more glass

 I picked up the remaining pieces of my fired glass yesterday. They are not easy to photograph but hopefully the mark making is clear. The top two have had two firings and the one below is one of the thermofax/enamel experiments. Each of them is a physical reminder of the processes I learned from Christian. The next job is to make some of them into larger panels with leaded cames so that I have the samples in front of me for future reference, instead of in a drawer somewhere, sight unseen. I find it all very exciting but there's a lot happening at the moment to stop me getting carried away with it all.

On Sunday afternoon  I start the first of two, six week sessions at the National Botanic Garden of Wales. The first session is on lichens, like this one I photographed on my garden bench the other day. I am fascinated by oakmosses in trees and lichens on old stone walls and, as regular followers will know, on gravestones and memorials, so I am going to study them in more detail for a few weeks with experts. I'm also joining a friend on the geology sessions, another subject I want to understand in more detail.

And at the risk of sounding like a bit of a 'course junkie' I am actually running one myself next week too. I'm doing a taster session with the local authority on making handmade books and if it takes off, a five week course is planned to follow. This has all happened because I've decided to organise myself this year and promote printmaking and book making courses around the county either by myself or under the adult learning auspices of the council. I suddenly realised how many contacts I have and decided to make use of them. I am hoping for enough people to turn up to the taster session to make it viable. If they don't ,what with the glass and the lichens and the rocks, I don't think I shall lack things to be getting on with!