In Progress

The top shows the piece with the snow layer sort of done. I used Armour Etch to get a "drifty" effect.--tons and tons of it, in a bath tub....it took days to get through the flash. But it can make a nice wifty, drifty, cloudy nebula kind of look which I thought would be good for snow. I have a feeling that I could get somewhere if I actually tried some experiments. For instance--a lighter color flash might have been a better choice and preserved more of the brushstrokes the acid makes.

The next photo shows the piece at the same stage as the previous--but I have overlaid the negative for the branches and set down the snowflakes (both of which will be on another layer of glass). The branches won't be densely black when I am finished! (and yes--it doesn't look like a negative but it is--its for a photo sandblast stencil--from Rayzist!) You will be able to see the snowflakes and the figure much clearer.

This piece was inspired by this Klaus Nomi video--"The Cold Song" by Henry Purcell

Music

You will be so very, very sorry you asked about music. On so very many levels!! So buckle your seatbelts...

First of all—I mostly listen to NPR (National Public Radio) not because I just adore hearing about the economy in Burkina Faso or organic gardening...but because the voices of the friendly and non-threatening talking people keep me company. Between that and Facebook, my hermit lifestyle is 100% enabled. As for music in the studio—I have a series of mix CDs which are all for the purposes of me singing along. Loud. Very loud. I belt ‘em out, baby! This is the real reason I can’t work with assistants. It would violate the Geneva Convention.

My tastes are truly eclectic and more than following any one artist for the duration of their career, I am more apt to like a few songs by a huge range of artists. If you actually read or skim the list below (which is every artist on my ipod) be aware I have a lot of single songs by an artist and would be very, very happy to hear nothing more from them ever again.
In general my taste runs from hipster approved obscurata to guilty pleasures that will horrify you. “Gloria” by Laura Branigan, anyone? Original Cast Soundtrack to “Hair”? I dare you to hate me for this!!! Basically, my taste was formed in the early 1980’s. I am a dyed in the wool New Wave/Punk fan. My favorite album of all time is probably Gang Of Four’s “Entertainment”. Perhaps the most perfect song I've ever heard is "Heroes" by David Bowie. I love Mission of Burma, Iggy Pop, Devo, Patti Smith, the B-52’s, The English Beat, Talking Heads, and Joy Division et al. A little later, I was into Gun Club, Sisters of Mercy dark stuff like that...later still Guided By Voices, Palace, Mark Lanegan.
I love classical and country too! Mozart, Debussy, Hank Williams and Patsy Cline—bring ‘em on! Folk music like Pete Seeger? Great stuff! I like a good sea shanty too.
My passions lately run the gamut from Sufjan Stevens to Godspeed You Black Emperor! And lately I’ve been listening to a LOT of Macha.
I have two musician friends whom I think are geniuses—Andy Prieboy and David E. Williams. You would do yourselves a world of good by buying lots of their music!
Also—I like to work out at the gym and the music for that is necessarily very loud and fast. So my ipod has three main mixes: “fun” “superfun” and “spaghetti werewolf” which is funner than superfun. At the gym, I am inclined to like very rude, rowdy metal, industrial and dance music. Ministry, KMFDM, Metallica The Jesus Lizard, LCD Soundsystem that type of thing. I’ve beaten my personal best on an elliptical trainer thanks to KMFDM.

Read the list!

