Every piece in the show is going to be in a glass "vitrine" or bell jar. So I've been collecting, cleaning, and clipping used glass jars since the summer. I clip the lip of the jars off with mosaic clippers and put the jars over a mold in the glass kiln.
This is the glass kiln. It takes about 20 hours to go through the whole program (it goes up to 1400 degrees). Since I don't know what "temperature" of glass each jar is, I have to put them through a "shot gun" program on the kiln that goes through many stages for many types of glass. This improves my success rate. But some of the jars crack if its cold outside and they cool too fast. Some meld onto the mold too much, or constrict under the mold so I have to break the glass to get them off. Others vitrify (turn milky so you can's see through them). None are the same. Part of the challenge will be to put things inside that are as beautiful as the glass pieces they'll be displayed in.
Special thanks to my parents, Lori Thompson and Jerome Liboiron, for keeping the kiln going all season in my absence!
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