Lis Simpson

Lis is inspired and sharing with us ..... 

Fusing Glass in a Kiln

This summer I visited my artist friend, Deb Kirk, [Deb was on our Tour for many years] who moved to Prince Edward County.  While there we went to several glass and pottery studios.  Of course, I had to buy some glass art for myself!  One of the pieces really intrigued me – it had bubbles created by adding a metallic oxide between the two clear glass pieces. 

So I wanted to do this technique for myself.  Here’s the process I go through in making a glass plate, first cutting the glass.  (This also gives you a small glance into my studio.)

After I’ve cut the various pieces, I added the powdered metallic oxides to two pieces of clear glass – in this case, both copper and cobalt.  Whenever handling powdered chemicals or glass, one needs to wear a respirator for safety.

Then the first firing.  WOW!  I love the bubbles it created!

For the second firing I put the clear glass piece onto a white glass base and put it into the kiln.

The final firing will be to slump the piece into a plate with the edges curled up.  

Come to the studio tour to see the final result!

Lis is at Studio #13 Sandra Cole Burke's Studio location

Lis Simpson

Our longtime Studio Tour member Lis Simpson shares what is keeping her occupied this summer 

Metal Etching Class

During the summer I like to explore other media other than my glass work.  So last week I took a class in Metal Etching.  It was fun, and I learned a lot by making mistakes – “what not to do” stays in my head longer!  LOL!

We used ferric chloride as the etchant and Sharpie markers, stickers and tape for the resist.  Here’s my copper piece, after design created and after etching and clean-up.

I also did a piece on thin brass (have you heard of Shim in a Can?).  I used a rubber stamp for the seahorse and tape for the rocks.

I might not do this again, because I have worked in the metal clays – both copper, brass and silver.  They are so much easier to work with and get good texture happening.

Some of my small completed pieces 

Summertime is great for exploring and doing activities “out of the box”!

Thank you Lis for sharing!

Make sure to visit Lis at Studio #13  on this years tour. 

She is a guest artist at Sandra Cole Burke's location.

Lis Simpson ..... Busy lady!

Lis Simpson is a very busy lady! She participates in several studio tours and sales, her work is very popular and she must constantly replenish her supply of original jewellery and glass work

Out of disaster come new creations.  Lis’ thoughts on recent kiln projects:

"These “lacy light” tea lights look great!  I’ll make some more."

After slumping a newly made red tea light over a mold in the kiln:

“Oh, no!  This tea light has turned into a disaster!  The “tendrils” are sticking to the mold and bending inward.  I’ll fire it differently again in the kiln.  There’s room for this small pyramid, too.”

After this firing the red “tendrils” of the tea light ran onto the pyramid.  Another disaster!  She cut the two objects apart.  Look at these unusual creations – something totally new and fresh!

Make sure to stop by and see Lis Simpson at Studio # 13; Sandra Cole Burke is her host artist.

Strawberries As Art - Lis Simpson

Since Stouffville's annual Strawberry Festival is in full swing this is the perfect time to share some of the ways that the delicious strawberry can inspire art!

Below, jewellery maker and Studio Tour artist Lis Simpson explains how she was able to create a replica strawberry from glass!

Last summer I made a glass strawberry in class.... 

Take a fresh strawberry and put it stem down into clay:

Coat it with a release resin and build a plastic cylinder around it to create a mold:

Add plaster; when plaster is set, remove the plastic cylinder and fire the mold, burning out the strawberry.  Fill the mold with glass frit, and fire again.  

When cooled, break the mold away from the glass strawberry.  Voila!

Thanks Lis! 

Lis Simpson

Here’s some of the completed projects of Lis Simpson. Her earlier blog post is here

The first projects were done on chemical powders to provide textures underneath the glass.  This one is called “Autumn Joy”!

Then we did some interesting pieces using molds to create either a plaster model or one of glass frit.