Soundtrack to Hair
Soundtrack to The Sound of Music
10,000 Maniacs
The Zombies
Zero 7
Young MC
Yello
XTC
X
Mozart
Wire
Wingdale Community Singers
Willi Stasch
Will Oldham
The Who
Was (Not Was)
Wall of Voodoo
The Vines
The Verve
Verbow
Velvet Revolver
Urge Overkill
Underworld
Ultravox
U2
TV On The Radio
Turing Machine
The Trolleyvox
TRex
Tom Waits
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Todd Rundgren
Throwing Muses
Throbbing Gristle
Three Merry Widows
Thomas Dolby
The The
That Petrol Emotion
Tegan & Sara
Tears for Fears
Talvin Singh
Talking Heads
T.S.O.L.
The Sweet
Suzanne Vega
The Sundays
Sugar
Sufjan Stevens
Subrosa
Strawberry Alarm Clock
Strapping Field Hands
The Stranglers
The Stooges
Stone Temple Pilots
Steve Wynn
Steely Dan
Soundtrack of Our Lives
Soundgarden
Soul Coughing
The Soft Boys
Snow
Smog
The Smiths
The Smithereens
Smashing Pumpkins
Slint
Sleator/Kinney
The Sisters Of Mercy
Siouxsie and The Banshees
Sinéad O'Connor
Simon & Garfunkel
Silver Jews
Shriekback
Shocking Blue
The Shins
Shawn Colvin
Shakira
Carmina Burana
Seal
Screaming Trees
Scrawl
Rush
Rush
Roy Orbison
Roxy Music
Romeo Void
The Romantics
The Rolling Stones
Rocket From the Crypt
Robert Pollard
Ringo Starr
Rick James
Richard Thompson
The Rezillos
Reykjavík!
The Replacements
The Raveonettes
The Raspberries
Radiohead
Radio Birdman
R.E.M.
Queens Of The Stone Age
Quad City DJ's
Pure Prairie League
Public Image Ltd.
Prince & The Revolution
Prince
Pretenders
Portishead
The Police
PJ Harvey
The Pixies
Pink Floyd
Pinback
Peter Murphy
Pete Seeger
Pet Shop Boys
Peregrins
Pere Ubu
Pentangle
Pell Mell
Peggy Lee
Pearl Jam
Paula Cole
Patti Smith Group
Patti Smith
Patsy Cline
Palace Brothers
Out In Worship
Opal
Ondar
Olivia Neutron Bomb
OK Go
OHO
October Project
Nirvana
Nine Inch Nails
Nina Simone
Nico
Nick Lowe
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
New Radicals
New Order
Neil Young
The National
Natalie Archangel
Naevus
Movietone
Motorhead
The Motels
Morningwood
The Moody Blues
Monster Magnet
The Monkees
Mogwai
The Modern Lovers
Moby
The Mission U.K.
Mission of Burma
Minutemen
Minor Threat
Ministry
Midnight Oil
Michael Nesmith
Michael Murphey
Mia Doi Todd
Metallica
Meat Puppets
Mark Lanegan
Marianne Faithfull
Marc Beck
The Mamas & The Papas
The Magnetic Fields
Madonna
Macha & Bedhead
Macha
M
Lush
Luscious Jackson
Lulu
The Low Road
Lou Reed
Lou Gramm
Lou Barlow
Loreena McKennitt
Lone Justice
Liz Phair
Live
Lindsey Buckingham
Linda Ronstadt with The Stone Poneys
The Levellers
Lene Lovich
Led Zeppelin
LCD Soundsystem
Laura Branigan
Labelle
L7
Kristin Hersh
Kraftwerk
The Knack
KMFDM
Klaus Nomi
Kinski
The Kinks
Kings Of Leon
The Kills
kEn
Katydids
Kate Bush
Kansas
k.d. lang
Juice Newton
Judybats
Judy Henske & Jerry Yester
Judith Schaechter
Joy Division
Joni Mitchell
Joe Jackson
Jethro Tull
The Jesus Lizard
Jerry Corbetta
Jerry Cantrell
Jerry Cantrell
Jeffrey Lee Pierce
Jefferson Airplane
Jane's Addiction
Jakatta
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
It's a Beautiful Day
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
Iggy Pop
Iggy & The Stooges
Husker Du
Hot Chocolate
Hooverphonic
The Hollies
Hole
The Hives
Heatmiser
Heart
Hannah Marcus
Hank Williams
Gun Club
Guided By Voices
Gravenhurst
The Grass Roots
Grand Funk
Grace Slick & The Great Society
Goldfrapp
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
God Bullies
Go West
Glenn Gould
Glen Campbell
Girls VS Boys
Gin Blossoms
Genesis
Gary Numan
Gang Of Four
Freakwater
Ravel
Foo Fighters
The Folk Implosion
Fleetwood Mac
The Fixx
Fischerspooner
Figgy Duff
Felt
Feist
Fatboy Slim
The Fall
Fairport Convention
The Ex
Eurythmics
Espers
The English Beat
EMMA
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Elvis Costello
Elton John
Elliot Smith
Electric Light Orchestra
Edith Frost
Echo and the Bunnymen
Earl Greyhound
Dusty Springfield
Duran Duran
Duncan Sheik
Drive-By Truckers
The Dresden Dolls
Dream Syndicate
Doomed to Obscurity
Donnie Iris
The Donnas
Donna Summer
Dolly Parton
Do Make Say Think
The Dirtbombs
Devo
Depeche Mode
Nutcracker Suite
Def Leppard
Debussy
Death From Above 1979
Dead or Alive
Dead Can Dance
David E. Williams
David Bowie
Dave Edmunds
The Darkness
Dandy Warhols
The Damned
The Cure
The Cult
Crystal Waters
The Crystal Method
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Cowboy Junkies
Cornershop
The Corn Sisters
Concrete Blonde
Collective Soul
Cocteau Twins
The Clash
The Church
Chris Whitley
The Chills
Chickasaw Mudd Puppies
Cat Stevens
Casket Salesmen
The Cars
Carla Bozulich
Cameo
Buzzcocks
Butthole Surfers
Buffalo Springfield
The Broken Prayers
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Brian Eno
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Bobby Vinton
Bob Mould
Bob Dylan
Blur
The Blood Brothers
Blondie
Black Mountain
Black Eyed Peas
Beth Orton
Berlin
Beck
The Beatles
Bauhaus
Barbara Schaechter
Barbara Manning
The Band
Bananarama
Badfinger
Bad Religion
Bad Company
The B-52's
Au Pairs
The Association
Ashlee Simpson
Argent
April March
Apocalyptica
Annie Lennox
Andy Prieboy
American Music Club
American Analog Set
The Allman Brothers Band
Alice In Chains
Al Stewart
Air
AC/DC
ABC

