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!

Soldered Glass - Student Work

These works were done by my 2nd year 3-D kids, and it's their first time working with the soldering iron.  They would tell you that's it's really fun and easy till you have to mount the jump rings.  That part is extremely difficult.

For their first soldering assignment I ask them tofind something special to flatten between 2 clear pieces of glass.  In this top pix I really like how senior Elsie Aguilar put the piece of stripped paper behind her dried flowers.  It's a really good look. 

In this next work senior Andrea De Leon made a very cool bracelet for herself.  Made with lots of jump rings, so she had to work really hard to pull this off.

Soldered Glass - Student Work

I could have sworn I posted these already but I couldn't find them, but if I have please forgive the repeat, that's what happens when you get old  LOL

Anyways, these where done by my Advanced 3-d girls, seniors Nandi Best and Kelsea Lee.  They learned to solder last year in the 2nd year 3-D class, so this year I let them do a free choice assignment in solder and glass.  Some years the kids build a 3-dimensional work, sometimes they want to work flat.  

In Nandi's piece here, she has a bit of both.  I especially love the little net catch-all she made and the 3-d box filled with origami stars.  What a neat piece.  Plus check out how she stamped the glass with ink designs.  I believe I remember her telling me that the dried flowers under glass as well as the paper pieces she had collected at senior retreat, so they have a very special meaning to her.  Wonderful, wonderful work Nandi.

Kelsea was absent for many days during this assignment so she wasn't able to put in the time that Nandi did, but she still came up with a great design.  I'm pretty sure she was inspired by her good friend Brian  :)

Mosaic Tile Boxes - Student Work

I'm so excited to share these remarkable boxes.  They were made by my Intermediate 3-D students, and these poor kids had to jump thru lots of hoops on the design requirements.  But I think after they were done they appreciated all the hard work, because their results were spectacular.  

I was inspired by Laurie Mika's work and book "Mixed Media Mosaics".  She's a local So. Cal. mixed media artist.  I buy the little wooden boxes in several shapes and then the students go to town embellishing the tops with glass shards, beads, soldered pieces they make, text, fused glass they've made, and the Laurie Mika tiles they make from polymer clay.  I also ask them to limit their color palette and work to a theme.  These are the astounding results.

This first one I fell in love with as senior Ingrid Huang was making it.  Extremely eye-catching design with a lot of movement and rhythm,

and then when you open the lid, more wonderful visuals.

This stunning star box was created by senior Borah Lim,

and this striking triangular footed box was made by junior Rita Labib.  Yes, we saw her sawdust fired coil pot yesterday because Rita had 2 classes with me this last year.

This next one was another favorite by junior Joyce Le.  She has done so many creative details on this work , and she's found so many unusual beads, hardware findings and charms to incorporate into her design.  A brilliant piece Joyce!  Take a close look.

The side view is just as exciting as the top.

This next very creative piece belongs to9th grader Karisma Dev.  Love how she formed the wire pieces over top her soldered drawing.  Highly unique. 

The inside below.

And then there is this heavenly piece by junior Kevin Tang.  Kevin used his faith as inspiration, with several lovely design details on the inside.   

My students look forward to this project every year since we started doing it about 3 or 4 years ago.  It was a pleasure to show off their designs and hard work.

Soldered Glass - Student Work

My 2nd year 3-d kids learn to silver solder around glass so that by the time they are in the 4th level 3-d class they are expert with the soldering iron.  This piece was senior Ashley Morris' work from 2 years ago that I'm just now getting blogged.  She was in the 4th  level class and took some beautiful papers and free form machine quilted on them, cut them up and then soldered them into this wall hanging.  Sorry it took me so long to get this up Ashley.

This year in my 3rd level 3-D class senior Olivia Hill first made a striking collage, cut it up...

and then soldered into this sweet bracelet below.

Senior Angeline Tran soldered and put together this very cool bracelet above,

And senior Breeana Johng designed and soldered this amazing lantern.

I can't remember if she did her own watercolor work or if she found this paper that she stitched on...

but the result was incredible.

Fused and Soldered Glass Units - Student Art

One of the favorite units of the year for my Intermediate 3-D students is the fused and soldered glass assignment. The kids are required to make two full fused pieces with either an embedded jump ring or other silver wire hanging devise. They are also required to turn in two partially fused pieces, one that will be wrapped with wire and the other to be given to me (oh yeah) as a good bye gift that I will incorporate into an art piece to remember them by. This year they made me partially fused earthquake houses that are so whimsical and fun! Can't wait to start playing with them this summer. They were also to produce two silver soldered glass pendents, one that has a jump ring for hanging and the the other was to be incorporated into their 3-D boxes that will be posted next week. In the top photo are senior Caroine Ma's partially fused wire wrap pendent, and junior Audrey Pulido's soldered pendent. Bottom row is Caroline's soldered piece and Audrey's wire wrapped pendent. Look closely to what Caroline has captured between her soldered glass. She water colored over a piece of newspaper then free motion quilted over top. Pretty damn cool! Oops, I'm probably not supposed to cuss, but a certain junior with the intials S. E. says he loves when I cuss, it makes him happy. So that's for you Steven :)


Next we have sweet eighth grader Emmerline Kim's wire wrap pendent and the other two belong to gifted eighth grade designer Joanna Coronel, her wire wrapped pendent and full fuse with jump ring.


And lastly we have senior Julie Kim and sophomore Breeana Johng's wire wrapped pendents across the top, and down below are Julie and Breeana's full fused pendants. Really lovely work ladies.