Things are shaking out and it looks like we’re headed out next Tuesday morning and leaving Seattle for six months! It should be interesting. Among the places planned on the itinerary are (en route to the East Coast) Couer d’Alene, Yellowstone, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Chicago, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Baltimore, and NYC. Later on there are more nebulous plans involving other continents. Back come January, with plenty of stories.
The remodel is almost completely done; I’ll post pics Thursday.
Wayne sent me this. I thought it a lovely way to celebrate what I’m leaving.
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"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."
~K. Richardson
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Creating Glass Garden Flowers: A Walkthrough
At least a glass saucer or plate will get added to this project as "petals," but the painting part of the process is pretty much done. I've used both sides of the plate in order to create additional depth. The center piece is a wooden stopper for a long-ago broken decanter. It's decorated with metallic paint pen. I'll finish it off with a layer of something to water-proof it. I was pleased with the look of it overall, though.When I set out to make the glass garden flowers for Mom, I found plenty of pictures but very few tutorials. So here’s a walkthrough of the process, which should illustrate one important thing about these: they’re not a last minute project. The paint takes time to dry, as does the adhesive, which you will need to do in at least two stages.
What you need:
Glass or ceramic pieces to make the body of the flower from
3 to 5′ (suggested) length of rebar or other stake-like material
Terrycloth
Duct tape
Step 1: Assemble What You Have
Assemble the glassware you’ll be using. I suggest checking cupboards first. You’ll want several sizes that can be layered on top of each other, and (usually, depending on your other pieces) something for the center, like a short candlestick, round glass ball, or other object suitable for a focal point.
Go through your crafting supplies and look for beads, bits of jewelry, beach glass, shells, and other pieces that can be used to decorate layers.
Step 2: Find What You Don’t Have
If you can’t find everything you need at home, go shopping. In the thrift store, look for interesting pieces that are chipped or otherwise deeply discounted in both the ceramics and glassware sections. Check the metalware and mirrors as well. My local Value Village has a wall in which they bag oddments and sell as lots. If you have this, browse through it. Things you’re looking for: glass pebbles, large beads, holiday ornaments, mosaic pieces, and other things that can be glued onto plates. Pick up old shot glasses or small bottles to use for the backs.
I prefer to let what I find dictate the piece. You can also try to replicate or improve on an existing pattern or otherwise plan it out. In such a case you may need to visit multiple stores to find what you need.
In the dollar store, look for glassware and remember that you are able to paint it.
Step 3: Figure out the Layers
Bring home the pieces and arrange them, trying to figure out the order in which you will want to glue them. You may choose to work from the front to the back or vice versa. Attaching the shot glass will be a final step.
Step 4 (optional): Paint Glass
Decide if you’re going to paint the glass, which must be finished before any gluing can take place. If so, I used DecoArt Gloss Enamels, which can be used on wood, glass, and ceramics. Be aware painting add time to the process. You will paint the piece in stages, letting each color dry in turn, and then letting the overall piece dry for four days before you bake it to set the colors. Is it worth it? Here’s another of the pieces I painted today.
This plate will serve as the back layer of a flower. I suggest not worrying too much about being meticulous with the paint. You want an organic feel for the flower (in my opinion). I'll let this piece dry and then bake it to set the colors before I start adding anything to it. Because pieces will overlap the center, there's no point in getting too elaborate with it.
Once you have painted the glass, let it dry and bake it.
Step 5: Glue the Layers
Once the step involving glass paint has been performed or skipped, you can begin gluing. I suggest putting down the back piece, gluing the next layer atop it, etc. You can assemble all the front layers and glue them. Set to dry on a level, ventilated surface that is reasonably warm. Let them dry at least 24 hours.
Step 6: Decorate the Layers
At this stage you may glue other things in as decoration. Among what I’ve used so far: Christmas ornaments, gold foil, a cat toy, glass flowers, marbles, large pearl beads, glass pebbles. Let dry at least 24 hours.
Step 7: Add the Back
Now you’re ready to add the back. I use a plastic cereal container to hold the pieces while gluing on the backing, since many of them have delicate front pieces that they cannot rest on. Again let the piece glue for at least 24 hours.
Step 8: Assemble the Stake or Holder
To assemble the holder, if using a shot glass, cut a small piece of terrycloth and duct tape it to the top of the rebar. You can adjust it to make it fit snugly into the glass. Otherwise, you do not need to pad the rebar.
Finito. Now you know enough to make more and probably new ideas have occurred to you already. I’d love to see your creations, please post links if you have them!
