Through the Arch - Fused Glass
Weedon, Aylesbury
About Me - Penny Stevens
How Glass is Fused
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I make a range of objects from bathroom tiles, wall lamps, clocks, window inserts, wall-art plaques and cooker splash-backs to bowls, platters, jewellery, garden screens and Christmas decorations for commissions, my Etsy site, craft fairs and charitable events, art work for the art gallery in Woburn and many more.
I have started passing on my passion for glass to other would-be glass enthusiasts by running a series of one-day and half-day taster workshop courses.
Look for me on CRAFT COURSES.
The 'Through the Arch" studio is in a small village in Buckinghamshire where I hold the workshops and open-studio events.
I have developed my love-of-glass hobby into an engaging and creative small business, making and selling handmade, fused glass gifts and decorations.
Formerly a teacher and Deputy-Head in a primary school, I am now retired and enjoying taking my artistic talents to new heights. I have always had a love of art and painting, having studied art and biology at university, but the demands of teaching had always got in the way of following my passion in the arts.
My love of the colour and the texture of glass has inspired me to create many unique products in my current range, which is always changing and developing with experience in exploring different materials and processes within the marriage of glass and heat from the kiln.
The Glass-Fusing Process
Glass sheets, precious metals and millefiori beads are often used along with a vast range of coloured glass, dichroic glass, glass powders and Frits (small coloured glass chippings) to create these pieces of glass art. Each glass piece retains its own uniqueness with variations in colour and form. Work with dichroic and iridised glass is also very popular and extremely eye-catching, especially in jewellery.
The process of glass fusing requires glass to be cut, ground at the edges, to shape and remove sharp edges, and then coloured or given texture before placing in a kiln to 'fuse' the layers of glass together. In some cases the piece is then placed in the kiln again over a mould and 'slumped' to take on the form of the mould. During this process the glass is heated carefully to ensure that it is hardened in the process.
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Purchasing Glass Art
The items in my gallery are a portfolio of items I have made in the past. I would be delighted to be asked to make pieces for a commission - anything from a coloured bowl to suit your own style, bathroom or kitchen tiles, up to a large set of wall-art plaques, a window or a pair of glass wall lamps. Please contact me to discuss your ideas. If you wish to view any products you would be most welcome.
Contact me to order a commission or visit my studio, or you can see a very small range of my products at The Woburn Art Gallery or purchase from my ETSY shop.
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