THE BIG REVEAL

SILVER SOLDER
SPECIAL STUDIES 3-D ART
handcut glass shards, silver solder, flux, soldering iron & tons of patience
  
I made you wait a little longer than I'd intended...

to see the end result of Shreya Sheth's Silver Soldered Lantern.

So without further ado here it is.

An engineering marvel,
one of the most difficult techniques to master.

Pulled off like no other solder piece ever created here.

You are unbelievable Shreya.

So very talented.

Kudos to you dear girl.

I want to take this chance Shreya,
 to wish you the best
 at Chapman University in Orange , Ca.
studying the History of Art.
I have complete confidence that you will be a Superstar there
like you were here in the Whitney Art Department.
One day you will send me an email telling me you are putting up a Van Gogh show
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Or repair and restoring a Degas sculpture.
What do they say?
The world is your oyster!

A SNEAK PEEK

SILVER SOLDERED LANTERN

3-D ART - SPECIAL STUDIES

colored glass, copper tape, silver solder, soldering iron, clamps, glass cutter, cutting mat, flux

Senior Shreya Sheth, 

who has 2 Independent Study classes with me back to back (2 hours),

has taught herself to silver solder over copper tape.

Using this Stained Glass technique over cut pieces of glass,

she has created a fabulous lantern.

She cuts her glass pieces on top of a self healing green mat

 using a traditional glass cutter tool.

Above you see her playing with her design.

Next she wraps each piece with copper tape and using a wooden clothes pin

as a burnishing tool,

she smooths the tape down tight.

Next she uses clamps as a third hand to hold her piece as she solders from the bottom up.

Flux is applied first with a make-up sponge to all copper connections

before she solders.

And here we see her about to solder her sides together.

Stay tuned for the finished piece.

One of the eye catchers at Open House this year.

Fused

FUSED GLASS PENDANTS & SILVER SOLDER

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

glass shards, copper tape, silver solder, flux, craft wire & jump rings

I was unplugged there for a couple of days.

I'm finding it so much harder to be disciplined in the summertime.

Having way too much fun in the garden and working on a few art pieces. 

These little beauties were done by my three little beauties for a jewelry unit.

I did get some interesting feedback from the girls for next year.

They felt these pendants were more for older woman to wear then younger women,

so they suggested that we turn them into button covers rather then pendants.

Great idea!!!

This first grouping was made by senior Kaili Hamada.

She did have a lot of fun wrapping the fused glass with the craft wire for some inspiring designs.

Our next batch were created by senior Daphne Chiang.

Notice her really cool partially fused pendants,

and also her solder glass piece of she and her mother.

Nice Daph!

Senior Bianca Tolentino experimented with the copper wire,

 and melted it between two glass pieces to form a "B".

Then she soldered around it.

Another wonderful idea for a new requirement for next year.

Thanks Bianca!

Mosaic Tile Boxes - Student Work

My Intermediate 3-D students loved this assignment.  We start by making Polymer tiles (above and below) ala Laurie Mika of "Mixed Media Mosaics", bake them, ... 

then arrange and glue them down to the sweet little wooden boxes I pick up for the kids at Michael's (below).

This striking "Star Gazer" box was made by senior Ashley Chowdhury.  Love the pearlescent paint she used on the inside with the alternating black stripes.

In this next one by senior Amy Hsu, you can see how she incorporated her soldered piece into the lid design (a requirement).

Another requirement was to find a place for one of their fused glass pieces.  Both Ashley and Amy chose to put theirs on the inside cover.

In this next gorgeous work by senior Lauren De Belen, she has chosen to keep her colors in a complimentary color scheme (purple and gold).  She has glued her fused glass piece on the top cover...

and attached her soldered work to the clasp.  Clever girl!

And then there is over achiever (I love it) senior Tiffany lee, you go girl!  Instead of working on the box foundation, she chose a wooden birdhouse instead.   And I don't know where she found the time to make all those tiles.  It's really remarkable. 

