Day 29 & 30

Today and tomorrow our challenge is to take a black and white "selfie" and create a glass powder self-portrait from it.  This is a huge challenge for all of us.

Ahhhhhhh......ya!  Bought the threshold of my capabilities too.  Well...at least I can control that pesky double chin!!  Silver lining baby....silver lining

Get ready for a good belly laugh my glass friends..

Here it is.....unfired at this point.

Not too shabby. I see I missed some crucial highlights that would have been helpful.  

Final ones in the kiln. Now just the collage left. 

Day 27 & 28

The challenge for Day 27 & 28  (I think you know what it is).....

Create a fused glass powder sgraffito drawing of our model, Albert.

Here are some hints that will help you in your approach:

Begin your drawing upside-down.  Squint your eyes and look for the areas that are the darkest darks and the lightest lights.  Get the rough shapes of those areas in first.    Next, think about the tools you've created and the textures you've been able to make with them.

As you work, take photos of your portrait in progress.  This will help you figure out where problem areas are.  You will have two days to complete this project, so post an 'in progress' photo for today, and a photo of your completed piece for tomorrow.  

You have everything you need, use everything in your arsenal!

OMG......I did not think I could or would EVER be able to do this!!

But........

I think I'm pretty happy with this guy. I'm not so intimidated with the self portrait now. I must confess....I was quite overwhelmed and did not do ANYTHING the first day and a half. Probably took me 2 hours. 

Here is the right side up pre fired version

Here is Albert

Day 26

Create yet another tree.... BUT!

 This time, the tree should be created upside-down.  That means that you will start at the top  of your glass with the trunk, and pull the glass toward you to make the branches.

Today you may use both hands in your work, plus the business card and your choice of tools.

Here is the 'catch'... Anything on the left side of the tree must be drawn with your left hand, and anything on the right side of the tree must be drawn with your right hand.

Even though you have full access to your 'tools' you should still use them in the appropriate hand, depending on the side you are working on.

My upside down, left to right tree.....

Now it's right side up......hmmmmmmmm

Day 25

Today's Challenge for Day 25:  Create a Glass Powder Sgraffito Drawing of a tree, using only a business card, tools at your disposal, and your non-dominant hand. 

Day 24

Today's challenge is to go back to the beginning, and create a fused glass sgraffito sketch of a tree using only the business card and non-dominant hand.

Not as hard as I anticipated.....

Day 23

The challenge for today.......

Take a photo of something you collect, and create a glass powder sgraffito drawing of it. 

These are a tiny few of the seashell collection from Whangerai, New Zealand. My favorites are the three cat's eyes.

Darn.....I forgot the shadows. That really flattens everything.

Day 22

This is today's challenge......

A safety pin is a fabulous subject for so many reasons... It's a simple object that everyone is familiar with, but still a difficult little bit of a thing though, isn't it?  That's what makes it a great challenge!

Here are some hints at how you can tackle this tiny shiny.

Really LOOK at the pin.  Study it and find the edges where dark and light meet.  Lines are essentially 'darks meeting lights'.  Finding those places, instead of just drawing a line in the shape of the pin will be important if you want to make the pin look shiny.

1. Pay careful attention to the negative space around and inside the safety pin.  Getting to know the shapes around the pin itself will help you get the shape of the actual pin right.

2. Your wide range of values (light, middle, dark) will determine whether your safety pin looks flat and dull, or sharp and shiny.  Find those edges where light and dark meet.

Not too bad...I need to be able to get finer lines and lighter shadows.

Day 21

Today's Challenge is.....

Compose a collection of flowers in a container. 

Again, try to stick with using only black glass powder and focus on achieving a nice value range, white, light, middle, dark, black

Squinting at your work will help you see if you have a good range of shades, if things look flattened, you probably need more values in your range.

Pay attention to flowers that are not front-facing, and try your best to place some flowers in front of others to create depth.  

Oops......forgot to include the container

Day 20

Challenge today is a floral theme but limited to ONLY black frit.......getting as much or as many tones and textures as possible.   I have to work on my gradients and develop some new tools to get some texture in really dark areas. 

Day 19

A floral...flower themed sketch of our choice. 

This is my Water Lily. 

Hmmmmm....needs some work in bottom right (of the flower) methinks. 

Will have to try this again....along with my shark. 

Day 18

'Third of three whites. I like this one...

Fired

All three together

Day 17

Second of three days of white.......a skull. Not as good a result as I had hoped. I will try this one again.

Fired

Day 16

3 days of white. Black powder on white. Look for the negative space.

Ya....it's my mask.....do you remember to put yours on?

Fired

Day 15

Yummmmmm.........something I ate today

Here is the real thing

Here it is fired....

Day 14

Today's challenge was to draw something that frightens you. Well the shark was scary but what frightened me the most was just trying it......aaarrrrrggggggg!

So, I decided to try the shark again.......this time on black with white powder. I found this one just as difficult but in a different way.  Maybe I will come back to this later. 

Well....that didn't work very well.....any comments?  Suggestions?

My powder partners fear......

Fired

Day 13

Well this should be interesting. The shark is quite a challenge. I love the pic.

Oh.....and my glass sidekick is back. So much more fun. 

Go....hurry.....swim, swim, swim.

This was hard. If I had not forced myself to let go.....I'd still be working on it. 

Fired

Shark #2

Paddle, paddle, paddle hard!

Fired

Day 12

Something I use most very day......at least when I am doing glass work.......😜

The model

Fired

Day 11

Pick a vegetable....pay attention to texture.

This is a baby bokchoy.....they are so cute

Fired

Day 10

Here is my fruit again.......and what is it doing...you ask?

It's a striptease!!!   Quick....close your eyes

Well that was much harder than I thought it was going to be.  I had trouble getting the peel to look like it's coming off the orange. 

Day 9

Picture of fruit.

I choose an orange

I don't really like the bottom but am unsure of how to fix it.......hmmmmmm

I like this bottom better

Day 8

Ok....I screwed up somewhere.....mixed up my pics and can't figure it out...oh well

So.......no time limit today and encouraged to make or reuse more Scrafitto tools. I am really enjoying seeing what everyone is coming up with. Rock on my Scrafitto peeps. 

Too cold here to do anything else.....brrrrrrr

Day 7

Yaaaaa.......we get a tool today. It's like getting a treat. I used some clay tools I had kicking around. 

Here is my contribution and tools

The tools from the junk drawer. The top one is interesting as it is curved. Not the top of my list.

Day 6

Challenge today is another 5 in 5. I'm getting used to these and it's getting a bit easier. It's interesting to push yourself. 

ONE

Oh no......not a good start.......ran out of my 5 minutes

TWO

THREE

FOUR

Ya....this one didn't get finished

FIVE

I added some colour to this one.....the last one. I'm curious to see how it fuses. 

Day 5

Alrighty then...another 5 in 5. I was kinda liking these....until the last few. I must confess that I kept 2 and fanned on the last one. My shadow sgraffitoist did much better. He likes the colour.....I'm sticking with black and white for the most part.  Here they are, pre-fired

ONE

TWO

THREE

I like the trees.....my fish...yes it's a koi....with the rumply head....makes me laugh😜

FOUR

Ok....so the colour is catchy...ahahahaha........so fire me (pun intended)

FIVE

OK....so neither of us can count. That's it for today