 We took a real strawberry and created a mold by forming sculptural plaster around it.  After firing with glass frit in the kiln, we ended up with a real glass strawberry!

Lastly we did the process I really wanted to learn – lost wax casting.  Here are the 3 models we worked from.  The first was the white Sculpey model from which we made a urethane mold.  We poured sculptural wax into the mold to create a wax model.  Then we created a plaster mold, like with the strawberry and steamed out the wax.  Lastly filling the mold with glass frit my green glass frog emerged from the kiln firing!

Come see some of these art objects at the Stouffville Studio Tour. 

LIs is a guest with Deb Kirk in Studio #4 on this years tour.

Lis Simpson

Thanks to Lis Simpson for sharing her new work with us. 

Lis will be at Studio 4 along with Deb Kirk, Florence Booth and Rita Staniford.
Four artists, one location!

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During a spiritual retreat this summer, a new artistic vision came:

Creating exquisite, small art glass of light, colour, and texture for inspiration and transformation – beads and beyond into objets d’art!  Look deep inside to see what may come.

Immediately after I went to a four-day intensive workshop in Advanced Fusing at Glasstronomy Studio in Markham. The primary focus of the workshop was using and creating molds for glass fusing in the kiln.

This is one of the projects we did, and some pieces I have made since for the studio tour:  making and using plaster cast models.

We used flexible molds into which we put the plaster slurry.  Remember to be careful when disposing of plaster – never put it down your drain!

 

I love shells and other objects from the sea.  Doesn’t this look perfect?

 

Next we needed to build the frame on the kiln board to hold the objects and to put the glass over them.

We were doing two blocks at the same time so there was a common wall between them.  In one of the blocks I put a fern leaf to look like seaweed as well as plaster shells.  The smaller block merely held a plaster shell.

Then we had to continue to reinforce the walls so the molten glass in the kiln wouldn’t leak out!  Don’t want a mess!

In order to cover the objects well, we put in clear glass frit, which is tiny bits.  We covered the objects up to their tops.  I also added some blue and green frit to the smaller block which had the single shell.

We added several sheets of clear glass to the very top and into the kiln they went (Glasstronomy uses a large kiln, so there were two different projects being fired at the same time.  See my pieces on the bottom right?)  What a wonderful surprise when the firing was complete!

Here’s the front view.  The fern burned away too much, and I couldn’t see but just a faint image.  So I decided to use glass paint to fill in the “seaweed”.

Here’s the second block with the blue and green tint and the single shell.

 

‘Course, then I wanted to make some more at home.  Others like this one will be at the Studio Tour in October.  I have such a fantastic time creating with glass.

Classes with Lis

Lis Simpson is a certified instructor for teaching Art Clay Silver. 

Art Clay Silver is water-based silver clay that can be molded easily.  It is fired with a torch or kiln to become 99.9% pure silver!  In the introductory class you learn the basic techniques of working with this amazing medium to make several textured pendants.  You will also learn some basic silver finishing skills. 

In Part 2 you will create pendants incorporating a pre-fused glass cabochon or cubic zirconium.   Several techniques will be explored, including bezels to hold the cabochon and syringe work.  The finished piece must be kiln fired. 

Contact Lis if you want more information on these classes (she also teaches out of her home studio.)

905-473-1711 

This weekend...

A very busy weekend for our Studio Tour artists! The Beyond Craft has begun in Stouffville and three of our artists are taking part, and the Cynthia Cupples sale with one more; additional information can be found in the previous post. 

In addition, Grace MacPherson's work will be at Cedar Ridge Creative Centre 225 Confederation Drive  in Scarborough on Sunday. 

There are a lot of places to see art work and maybe do some holiday shopping; support the local arts community!

Don't miss these events

Just in time for holiday shopping we are happy to invite you to see work by several of our Tour members at these shows. 

Jennifer Creeggan, Laureen Lucas and Siek Wassener are part of this show.

Lis Simpson is participating in this show.