Snow Scene on Wine Glass Demonstration for 2012 WOCP Show–Yakima WA April 19-21

This show is my first opportunity to demonstrate glass painting in the United States. I love sharing my lessons about painting on glass and plan to share my experience of getting ready for this show on this blog. There have been so many questions asked by myself and some of the painters who attend classes in my studio. These painters are also attending the show for the first time. Some of the questions have been answered and many of our concerns currently need solutions. We are excited about attending the event and we are looking forward to meeting artists, demonstrators and vendors who are attending the show. As I finish each step in preparation for the show there will be a blog posting sharing the process as we get ready to attend. Hopefully these postings will help other show newbie’s when they are getting prepared to demonstrate at an art show.

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Covering White Enamel and lettering applied to wine Glass

Wine Glass Painting–Preparation for 2012 WA WOCP Show
April 19–21 • Yakima, WA

Eight clear wine glasses where purchased from The Dollar Store specifically for this project. While at the dollar store there was a chance meeting with friends who were wondering what I would be doing with a cart full of wine glasses. It is rare for me to drink so that would be a natural question to ask. They offered humorous suggestions about getting prepared for the show and mentioned they had purchased a hundred wine glasses at at one time for events. After sharing a laugh, I felt reassured that my cart of eight wine glasses didn’t appear to be over the top. However, after thinking about the stages in this project, there was another another trip to the discount store because this project is going to require more glasses. Total glasses in preparation for the show is now eighteen. With all of those wine glasses sitting around on the tables, this art studio is beginning to look and feel like a festive party might be happening soon.

Before painting, the clear wine glasses were hand washed with dish deteregent which helped remove the stickey residue left behind where a label was affixed to the bottom of each glass. The glasses were placed in the dishwasher and ran through a cleaning cycle. I could have dried the glasses by hand, however, running them through the dishwasher removes all of the lint and fingerprints from the glass surface and saved me the trouble of holding each glass up to the light only to find that there was another piece of lint or other residue on the glass and spending extra time cleaning. The dishwasher makes this process easier. Glass is much easier to paint when I start with a sparkly clean surface.

I gathered the supplies and readied myself to paint eight glasses with white glass enamel. By the end of the painting session four wine glasses were covered with white glass enamel. Darn…my goal was to finish all eight glasses but wouldn’t ya know it….experiments happen. I couldn’t resist playing around with rubber stamps covered with white enamel paint. Next thing that happened was an idea. Maybe white stamped letters could peek out from behind some the landscapes? And that experiment is the reason only four of the glasses were prepared for the WA WOCP Yakima show this afternoon..…anyway that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

Tomorrow is another painting day.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Enjoying an afternoon painting session. It is snowing, raining 💦 and a little sunny 🌻 once in awhile. This is a good day to begin painting the base coat on four more wine glasses. Alas! they are finished and ready to place in the kiln. The enamel will be fired at cone 022 or approximately 1087 degrees in a Skutt Electric kiln.

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The Artist Nest Magazine Premier Issue

…..yes the words…it was a labor of love…are cliché. However, it can be said the production of the premier issue of this magazine was a genuine effort to bring painting instructions to life within the flip pages of a digital magazine. The learning curve was beyond steep. In fact it could be described as an uphill climb with many obstacles which were all valuable learning experiences. There are so many new gizmos and gadgets available for designing digital publications and the future of the digital magazine looks to be interesting on so many levels.

It was such a thrill to get those pages to come to life and I want to share a preview with you. Please click on the following to view a few pages of the magazine. http://labergedesign.com/ArtistNestMarketing/artnstmarket.html

A full version CD of the magazine is available for purchase at the this link: http://www.labergedesign.com/artnestmag.html

What is next? The second issue is under construction. There are more instructions to write such as an article about brushes and other interesting tools. There will be information about melting glass bottles and applying decals onto wine glass bottles. There is a step by step article on painting a magnified view of a wild rose.The next issue will be more interactive with links to more information on the web.

I would like to say thank you to everyone who has been supportive of the efforts that have gone into developing this magazine.

Happy Painting!

The Artist Nest is a new publication for people who enjoy weaving creativity into their lives. The magazine will be available by January 20, 2012.

The premier issue of the magazine is 30 pages of instructions for glass and porcelain painting and drawing exercises.

You will be able to purchase the magazine as a DVD/CD or download to your magazine reader on the computer or you can purchase a printed copy that will be delivered to your mailing address.

Stay tuned…Soon the premier issue will be uploaded and ready for you to view.

Return to www.labergedesign.com