Willow, sleeping in her net.It feels like I have been here a shorter time than I have, but it’s been great and I have gotten so much work done. I’m filling in gaps on Hearts of Tabat right now and happy with its progress. I wrote a bunch of stories and one poem. I walked on the beach and among the redwoods, and I got to spend time petting a bunny, and watching deer. I saw a grey fox and a barn owl swooping along late at night and covey after covey of quail, including a mama with six bitty little perfect quail running as fast as they could to keep up with her. Tonight I’ll lie out under the stars and watch the Perseid meteor shower from probably the best vantage point I’ll have in my life.
I spend literally less than a day at home, then get a haircut in the morning and head off to Sasquan in Spokane with my bestie, the fabulous Caren Gussoff. I’ve posted my convention schedule here, and if you’re wondering what sort of SFWA events I’ll be attending, here’s a video about that:
I’m working on a blog post about how to create videos like that — it’s much easier than you think. But you should make time for the SFWA auction, because there are some frickin’ amazing and very much one of a kind things for sale, including authors doing your voicemail message, supplying creative profanity, critiquing stories, and Tuckerizing (including one award winning novelist’s very first Tuckerization ever.) And lots of signed books, including ones from Worldcon toastmaster David Gerrold, George R.R. Martin, and Guest of Honor Vonda McIntyre.
I’ll also be spending a good bit of time at the Wordfire Press booth — please stop by and say hi (and buy a book if you like — I’ll have copies of both my new novel and story collection Near + Far!). If you’re coming to the con and are a vegan or vegetarian, here’s a handy list of food options.
In various news, Rappacini’s Crow will be reprinted in the BCS Best of Anthology and Abyss & Apex has accepted a novella that Bud Sparhawk and I wrote together, “Haunted.”
Here’s a piece from what I’ve been working on lately, near the beginning of Hearts of Tabat:
“Why do you always pick this teahouse when you are troubled?” Leonoa asked.
Adelina’s eyebrow raised and she smoothed a hand self-consciously over the garnet silk of her blouse. “I wasn’t aware that I did,” she said. And then, with mock severity, “That is the peril of associating with artists, Gilly. They are often dangerously observant.”
Gilly laughed nervously.
“But it makes sense. At one point,” Adelina said, “I became convinced that I was aberrant.”
Leonoa gave her a sidelong glance, but Adelina continued. “I thought I was different from all the other merchant children of my age, in that they all seemed very concerned with some sort of invisible game of unexplained points.”
Gilly frowned in noncomprehension.
“They all cared deeply about this game, and part of it was caring what other people thought ““ or more importantly, said ““ about each other. And I, honestly and completely, did not care what most people thought of me. My mother, the nurse who had raised me until the age of thirteen, my poetry tutor”¦ I did care about what they said, but no one else.”
“You were a prodigy,” Leonoa said wryly.
Adelina shrugged. “Perhaps not a prodigy. But I was one of those children who are capable of discerning the layers of adulthood mysteries that were truly not mysteries at all but simply things that adults were either too busy or bored or whatever to explain or which they thought were inappropriate for children for some reason or another.”
“Was there a moment of revelation?” Gilly asked. Her eyes were downcast, her voice a little lower. She’s flirting with me.
Adelina checked Leonoa’s expression and the wry flicker when the little woman realized she’d been caught amused and watching.
Not this one. Ah, Vyra Serena, send me someone eloquent, who loves words and will woo me with them, not innuendos and touched knees.
“I was given a child’s catechism of the Trade Gods,” she said, pulling her leg away from Gilly’s as she sat back.
Gilly looked nervous in the way one sometimes does when anticipating someone else is about to reveal some overly religious sentiment. Leonoa, who had heard this story before, maintained a polite, amused silence.
“The Trade Gods are an analysis of the way the world works,” Adelina said. “The ebb and flow of coin, of trade, of wants and necessities. Everything is there in the religion, because that is what it is. It is not that a God who is the personification of Coinage or Surplus or Fairspeaking, walking the street, the way the ignorant speak of such things.” She rolled her eyes. “Every religion is that ““ a way of understanding and teaching about the world.”
“But there is a natural order to things,” Gilly protested. “Surely someone came up with that.”
Adelina shook her head, one quick definite shake. “Not at all. As you said, a natural order, one that could not but happen to arise. It is the only thing that could given the circumstances.”
Gilly chewed her lip in perplexity, trying to summon a reply.
“It is not so,” Leonoa said. “There is no natural order, just happenstance. The reason that Humans are elevated over Beasts is that we are more numerous and they have not been able to successfully ally.”
Gilly’s eyes widened.
“Please,” said Adelina. “Before you get us all hauled in for Abolitionism, at least lower your voice when making such pronouncements.”
Leonoa pursed her lips but took a silent sip of tea.
