Julia Williamson Art Glass

When "The Studio" becomes "The Dungeon"

2011-03-24T14:34:00.000-07:00

I had been cloistered away in my basement studio for weeks!! all to no avail. Recently I changed the type of kiln shelves I am using for firing, and can only surmise that this has affected the success in the finish products, or should I be more explicit the lack of success. It is so very frustrating to put in all that effort and expense (I don’t paint on cheap glass) and be dissatisfied. I recently converted to fibreboard shelves and have experienced etching on the underside of the painted glass. I made this conversion because I have two shelves in my kiln and to maximize the consistency in firing between the shelves I must rotate them during the hold time of the firing. Ceramic shelves get too hot and heavy to rotate with any ease, and whiting filled shelf trays can kick up dust onto the not totally fired glass during rotation. I experimented with new test firings using different shelf mediums like fibrepaper and whiting, changed temperatures and hold times all with inconsistent results. In some cases the glass suffered no ill effects then in later firings with precisely the same conditions I experienced a repeat of the problem. Thank goodness for electronic kiln controls because I can rule that out from the equation.

Never-the-less after over a week of moping around the house tonight I intend to go back down to “The Dungeon” (that’s what I call my studio when my projects are unsuccessful) and give it another try.

If anyone has experience with this type of etching, please drop me a line. When I resolve this issue I'll be sure to post and save anyone else the heartache.

I Have a Confession to Make

2010-11-23T02:56:00.000-08:00

At 57 years of age I swear, I have never told anyone what I am going to share right now. No one, not even my family, knows about this. I was young, very young, just learning to ride a tricycle for the first time when I broke the neighbour’s stained glass window. In a reckless fit of physical ineptitude I put the front wheel right through the basement window. My little friend who owned the trike was aghast! (her father wasn’t too thrilled either). I still remember those cruel words she spoke: “Why did you have to break the pretty window, why didn’t you break one of the other ones.”

This incident probably sparked the two defining characteristics of my life. Forever after, I have viewed myself as a klutz, and to atone for my sins I have worked relentlessly to become a damn good stained glass artist.

(The truth of the matter is: it wasn’t a real stained glass window, it must have been a silk screened design put on the glass, because with real stained glass the lead would have held the broken glass pieces together!!!)

New Beginnings

2010-11-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

Today I start a new chapter! I am attempting to take this private persona that I have for so long protected and emerge from my cocoon to present myself to the world.