RECYCLE THOSE GLASS SHARDS

CARVED GLASS PLAQUES

CERAMICS I

clay, glass shards & glazes

Start saving your colored glass bottles,

wrap them in two layers of newspaper,

and lay on concrete and take a hammer to it.

Oh yeah,

put  on protective eyewear!

The only kind of glass that doesn't work is windshield glass,

it won't melt completely down in the kiln. 

I recycle lots and lots of glass every year.

I also take in donations from stained glass artists.

And when I still don't have all the colors the kids want,

I go spend a bit of money and buy recycled pieces from my local Stained Glass Store.

They charge me by the pound. 

This is a favorite assignment in this first year class,

because it's always a delightful surprise to see how the glass melts and mixes in the kiln.

One of the most stunning works to come out was made by senior Archana Vancheswaran.

(above)

She will be forever known as the Class of 2016's Mud Woman

because the clay loved her.

Besides being a beauty,

this work by junior Annie Oh really captures an expressive attitude.

This year we are seeing a lot of luscious turquoises being used in the plaques.

Junior Leon Tong used it above in his Superman logo,

and below senior Aaron Chough has used it as well.

I want to give a special shout out to Aaron,

he is at West Point right now going thru Boot Camp,

and I hear it's pretty bad.

My heart goes out to you Aaron.

Good Luck!

The lovely and perfectly crafted crane above is the work of junior Sarah Chang,

one of my favorite students from this last year.

She was one of my hardest working students and as sweet as could be.

Really looking forward to seeing you again Sarah.

Sure hope you'll be able to fit at least 2 of my classes in next year.

Two of the best athletes at our school,

juniors Ben Barnett & Edward Malacon,

carved these fun balls.

I think it's really cool how Ben's glass melted so that it looks like he has highlights and shadows.

Both boys also painted black glaze onto the top edges of the carved out areas to enhance them.

These next two very different birds were done by junior Andy Hu,

and senior Tarun Desai.

Tarun's was an especially challenging one to pull off with all the ins and outs of his shape,

and I really like how Andy's glaze broke over his piece.

One of our amazing Valedictorians, 

senior Frances Lee,

created this fabulously difficult TEDX piece.

One of the things I loved the most about Frances is that she always challenged herself in the class,

always gave me the best she had.

That will take her a long way.

The perfectly crafted work inspired by Star Wars was built by junior Gary Liu.

Love the way the glass melted together.

I believe he used a combination of yellow, gold and brown.

Gary is another one I hope will be back next year.

The clay loved him.

Another student the clay loved was junior Sarah Woo.

Everything this young woman created she did with all her heart.

Here is another one headed into a major in Art.

And this cutie patootie was done by junior Cathy Huang.

She was the young one who built the narwhal coil pot.

If you look closely,

 you will see the different shades of blue and turquoise Cath used to fill up her carved out areas.

She,

 like many of the others,

 painted glaze along her edges to pull the whole piece together.

Fantastic job all of you!