So says Scott Adams of Dilbert fame. And yes, I do write on my walls, but that is a post for another day. About a year ago, Mark had the great idea of draping glass on unusual "found" items just to see what happened. Having grown up on a farm, he has always been intrigued with parts from implements, cogs, anything rusty, etc. While we were vending a quilt show last April, at the same time there was an antique tractor show and the vendors had some very interesting things. He made the rounds and came home with some intriguing possibilities.
So he fused glass in some interesting designs, then experimented with draping it over some rusty parts. Even under the best of conditions, fusing glass is always an experiment. There are so many factors that change how things turn out--just a few degrees in temperature can make the difference between something that turns out exactly like you were hoping and, well, something you weren't counting on at all.
Case in point:
First Mark fused the glass layers together in a flat square shape, with a green cross on the black background. Looked great. His idea then was to make an abstract bowl where he would just set the glass on the three little feet, fire the kiln hot enough to kind of sag it down somewhat, and voila! A very artsy bowl.
What happened instead was that the glass fused TO the form. Solid. There was no separating these two. Mark had to chip the glass off in little pieces. For some reason, once he got all the glass off the feet, the center kind of popped off in a big chunk.
Next dilemma: Toss it? Start over and turn down the heat?
Or....make a new base, use all the broken pieces to make something new and different. Not what he had originally visualized, but I love this new piece. It's name:
Broken at the cross: going green--be careful what you worship.
I think a lot about the things that are really important, especially with the economy the way it is. Cutting back. Making do. Sometimes what seems like a failure at the time can turn out being even better in the long run.
