A couple of my men

A pic taken whilst visiting the family (son Laurie, daughter in law Nina, Alice (10) and Grisha (2) in Garmisch Partenkirchen, where they live.

Mural by Nina.

House move.

Suddenly we are moving house to move in with my parents. They need us so everything, Book, jewellery , glassy stuff and all will have to wait a few weeks till we are settled in.
I will soon be back on the blog, so meanwhile happy holidays to all!

The Book, Glass Gold Leaf and Paint

Progress is being made.

I have edited nearly all chapters and in the early New Year it will go for the final edit (final, ha.), and the self publishing machine will start to grind into action. I am now compiling a list of possible buyers, so I will have an idea of the print run. It will be small, but those who want it, really want it; its been a long time coming. And we can always reprint.

So anybody reading this who may want a copy, please let me know.

And if you have any ideas about institutions to contact such as some obscure glass museum in the Boonies I have never heard of, or some institution of some kind that would be interested, shout!

Some facts about the book:

Glass, Gold Leaf and Paint

Foreword by Bill Gudenrath (Corning Museum of Glass, USA)

A chapter on the history of the techniques by the Munich-based conservator, Simone Bretz

About colour 80 pics.

Apart from the history, there is discussion of materials and how to work with them, equipment, recipes, methods, and a Mirror Project with step by step photos of every stage.

Also there is an extensive biblio., glossary, suppliers list and museums list.

It will be about 20, 000 words, around 200 pages.

I fully expect it to come out next year. Fingers crossed.

More soon!

17^th century églomisé (engraved leaf on glass) Pair of Shepherds Courtesy, Wolfgang Steiner

Bit of a gap

The gap has been due to a virus that started on 3 October and does not want to go! I finally feel able to write something but the last 6 weeks have been pretty useless in terms of work, and energy is out of the window.

The bug started in Germany, where I was at a conference on reverse glass painting, known as Hinterglasmalerei. Held in the Residence in Wuerzbug, we were given a tour of this extraordinary, fully restored building, and in particular of the mirror room, where painted glass covers walls, doors and ceiling.

I am just back from a weekend at Glashuis, Lommel, Belgium, where, despite bug I did manage to teach 9 students. The glass museum, hot shop and study area is in a very quiet area of Belgium, an hour from Antwerp. This was a second visit there this year. I am to go again next year, when we will run a longer class using hot as well as cold techniques. We also have a plan to run a course based on techniques used only in the early 19th century. They have a big pool of students there, from the glass school in Antwerp, and word is getting around gilding and painting on glass is a good thing. And fun.

The book, Glass, Gold Leaf and Paint, which many will know has been in preparation for some time, will be completed and investigations on how to get it printed and published will then start. I am hoping it will be out next year, but self publishing is new territory for me. I tried to upload the poster I made but cannot do it for some reason.

The development of the jewellery will wait until the book is put away, but I have placed several pieces at the shop at Lommel, and made quite a few sales amongst the students. Very encouraging.

So, more rest for me then back, once again to the wheel. If you have been, thank you for reading.

Pic. experimental necklace with inserts of gilded glass. Photographer, Rob Popper

This is the screen exhibited recently at Vessel Gallery, London.

The glass is about 1m tall. All done in reverse with gold, silver and paints.

photo: Ester Segarra

weekends

The conference on reverse gilding and painting, Hinterglasmalerei, was intriguing.

So many people who are interested in the history of the art, who care deeply about when and where certain work was made and how much was paid for it. Others are restorers and conservators who do not actually know how it is done. Practitioners could be counted on one hand. The only other person under 80 who practiced was Eric Winkler, so we ganged up and had much to discuss. He is a great enthusiast and researcher, based in Amsterdam.

The next conference will be 5/6 October, 2012, in Augsburg. I hope to have not only copies of the book, Glass Gold Leaf and Paint, but also to be exhibiting work to show not only what I have done over the years, but what CAN be done with the medium. It would be so good to get younger people hooked, somehow. Sadly the economy is prohibiting people like myself from teaching short courses at colleges.

Flight back was a killer: dep. 7.30 am. and straight into the 2nd weekend of Open Studio. It was Sunday so had to hop all over by bus to get home.

O.S. was a success, lots of visitors and good feedback for the new jewellery line. People very positive. I am sure more sales will follow when I find the right market. Ha, marketing.

So of course caught a bug and am now in bed trying to get rid of it. The joys of bed-blogging.

More soon.

This weekend

Off to Wurzburg, Germany tomorrow to a 2- day conference on Hinterglasmalerei. There I will spread the word about the Book, which we hope will appear in Sept. next year.

Goose pendant

Open Studios is open next weekend too, 8,9 October, as well as pv on Thursday evening, 7-9pm.

Had a very good first weekend, and lets hope we have a good turnout for the 2nd!

New pics of Jewellery

Thanks to the photograher Rob Popper, rob.popper@marketsquares.co.uk, I have some excellent new pics of the latest jewellery.

These are, as is all the jewellery, gilded glass, using gold, moon and white gold leaf. The light catches them and they look different as they move and reflect. Here are cufflinks and earrings.

Contact me please for more info.

Tuesday

Slightly overwhelmed by the prospect of the new business and all there is to do.

But here is a pic of a tiny pendant that will match a set of earrings, that will also match cufflinks etc. More, better pics, are on the way. Cord is replaced by thin silver chain.

Looking for help to maintain website.

exciting new business

I am having great fun making a new business. I am finding out not only how to convert gilded glass into jewellery, but also learning the business side, which is costing, publicity, the web and so on. A new journey. Please keep visiting, you will see updates often.

First event is Open Studios, 1, 2 October at the studio, 20 Valonia Gdns. London SW18 1PY.

All feedback welcome and of course visitors.

Resuming business.

It's been a while but we are back. Pictures will be coming soon. Have patience. F

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