MOSAICS, CERAMICS & GLASS FUSING

MOSAICS - ALLAH PLAQUES
These are the latest two plaques commissioned for a friend's sister in Chicago. The ceramic lettering on this plaque says "Allah" which means God in Arabic. These plaques are 13 inches in diameter and are made on a 1/2inch thick plywood base.

I make the letters from clay. The process is slightly lengthy in that I roll out the clay into slabs and then roll a plastic textured mat over the top to give a deep etched pattern and texture to the clay. I then score out the letters from templates I've made, after which I have to wait for the clay to harden a little in order for me to cut the letters out. The next step is the bisque firing and after they've come out the kiln I glaze the letters and put chippings of glass on top as well as glass beads. This is then re-fired under glaze settings and the end result is that the glass fuses into the glaze to give it a deeper intensity and adds a decorative effect.

The lettering in this is made using a black clay, glazed in transparent and fused with blue and white millefiori beads. The background mosaic is worked in broken white irridescent china with blue millefiori randomly dotted around. The edging is a blue that contrasts with the blue in the lettering. The mosaic is grouted in brown and dries to a neutral shade. I've applied a textured paste to the edges of the plaque and when dried, painted it with a matching shade of blue. It's completed with a hanging fixture at the back.

I've used a white clay for this lettering and glazed it in Emerald Green and fused it with green millefiori . The background mosaic is worked in two shades of pale green vitreous tiles with random green millefiori dotted about. I've run a border of broken green and white china around this and then finished off with a border of another two shades of whole green vitreous tiles. I've grouted the mosaic in brown which dries to quite a neutral shade and I've applied a coat of textured paste to the edges of the plaque and when dried, I painted it green to match the mosaic and attached a fixing to the back for hanging.

GLASS FUSING

I made these glass fused pieces many years ago and have a good collection which I house in these compartmented boxes that have glass lids to them. I aim to use them in my mosaics (I've been saying that for ages!).

I've fused stained glass onto clear glass and nuggets, beads, thin glass rods, glass sweets, millefiori, glass nuggets, broken glass bottles, glass frit, and many more things - so long as one glass bit is compatible with the other glass bit you're going to fuse it onto then it'll work and if you put uncompatible pieces together - well sometimes the results pleasantly surprise you and other times you have to live and learn!

I just love the way they all look displayed togther in the boxes. I feel like a magpie collecting these pretty things:-)

CERAMIC PIECES

These are just little trial pieces I made when I was experimenting with fusing glass into ceramic. I gouged out little channels of design into the clay while it was still soft and pliable and then it went in for bisque firing. I then applied glaze to the pieces and began to fill in all the grooves with tiny shards of glass - almost powdered. Then it went in for the final firing and the glass all fused into the glaze perfectly, but you can see from these results I didn't quite fill up the channels sufficiently as the glass should've levelled out. Nonetheless I'm happy with the results and I've learnt a lesson for my next attempt:-)

Collections

Some simple facts about me:

I love collecting postcards. I always buy loads whenever I go away - abroad or even within the UK. I take photos on my camera too, but postcards are something else aren't they? They're someone else's view - a more professional take on that place you're visiting, a different view from what you're able to take, from a greater height, a more panoramic view that you just wouldn't be able to achieve on your own camera - whatever the reason postcards just do it for me.

They're one thing I beg my friends to send me whenever they go on hols and I go ga-ga over them when they give me even one postcard (yeah I'm a really cheap buy!). I display them proudly on my kitchen wall. It actually started on the huge notice board but then I kept getting and receiving more and I've had to spread them over the wall and now they're gonna spread down the other side of the wall. My daughter thinks I'm nuts - but I tell her in a wise motherly, knowing way that she too will end up doing this when she eventually reaches my age (she shudders at the thought!) :-D
I love collecting fridge magnets - I know, I know, I'm a hopeless cheap souvenier collecter - what can I do! It's the kitschy side to me - but hey tasteful kitsch if you please! This is another one of the little things I must get whenever I go away. My friends all know it too, so if they're left with a couple of dollars, pesatos, lira, rupees, dhirams, yen, pesos, pounds - whatever the currency, wherever the country they think "oh good, just enough to buy Lubna a cheap fridge magnet!" Hey I'm not complaining - I even buy my own thank you very much!

So here they are all displayed neatly on my fridge and I look at them every day and I can name where they came from and who gave them to me - it makes me smile!
With my postcards on the walls and the magnets on my fridge I have a visual impact filled with memories at every glance - what more can I ask for?

The reason I put this photo here was coz I knew if anyone saw the postcard photo their eyes would've caught this colourful display (I know I would've in someone else's pics!) anyway, they're a collection of just ordinary, everyday bottles that you'd normally throw away (or recycle) after use. Some years ago I had access to a kiln for fusing glass and I put the bottles in there and they just slumped in the high degree heat and then whenI took them out I placed glass beads, broken bits of glass, millefiori, nuggets, stained glass - in fact any glass bits - and then it went back into the kiln and came out fused to the bottles. Some fused into the bottles and became part of the bottle itself, whilst others fused onto the glass and are raised and looked as if they're glued on but they're actually fused into the glass of the bottle.

I thought they'd make a nice collection for this space of wall - and they're a great talking point too!