Fused Glass/Jewelry Unit - Student work

PARTIALLY FUSED GLASS

In the Intermediate 3-d class, my students learn how to fuse glass in the kiln that we fire our ceramic pieces in, and in the process make some really beautiful jewelry pieces.  This is an extremely expensive assignment, and we don't waste a thing, just recycle it next year.  

These first ones that you are seeing are called partially fused.  That means I didn't take the kiln up very high so that the separate glass shard edges are still visible, yet they've melted enough to bond together.  Then I teach the kids to wire wrap them for wear.  Each student made two of these.

The striking one above was created by senior Sheila San Agustin, and the two lovelies below by senior Ashley Chowdhury. 

Above we have the beautiful work of senior Amy Hsu, and below hers is very talented senior Lauren De Belen.

And then senior Angela Wan has created this gorgeous piece above.

FULL FUSED GLASS

To build a full fused piece you just fire the kiln a bit hotter and it melts all the shards together for one blended look.  Each student made at least two full fused pieces.

Senior Julia Faith Chanco crafted this brilliant piece, and then she solder around it so it could be worn.  You will see more soldered work tomorrow.  I'm not sure but I think the two below are also Julia's.  Correct me if I'm wrong kiddo.

My favorite was this really spooky looking eyeball.  I think this also belonged to young Julia.  Nope, it was done by Ashley.  Thanks Julia and Ashley for getting back to me and making sure I label all correctly.  You all have no idea how challenging this is for me to keep everything straight in the summer  LOL

More 2nd Quarter 7th Grade Artwork

These, I believe, are the last postings for my 2nd Quarter 7th grade group.

These are their sweet Collage Boxes with Stamped Tissue and Wire Pendants.  This was a combo assignment where they design and made their wire wrapped pendants first, then collaged the outside of a recycled box to house them in, to finally learning 7 different patterns to choose from to stamp onto their tissue paper to wrap the pendants in.  Phew!!!!!!!!  So a lot of learning, designing and manipulating going on for the young ones.

This box and tissue design are by Kathleen Vo.  I love her theme here, because it's what we do in our art department where the funding is sorely lacking.  I call it dumpster diving.  :)

In this friendship box above, Ananya Raghavan has done a lovely job with her nature theme.  Notice her sweet shell pendant.

And in her passion box above,  Catherine Lu has chosen a warm color scheme to flow with her heart pendant.  So nice!  

Below we see Lynette Lee's crafty wire work on her pendant.  A super nice piece Lynette, you always have superb craftsmanship!

My two favorite pendants were these two last by Joseph Agoncillo (above) and Jesus Macias (below).  Both make me smile.  So much fun!

Partically Fused Glass Pendents - Student Work

After my Intermediate 3-D kids did the full fused pendents that you saw a couple days ago, they then played with partical fusing.  In partical fusing they let their glass shards hang over/off other pieces as they stack the colored glass on top each other, then I fire the pieces to a lesser temperature.  This way they don't completely melt into each other.  It gives a way different look.  The different layers are stuck to each other but you can still feel the layers.

Senior Borah Lim did the glorious piece above.  Borah often incorporates spiritual images in her art work in such a beautiful way.  And senior Elsie Aguilar had the brilliant idea of using her soldering skills and...

as you can see, she soldered her jumprings on across the back top edge of her pendent.  Love it!!

Backside below.

Another of Borah's lovely crosses.

Here we see senior Leticia Alarez above with two lovely pendents.

And senior Johanna Paz always comes up with incredible works.

The students were required to wire wrap their partically fused glass pieces in a pleasing way, complete with jump rings or eye holes.  Elsie (way above) and Pauline (way below) were the first to come up with the idea to use soldering on their pieces.

I like how junior Nida Fatima made 3 small pendents.  She could put them together in one neckpiece or she could attach them to a charm bracelet.

And then one of the most creative works was done by junior Kevin Tang above.  Wire wrapping 2 pieces into one pendent.  Bravo Kev!!

And then look below at this fabulous trio by senior Pauline Yang.  I think this would be terrific strung onto one necklace.  Just needs a couple jump rings to make that happen.

Kevin turned 3 of his pendents into rings.

You could totally sell these Kevin!

And lastly are junior Joyce Le's below.  Notice how her wire wrapping totally works with her designs. 

Great job all of you!!

What a Free Day Looks Like...

I found these two photos from a day that my Beginning 2-D kids finished an assignment a day early so I offered up some craft wire to them and turned them loose with my beads, buttons, and hardware findings.  And these were the ones I was most impressed with.

Loved the ring above that senior Archie Ravichandran made.  She was able to put so many cool goodies together and make a very pleasing design.  

This one above was clever in that it came together in a heart shape with many unrelated items.  It's always fun to watch my students produce such original pieces in such a short amount of time.  And I need a little help here with the owner of this work, it's been so long ago that I've forgotten.  E-mail me please.     

Wire Pendant

For some reason this sweet wire pendant got left out from a long ago post.  But it's clever and I want my next year's students to see it.  This very clever piece was designed and made by junior Ashley Chowdhury.

And yes, that's a rock from probably right outside my classroom door that the wire is wrapped around.  Before my students do the actual pendant that they are graded on, they learn on a practice one first, and I was so impressed with this practice piece that I photoed it.

Wire Pendants - Student Work

I can't seem to show you enough from my beginning 3-d kids.  These wire wrapped pendants came out so well.  I was especially impressed with how a couple of the kids used hardware parts in their work.  Junior Sara Shams did this amazing piece above.  I love how she used both the gold and silver wire in her piece as well as all those seed beds; plus the amount of time and effort it took to build this one.

I felt the most creative was this one above by junior Hannah Park, using up my garage sale hardware findings.  I'm thinking of only having the kids use the findings next year.  Thanks Hannah for your inspiration!

Below we have junior Sheila San Agustin and junior Ashley Chowdhury, both doing a wonderful job with the wire assignment.

Another of my favorites was made by senior Jerrie Rui with the shell angel below.  Very clever to add those wings Jerrie!

And junior Alice Zhang did the dream piece below.  She like Hannah incorporated some hardware findings into her work.  Love that!

For EXTRA CREDIT, find a small piece of thin wire (paper clip, grocery store twist tie, etc),and twist and bend it into a recognizable shape.  Attach a small piece of paper with your name and period so I can give you extra credit points and hand to me when you walk in the door tomorrow.  On the other side of the piece of paper write down the name of the student who made your favorite wire piece from above.

Wire Pendants - Student Art

So excited to share these beauties with you, the work of my Beginning 3-d kids. This group of kids are just doing fabulous work for me. They come in so enthusiastic everyday, raring to go. These were actually their practice pieces before they took on the more difficult wire sculpture assignment that I will be posting soon. For almost all of them it was their first time to work with wire, a very unforgiving medium. Above we have sophomore Rita Labib's amazing pendant. Everyone including me want to buy it from her, but sadly it's not for sale. Below we have senior Elle Quimpo, who made this cameo even more wonderful with all the twists of the wire.

And above we have junior Elsie Aquilar. I have been featuring her work regularly, she is a very talented designer and craftswoman, and had better be coming back to me next year! LOL Below we have the work of junior Noel Kim, senior Nicole Gimeno, and junior Jaimee Chirico. Just look at how clever each of these pieces are.

The kids were required to bring in a special something to wrap. I love how senior Tiffany Wang brought these shells in and turned them into an angel. Clever girl.

And these last 2 were made by senior Suzanne Kang and junior Marissa Fierro. I'm thinking Marissa should crank out several of her guitar pick pendants and offer them up for sale at Sam Ash and Guitar Center. She'd make a fortune. :)

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.