of it.  Not about to start over and fortunately i had just snapped a progress pic...so here is my slightly unfinished pin!

Day 21 of Sgrafitto Challenge

I had to do this for make-up....today is a vase of flowers.  I didn't have a lot of time so here is my quick version of Ikebana vase with mums.

Day 20 of Sgrafitto Challenge

Another black & white flower for today!  So here's my tribute to Georgia O'Keefe...the throat of a purple pansy.  This is just the powder photo...it's now in the kiln.  Once the yellow and white center is colored and purple put in...i think it'll look more realistic.

New firing!

Just out of kiln.  I colored up the itty bitty bunny done in "the something white" challenge and also the onion done in the vegetable challenge.  The magnolia was also fired and i'll try to color it today if time allows.  Todays challenge is another white flower...problem is i'm running out of white glass!!!!

Monkey Business!

Here's my monkey after firing...bahaha...a sunburned little monkey!  Can be your smile for the day!

Day 19 Sgrafitto Challenge

Born and raised in Louisiana, so when todays challenge was to be a floral, i knew it had to be the Magnolia.  Not a fragrant flower but majestic with its beautiful, graceful white petals and its deep red throat.  This is the powder sketch before the firing.  It's now in the kiln!

Sgrafitto weekend, Day 17, 18

The challenge was to do 3 sketches over the weekend of something all white.  I completed mine on Sat. Am...a white wolf's eye, a little bitty bunny (white), and a howling white wolf!  Done!!

Day 15 of Sgraffito Challenge

We had only 15 min today, using our rustic tools, to do a quick sketch of something eaten today.  Since I had hard-boiled eggs for breakfast..here's my unfinished sletch as 15 min is gone in a flash.  This powder may end up back in the jar?

Day 14 of Sgraffito Challenge

This is a quick sketch as life has other things for me to do today.  I'm not really afraid of too many things...maybe flying, heights, poisonous snakes but creepy crawly things don't really bother me.  So now you've guessed todays assignment...to sketch something in powder that you're afraid of.  Here's the dreaded little brown recluse spider...identified by a little fiddle/violin on his back.  His bite is very toxic and i saw a lot of these wounds while doing home care in Texas...bad, sloughing wounds taking a very long time to heal and several led to amputations!  I guess i'm afraid of not seeing him...they're sneaky!

Day 13 of Sgraffito Challenge!

I have to admit i was a little

surprised to see the gaping jaws of a shark!  Steven Cross submitted the image of a great white.  I couldn't help but try but feeling like i only wanted to spend a short time and then dump powder back into the jar!!  I would love to do this later when i can spend more time doing it in layers with multiple firings and using grays instead of the stark white practice powder of today.  So here's the results....

Day 12 of Sgraffito Challenge

Today's assignment was to use powder & your tools to create something personal...a drawing of something you use every day.  I'll revisit this post when i have that done but since i'm the senior citizen of the group, i feel i can take a day off if i so desire.  I did color and fire a few of the previous pieces...

Day 11 of Sgrafitto Challenge

Today's challenge is to do a vegetable in powder.  I chose a sprouted onion from my pantry and used only my home-made whisk broom tool, a business card and my fingers.  The little tool i made on the tip of a pencil is neat for putting

in fine lines.

Day 10 of sgraffito challenge.

The challenge today was to put your piece of fruit into a setting or "something else".  Since i had already fired my apple, i decided to add leaves and color.  Nothing complex but it keeps me up to date!

Day 9. Fruit using fingers, card, and home-made tools

Day 9 of the challenge is to do a piece of fruit using only your fingers, business card, and home-made tools from day 7 & 8.  Since i don't happen to have one piece of fruit in the house, my apple is from my imagination and past history of doing fruit in still lifes when i oil painted.  Normally, i fire the piece first and then add color in second firing but today i decided to add just a little color to see what happens...will post results

Day 8. Sgraffito Challenge

Today we had to make a home-made tool to use in powder.  I clipped hairs from a plastic whisk broom & taped them to the end of a pencil..."hair tool". So here's a quick rendition using only the hair tool. Meat thermometer from Day 7, fingers, and business card or a piece of card.  No other tools allowed!