Also notice all those gold and silver beads and charms she has incorporated along with the tiles.  A great look.

And wait till you see this next one by senior Angela Wan.  Brilliant use of color and design as you will see below when you open the lid.

She has stayed in a primary color scheme and played up all the value of red and blue.  Fantastic piece kiddo!

I

This next one by junior Josh Berger is so serene and peaceful.  Notice his solder piece in the center works so well with the designs he has built around it.

And then there is senior Sheila San Agustin with her tree box.  Another overachiever  LOL.  She found a bunch of twigs in my room that I'd collected last summer and paper mached them to the box lid, and then did a great surround with her glass shards and beads.

She put her polymer tiles on the sides along with her solder pieces.  Pretty cool tiles, huh??

And then when you take off the lid she has built dividers into her box, padded and lined the inside for a truly remarkable work.  Sheila took this piece home with her every night so she'd be able to finish on time.

Doesn't get any better then this!!!  Love these kids!

Free-Choice Soldering - Student Work

My 3rd year Advanced 3-D kids got to use their soldering skills they learned in 2nd year to do a much more complex work.  Senior Nida Fatima chose her family and home as subject and came up with this very clever design.  The pieces she put under glass where paper and cloth collage...  

if you look closely below you can even see some stitching, and above some stamping on the glass with a leaf print.

The most difficult parts, and there were many, were soldering on all those tiny jump rings.  Luckily Nida has extreme patience and persistence when it comes to crafting.

Senior Kevin Tang did this very cool piece below, his theme, bringing together all peoples, in all languages.  He used a lot of texture in his soldering, and had at least 3 layers going on for a really interesting effect.

Unfortunately, I don't seem to have a pix of senior Rita Labib's piece.  But I know it's at school so when I go back next week, I'll insert the photo.  

Soldered Glass Unit - Student Work

Yesterday I shared the Full and Partially Fused Glass pieces by my Intermediate 3-D kids, today I'd like to show off the Soldered Glass project that we did in conjunction with the fused glass (like you see above), and also with clear glass (below).

Each student was to show me they could solder around one of their full fused pieces like senior Julia Chanco did above.  I really like how she cut the cooper tape into scallops before she soldered for a more decorative edge.  The young ones also had to show me they could solder on a jump ring (super difficult).

Each student also had to make 2 clear soldered glass pendents like the rest shown here.  These are double sided so they had to find something special/meaningful for both sides.  Soldering is challenging and takes practice, this wasn't easy for them to do, but I felt it was an important skill for them to learn.

The darling cat above was made by senior Amy Hsu, and the stamp from Argentina was soldered by senior Ashley Chowdhury. 

This really fun piece above was made by senior Sheila San Agustin, and the two below by senior Tiffany Lee.  

The cool stamps came from a great Garage Sale find I made last year that I shared with my students.

Part Three with Katherine England

Katherine teaches kids a really fun project.  She takes pictures of them and has them decorate their pix with linear textures in different colored pens.  Above is the example that Katherine has done of herself. 

Katherine oftentimes designs at pieces around her family members.  Below are two soldered crowns that she has made for two of her children.  The front one is for her daughter Hannah.  I like how she has them displayed in her home of these wood rounds.

She allowed me to borrow it so that I could have a great example to show my classes.  I'm currently teaching  a soldering unit to my Intermediate 3-D kids.

Below are all sides of Hannah's crown.

Other solder projects she has around her house is this very creative self-portrait below.  I really like how she has hinged it together.

 Next we have a portrait of Katherine and all her siblings.

And below, Katherine's two sons,

and her two daughters.  

Really fun hinges.

My favorite solder piece of hers is the one below.  I believe she told me this was her dad.  I love how she designed and mounted it on a twig.  So delicate and a lovely tribute her her father. 

Over the last couple of years I've done several profiles on the art and life of Katherine England.  To see more, scroll down under labels and find her under "Professional Glass Artist Katherine England"  

Enjoy!