Happy Towel Day! Don't Panic!

Towel Day is celebrated every 25 May as a tribute by fans of the late author Douglas Adams. On this day, fans carry a towel with them to demonstrate their love for the books and the author, as referenced in Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

To celebrate, I have created a new glass pendant with the number "42" on it.
42 is the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life the Universe and Everything.

Next Line of Pendants... here's a sample

So here they are! I am so proud, hehe.
Paw prints, red hearts and gold stars.
But don't worry... I'll continue to make butterflies, yin yang, GAMER and kanji pendants too! :)

I've been experimenting with colored enamel and these turned out so fun! The gold stars are super shiny, the red hearts look so nice and the cute little paw prints are fun! Let me know what you think!

Survey: Necklace Type for Glass Pendants

Right now I am including a black satin necklace with each one of my pendants sold.

I've also thought about having ball chain necklaces instead.

So I'm asking for opinions... what do you think?

This is what I have available right now:

Would you rather see ball chain necklaces?  Keep the current black necklaces?

All comments and suggestions are welcome!

Introducing... a new line of gamer pendants!

I've been gaming for a long time.... and about 6-7 years ago I started playing my very first MMORPG (massively multi-player online role playing game).  Started with EverQuest and then ended up playing World of Warcraft for 5ish years.
It is very common for gamers to say things like.. "LOL, OMG, WTF, TMI, <3, HAX" etc etc...

So why not combine my love for gaming with my love of glass art.

Here's the first in my new line of gamer pendants:

These can also be made into magnets or zipper pulls... for all you non jewelry wearing people out there. ;)

So if you'd like one custom made, shoot me a message with what (up to three) letters you want and the color of glass (opaque only). The decals come in black only so make sure it's not too dark of a color.

I will be listing more of these pendants in my Etsy shop so keep an eye out!

What is Annealing? Why is it important?

If you've ever shopped for handmade glass... you'll often see "glass has been properly annealed".
But what does this mean?  Why should you care whether or not it was annealed?

"Annealing is a process of slowly cooling glass to relieve internal stresses after it was formed. The process may be carried out in a temperature-controlled kiln.  Glass which has not been annealed is liable to crack or shatter when subjected to a relatively small temperature change or mechanical shock. Annealing glass is critical to its durability. If glass is not annealed, it will retain many of the thermal stresses and significantly decrease the overall strength of the glass.

The glass is heated until the temperature reaches a stress-relief point, that is, the annealing temperature at which the glass is still too hard to deform, but is soft enough for the stresses to relax. The piece is then allowed to heat-soak until its temperature is even throughout. The time necessary for this step varies depending on the type of glass and its maximum thickness."

In my studio I anneal all of my glass... when the glass is cooling down from the highest tempurature (1465F for a full fuse) I hold it at 960F for an hour before letting the temperature come down back to room temperature.  Annealing time is longer if the glass is thicker.

This ensures that the glass will last much longer and be very strong and stable.

So next time you're interested in shopping for a hand made piece of warm or hot glass... make sure it has been properly annealed!

Artist Spotlight: Yvonne @ Aquila Glass School

Featuring an Artist from Aquila Glass School... Yvonne!

Yvonne makes adorable little scenes out of scrap glass!  Yvonne has been working with glass for about a year and it is always nice to see her when she walks through the door.