American Craft

There's an excellent feature article on my work in the new issue of American Craft!
You can check it out online here.

Be sure to watch the slideshow, too.

Pretty is as Pretty Does

My work is included in the exhibition "Pretty is as Pretty Does" at Site Santa Fe February 14, 2009 – May 10, 2009
The show includes a whopping 12 pieces of mine! and I will give a talk on May 5th.

From the press release:
"The phrase “pretty is as pretty does” is an idiom typically used to describe a beautiful girl with a nasty disposition—she may look pretty, but it doesn’t follow that she acts pretty. Pretty is as Pretty Does, a group exhibition organized by Phillips Director Laura Steward Heon, takes its inspiration from this phrase and features work that suffuse base, even obscene content in otherworldly beauty. The artists whose works are included in this exhibition have, with exquisite care and cunning charm, made objects that glitter with abject ugliness. In all of the works, an effervescent prettiness and sneering nastiness circle around each other, and both qualities are magnified by their combination."

Artists in the exhibition include: Chiho Aoshima; Rina Banerjee; Tanyth Berkeley; Ligia Bouton; Kathy Butterly; Angelo Filomeno; David Leigh; Marilyn Minter; Judith Schaechter; and Raqib Shaw.

The public opening is Friday February 13 5-7 pm.
(I'm sorry to say I will not be there...BUT...I will be speaking there on Tuesday May 5 at 6 pm.)
Please see Site Santa Fe's website for more events!

Site Santa Fe
1606 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501

Two Dreams

Someone asked me recently if my dreams were anything like my work./  In general, no, they are bo-ring!  But here's two notable exceptions...

About four others and myself were in a small airplane. We were actors and being filmed. At first one of them was Courtney Love, but then she was a girl I grew up with, although that was not a major feature of the plot of this dream. The airplane was having difficulty getting any lift and we were flying dangerously close to buildings, etc. The pilot didn’t say anything to us, so for a while, we thought this was part of the movie, or somehow just normal. Nevertheless we were all pretty nerve wracked and I kept thinking, “I will never fly again after this!” and “Why doesn’t he just land on a roof and let us off?” So then he brought the plane down on a roof--but he didn’t let us out or tell us anything. Instead he got out and was fiddling around with the tail of the airplane. I was thinking--”Haven’t all those small plane crashes lately been because of tail problems?” He still didn’t tell us anything.
So then it was “later” and myself and the other passengers were no longer on the plane, but wandering around a residential neighborhood and wondering if we should head back to the plane, where the expectation was that the pilot would have tried to fix the tail and we would finish the film shoot. I kept saying, “Why don’t we just skip out on this guy? After all, he’s suicidal because his boyfriend just left him.” So we practiced hiding in the alley next to a house--but we all kind of knew that we were too responsible to just disappear--even though I certainly felt our lives were at stake! Finally, FINALLY! the pilot shows up and walks right up to me, (because all of the sudden I was the unofficial leader of the passengers) and he says: “Well, it’s up to you guys. You can come with me and trust your good luck necklaces”(which all of the sudden I noticed we were all wearing) “or you can just skip the whole thing”

Then I woke up thinking “suicidal pilot, suicidal pilot...”
(This dream happened right before the 9/11 oddly enough)

