I'm At It Again.....

For those of you who really know me, you know that I can't keep still for long before I'm trying something new.  I'll try anything once, doesn't mean I have to like it or stick with it, but I'm adventurous and I will give it my best shot!

This weekend, I was in Carytown on a special mission (I'll be posting about that later) a popular area here in town.  Carytown is home to many interesting things, such as our Annual Watermelon Festival, antique shops, ecclectic boutiques, one of a kind shops, vintage shops, jewelry stores, consignment shops, pet stores, restaurants, bead stores and so much more.  It's the one place I always visit during Christmas, to find one of a kind unique gifts.

Typically, parking is a bear on a Saturday afternoon, but luck would have it, I found a spot directly in front of a little shop - "All Fired Up".  Well, curiosity got the best of me of course, because all I could see was color peeking out the little shop window at me, calling my name..."Dee, come see".  Naturally, I went in, what else was a girl to do? 

Inside was wall to wall ceramic EVERYTHING! It was a paint your own ceramic studio, with dishes, cups, coasters, animals, houses, fish, ornaments, you name it, they had it. I didn't know where to start looking, my eyes were shifting every which way they could.  But, then something said "stop...hold up...wait one minute"!  There was a little angel that had dropped by to remind me of all the decluttering I had just done! (we all remember this post, don't we?)  It was just as I was about to turn around and walk out, that something caught my eye....

 Directly in front of me was a bookstand full of not ceramic, but glass.  And over to the far right of that little bookstand was a little cubbie, holding something near and dear to my heart...a pendant (I say with a smile), not clutter, not something without a match, but a pendant..and now I was ready to ask tons of questions before my twelve o'clock appointment! After ten minutes of me firing questions and the shop attendant, happily answering, I was prepared to return in a couple of hours to make my first Fused Glass Pendant!

Two hours later I was back with sleeves rolled up and ready to go. Mind you..I had a camera in my purse that I was all worked up about taking pictures with for this post, BUT I got so caught up in the moment, I totally forgot to take my own photos.  The photos you see here are from the All Fired Up website, but I will be returning and I will take my own pictures next time. 

After arming me with all the essentials such as my base glass, my selected color glass (which I changed three times), a bucket of left over glass, glass powder, glass noodles,glass tubes, liquid glass, glue, cutting tools, marker, tray, table, chair and instructions, I was left alone to do some major damage.

(obviously, this is not me working on a pendant, but gives you an idea of the set up and the glass)

 Just a note to anyone thinking about giving this a shot..powdered glass, may look like powder, but it's still glass. My fingers can attest to that after my little sprinking ordeal. 

After an hour of glass flying on the floor, crocked cuts, and several design changes, my project was complete and ready to be fired. It is at this point that the nice ladies, come take your pice, label it, ring up your craft, and give you a return date to pick up.  If I know best, I'm certain they'll perform some magic behind the scenes to it (like straighten it up) , fire it up in the kiln and make it look really pretty!

So now I wait...10 DAYS!!!  But oh no, I won't just wait.  In the meantime, I've already been researching on line, perfecting the cuts in my mind, watching videos and reading, I'll be drawing up a design and planning my colors, because when I go back...I'm doing it all over again, but this time in style!!

This is a really cool glass pendant from Into The Lights Studio from Etsy, just to give you an idea of the possibilities if you aren't familiar with fused glass.  Mine will in no way turn out like this in 10 days, but I have a feeling I won't be giving up so easily on this project.

Unveiling something different,