Christmas Craft Show 2006 with about 500 pendants

 I started fusing glass every day in 1992 after taking a glass fusing class in Berkeley.  I was making plates and dishes in my kiln which was located in the kitchen.  I loved the process of seeing the glass transform in the kiln into lovely bowls and plates. 

We tried selling them at craft shows but found it very tough.  At that time glass fusing was the "poor child" in the glass world.  No one knew too much about the process and people were very resistant to the products.  Our first show an "Oktoberfest" was our best show for the next year or two.  However, were next to the band and they played the chicken dance every 15 minutes or so.   Way too many chicken dances for us.

After about 2 years of work and experimentation, we came up with a "marine scene" sculpture which we were able to sell at some San Francisco galleries.  We made very unique fish, crabs and lobsters which were set in a background of speicalty glass resembling coral and rocks.  These were fused, slumped and mounted on a base of fused or cast glass.

 Thus began our learning experience with consignment.  Our first gallery was in the Nordstrom center in downtown San Francisco and they were wonderful.  They sold our sculptures very regularly and quite a few plates as well.  So I tried to find other galleries.  I found a few galleries that would display our work.  They frequently lost or broke my sculptures.    Eventually our first gallery closed their doors and we stopped consigning our glass.

A sample pendant made with multiple layers of glass

Two years ago I saw some dichroic pendants and thought that I should be able to make some.  There were no instructions available at that time and I spent quite a while trying to figure out some interesting techniques.  What I discovered was that if a little dichroic is good, then more is better. 

While learning how to make pendants I started looking at the world of dichroic glass.  I decided that offering some really useful sizes and shapes of dichroic glass would be helpful for other fusers.  I have spent the last 14 years photographing my own fused glass.  So I decided to photograph each individual listing so my customers would know what they were buying. 

My husband and I wrote a short manual on the process of making pendants.  We have written a basic glass fusing manual with photographs and directions which would help beginners and offer suggestions to more advanced fusers to make pendants.

Now I do about 7 art and craft shows a year and it is great fun.  Selling a bunch of pendants at a show is so much more enjoyable than the process of selling one sculpture was.  So I have found my niche in both cutting and selling dichroic glass supplies and making dichroic pendants.