Click to read second dream

A long, epic dream:
I was in a movie about a troubled family. Kevin Spacey was playing the father. I was the middle daughter of three and there was also a younger brother. I was dorky and naive, compared to my older sister who seemed worldly and sophisticated to me. This was an exquisitely sweet twist on the role of “weaker twin” which I have been in a long line of recurrent dreams.
I don’t remember the whole first and middle parts of the dream--but I do remember them as being complicated and dramatic. The first part I recall is being in my older sister’s room. I was looking at her possessions and was in awe of how she’d gotten herself into such a messy, troubled situation. She was getting kicked out of the house possibly for being a junkie--but it wasn’t clear. It could also have been because we were so cramped in the little house we lived in. But while I was in her room, I looked up and realized, we lived in a gigantic lighthouse tower with hundreds of rooms--one on top of another! Almost all of them unoccupied. “I'll show you the room I’d like to have, if I had my choice” my older sister told me and all of the sudden it seemed our parents had a big, big secret what with all those rooms that I never even realized were there. We went upstairs, knowing it was “wrong” and that we didn’t want to get caught. The room she’d chosen was an old abandoned library. The windows were all covered up with paper, but it seemed like if one just ripped that off, there would be a lot of light in that room. At this moment, we were found by our parents--who’d brought our other sister and brother up with them. We understood that our father had no choice but to kill us all. There was something inevitable about this and I felt no anger at him--although it was also horrifying. We didn’t try to escape, or anything. We all left the tower and were out on the lawn. He killed my older sister and then cradled me in his arms very tenderly and drove home a huge needle filled with some heart-stopping drug right into my jugular. (There was something ironic about this method, considering my sister’s circumstances) It was suddenly obvious again that this was only a movie, so I played dead and pulled my hood over my face. He was singing me a lullaby comparing the sinking of a ship to the death of a swan. I wanted to tell him to sing me “Madeleine Mary” but I didn’t interrupt--not just because I was “dead”, but because being silenced felt good, romantic. And I was thinking that he was like the captain going down with his ship--or maybe he wasn’t brave enough to do that, but I still understood and loved him and that was beautiful.

I woke up and felt glorious.

Another Stained Glass Lesson

So what’s going on here and can I possibly put it down in words?! Yes, Peeps, a specific demo on a head. I ran out of blue glass for the piece in the earlier technical post and started this instead, and YOU can benefit!
My intention was to repeat the process in the head in the “Stained Glass Lesson” post. But try as I might, the material always talks back. I am using a red that is slightly lighter and this will make the color very different when its done...at least I think so.
I am not finished with the actual head yet, so as I post I am still working on it. It could all get flushed down the vortex of heck, for all I know...

The first photo, god willing I load them in the correct order, is my sketch.

Click to show rest of article

Photo #2 –Left side: are the pieces of red on clear and blue on clear I cut for the head, unsandblasted. The right hand side is the two pieces very lightly blasted (just enough to get a frosted finish) and the red plate is then marked up with a razor pt permanent marker. The final image in this series has a ruler for scale, FYI.
I am not going to do anything to the blue for a good long while...I have found its easier to conceptualize one layer at a time. This prevents my brain from exploding.

Photo #3 shows the head in sequence.
The first head has been painted with a mixture of red for flesh mixed with stencil black (look at the photo of my palette for proportions) and then ALL the excess is wiped off so it’s almost exactly the same red as before. (It might be hard to see in these photos because the color isn’t all that accurate.) So why do I do this paint-on and wipe-off step???? I’m not sure...I swear, it makes a difference—subtle, but visible. On top of this, I paint the trace line (for those who don’t know what a trace line is: I am using a liner brush to trace the marker lines with thin, calligraphy-like strokes.)
Then I fire it. 1210F and down. No ramps, no soaking, just pure steel nerves, baby!
The next four images in photo #3 are of engraving using both the flexible shaft engraver and a diamond file (see previous post for info). The image shows how I gradually remove material to make the highlight values in the face. I use the flex shaft to engrave hard edge lines and pure white areas—and the diamond file for tones.

Photo #4 is how it looked when I felt done enough to stop. The careful observer would note that if I went on any more there might be nothing left! Yes, I have done that! Engraving is “the craftsmanship of risk” to quote David Pye. If you’re not on the verge of disaster are you really alive? Get back to me with your one-page essays next week. The blue now has a marker drawing on it as well. This is because at some point, I intend to engrave and file it as well...just not yet! It is possible to be ridiculously accurate drawing this plate over the red one but it takes practice since the layers are flopped, and the glass has some depth. You will need to be slow and careful if you want an insane level of accuracy. Which I do.

