Adventures in Hot Glass and Remember the Alamo

Last night an exhibition of glass artistry by Ross Thackery opened at the Old Jail Art Center. I am showing you just three of the gorgeous glass items on display in the hopes of enticing you to come see the rest. There's not a lot of time--the exhibition closes this Wednesday--so hurry! In addition to being a very talented artist, Ross is a great teacher; he has taught two very successful stained glass workshops at our center so far. This fall we are again offering stained glass, and are adding a fusing/beadmaking workshop as well. I was one of Ross's first stained glass students, and I loved it. I'm looking forward to taking fusing next month as well. There's something magic about glass, as I'm sure you'll agree if you've ever watched a glassblower at work.

I'll be in and out this month (mostly out, I suspect) traveling with DD and the aforementioned sweetheart (hers, not mine--mine will hold down our very large limestone fort as usual!). I have visited the great city of San Antonio numerous times (DM, my darling mother, lived there for years, with my youngest siblings), but I have never, believe it or not, visited the Alamo. DH and I did get to the River Walk once, where we drank a beer with my sister Jessica and her husband while we paid the "little kids" (at this point teenagers) ice cream money to go away and leave us alone. Anyway, that was a long time ago, too--Jessica and Don have been married for 26 years this summer and DH and I for 25, and the youngest of the little kids turns 36 in November.

This time I will see where Davy Crockett took his last breaths, I really will, at last. I will blog about it, too. Stay tuned!

Ross's Stained Glass workshop was terrific!

Four of us Old Jail Art Center regulars took a preview class on February 28 of Ross Thackery's Stained Glass workshop, scheduled for this coming Saturday, March 7. What a great time we had, and how exciting to be learning a new art form! I've posted a photograph of my completed Easter basket, the project we worked on in class, and my mind is abuzz with the possibilities of new projects. Yesterday in church I studied the stained glass windows with renewed interest, imagining the artist at work creating the detail in a dove with about 20 tiny pieces of white glass. Of course mostly I paid attention to the service, but it was a sunny day outside and those beautiful windows glowed with color.

Anyway, if you were thinking of signing up for this class, I highly recommend it. Ross is wonderful and gives each student just the right amount of individual attention. If, like me, you generally leave the power tools to the man of the house, you might be surprised at how fun it is to shape glass with an electric grinder. Getting the right shape and size is harder than it looks, but all four of us managed to fit the pieces together to make a cute Easter decoration.