Photo #5 shows the head with another coat of paint. Unfired. I expect it to lose some of its dynamism in the oven but I will put it back in firing #3.

That’s all I’ve done for now so stay tuned...same Bat Channel, same Bat Time.....

Diamond Files

Diamond files are made for lampworkers and glass blowers--I think to smooth the sharp parts that occur from breaking off of blowpipes and the like.  But these amazing li'l suckers will grind down flash too!  Why not?  Diamond abrasive is diamond abrasive and it scratches the heck outta glass, whether or not its attached to power source.  The only difference between sandblasting and filing is one is powered by squirrels on a treadmill in your basement and the other is powered by YOU!  (OK, there's more differences  than that, but you get the  picture).

I have noticed blue flash files with the smoothest tones.  Red is more inclined to be less tonal.

Here's a link to Wale Apparatus who stocks the files.  This link should take you to "Judith Schaecther's Preferred File"

But sometimes the links at Wale change so just in case, they call it  a"Starpad Deluxe Diamond Rectangular Hand File 2 1/2 inch X 1/4 inch, Item 350085"

I use the roughest grit--120, methinks.  The smallest file is 1/4" and you can shape the tip with an exacto or sandpaper for extra insane minute attention to detail...always desirable to the Militant Ornamentalist!

The image above shows the lovely tonal variations possible from filing blue flash.  Remember!  Sandblast first or your ARMS WILL FALL OFF!!!!!

Stained Glass Lesson

I wanna start out by saying that writing about specific techniques makes me feel like I’m “dancing about cooking” or something like that. One MAJOR caveat is that, in my experience, a description is harder to follow than a live demo and a live demo is no substitute for hands on experience with the actual materials—generally when I demo, even to artists with stained glass experience, its all a little confusing until they get their hands on the actual glass and can learn from first hand experience.

Second of all—I don’t have set plans and I don’t know how its gonna look when I’m done, I like to experiment and dammitol, so should you!

But here goes!

Click to show the rest of article

The head, hands and foot are three layers of flash glass.
Lamberts Red on Clear B (SA Bendheim catalog #20-1001R/CL B)
Saint Just Blue on Clear FL-110 (this is a VERY light blue flash—lighter than Lambert’s 1006 BL/CL A)
The pink is a DESAG gp/cl which is no longer being made. I would substitute the lightest Lamberts gp/cl.

I worked on the red/clear layer first—I don’t have the layers planned out in advance. I tend to do most of the image on the red because it is very stable and predictable in the kiln. But I don’t have any set ways of doing this stuff...its always subject to change.

1. First I sandblasted the red. I didn’t use a stencil and all I did was set the pressure low enough to frost the surface. I didn’t remove any red.

2. Then I drew the face on with a razor point permanent marker.

3. I mixed up some glass stainer’s colors. In this case about 50/50 Red For Flesh and Stencil Black. I painted the surfaces of the sandblasted glass and then wiped ALL the excess off with a paper towel. So everything that didn’t stick from the natural tooth of the sandblasting gets wiped off. This leaves the glass only a hair darker red than before. This piece is the first time this particular color combination didn’t suck big time and have to be trashed...
At this stage, you can see the pen drawing again and I went in with a liner/tracer brush (right now I use a #2 white nylon) and traced the pen lines I had drawn before with glass paint.

4. Then I fired the pieces. I fire at F 1210. I just go up as fast as possible (my kiln takes 20-25 mins), turn it off when it hits 1210, crack it to F. 1050 and then stick a tiny chunk of firebrick in the oven to keep it cracked about ½” and turn a fan on to vent it out my exhaust window. It cools in about two hours.

5. When the pieces came out, I went into them with a flex shaft engraver. I use diamond ball-shaped burrs, and cold water. On the light table so I can see what I’m doing! And I keep some bath towels around to mop up the mess. SO--I ground the highlights—where her skin is the whitest. NOT VERY MUCH mind you, as one can’t undo a subtractive process! But don’t be a big wuss about it, either. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.


6. Now here’s my big secret...listen carefully! After the engraver, I went into the piece and used a 3-M Starlite Diamond File (1/4”—the black one which has the roughest abrasive. You will the roughest as there’s nothing powering this tool but your poor elbow and wrist!)
I use the file to make the shading. Its very delicate, subtle and tonally rich. Gorgeous. And it’s hard as all heck on your arms!
I hold the file as parallel to the surface being worked as possible. Or course, as with ALL diamond tools, lots of cold water is necessary to cool the diamonds and towels so the water doesn’t flow into your light table and electrocute you.

7. Then I paint some of the shadows in. I used a mixture that was much darker—so a greater proportion of stencil black is added. I don’t use gum arabic. Mainly because I ran out in, like, 1985 and haven’t gotten any more....
I fired it again and went back in to make the shadows richer. I forget how many firings but I think only three.

8. The blue layer was an experiment. Usually I would remove the color in such a way that it complimented the red layer. I.e. so there would be blue where there was no red etc. In this case, I tried to remove color to echo how I did it on the red. I was very pleased with the results!! So it’s basically the same idea as the red without the paint. Sandblast, engrave, file till your arms fall off.

9. I fire polished the blue at F 1400. Don’t do this!!!! It’s too high. She looks like she has a 5:00 shadow from the texture in the blue glass at a certain angle. F 1350 would have been more than fine....maybe even F 1300...OK try F 1325!

10. The pink layer is the same as the blue but NO fire polish as it strikes. That is why this layer is the bottom. On the back side of the pink (the NON flash side) I engraved the veins with the flex shaft. I then rubbed some transparent aqua oil paint into the grooves to make them bluish.

So that’s the skin.

The puffy coat is two layers of blue. The bottom layer is sandblasted lightly (to make the toothy surface that’s oh-so-easy to paint on) and painted with stencil black. The top layer was a darker blue (Lambert’s 1006-BL/CL B) that was also lightly sandblasted, more heavily engraved and then filed a bit.

The yellow and red drapery coming out from the coat is plain yellow Lambert’s Antique (72xx, I think) that, once again, I sandblasted to make it paint-able. I screwed it up because the first layer was brown (like on the face) but it looked like crap and I eventually went over it with all black. I filed the highlights into the paint because it looks so damned good! The red layer is a photo sandblast stencil. Easy peasy and heavy fire polish.

Any questions class? Please ask in comments I would be happy to answer!!!
e ask in comments I would be happy to answer!!!

Women Riding Alligators..or are they cocodiles?

From my vast, vast, VAST archive of images.  I'm sure I have more on this theme...finding them is a problem--a big huge, vast, vast  problem.

This is for Jessica--not that she asked but I figured what the heck...doesn't everyone need to see a lady (dead or otherwise) riding on a giant reptile every now and then?  Now who wants to see the turtle one?

Until I figure things out....

I have a long technical description to post--but its so long I need to learn the secret of hiding blocks of text in HTML...working on it, working on it!!!!  If I can't figure it out I'll post it anyway.

Meanwhile, enjoy this picture of New Years Days at the Philadelphia Mummers Parade!  It's me, a mummer (who was a really nice guy!) and my friend JoAnn.

Input Received (so far!)

This is great--thank you all.

OK so Miss Fidget wants to see the alligator piece (Here it is--its called "The Talk" 2008).

Tara wants to see my daily life. This, I can try--I don't usually document things in that way and also my routine existence is really super boring!! But...if I do something of interest, I will post about it. As it happens I started this blog during a real lull--coming after last summer and fall when I was ridiculously super busy doing stuff that actually wasn't boring! (First I taught at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, then I went to the Glass Art Society Conference in Portland, the American Glass Guild Conference in Cherry Hill, NJ, then I taught at Toyama City Institute of Glass (TIGA) in Toyama, Japan.
When I got back I had about 60 days to complete my first ever permanent, architectural pice "Seeing Is Believing" for the new Museum of Arts and Design on Columbus Circle in New York City.
Then things slowed down and I started this blog.)

Bacci Galoupi suggests images of student work--I have TONS of images but I think I should get their permission to post it, but for now check out the work of the TIGA students. He also suggest images of my bug collection (uh? What bug collection? I do, however have a taxidermy collection and lots of bones and other wunderkammery type stuff...which I can post at some point but MEANWHILE Libby Soffer and Roberta Fallon of Artblog have a Flickr set up from when they came over for lunch a while back.


And JX wants me to show in England (me too!!!) and to talk some about technique. Okie dokie--I shall include some of that in the future. JX--I taught at Northlands in Scotland in 2007. AMAZING experience. Maybe someday they will invite me back!
It will be a challenge to talk about technique but I really want to share that type of info so I shall do so.


PLEASE keep letting me know how "Late breaking Noose" can serve you by leaving me comments! THANKS and happy new year to you all!