GLASS ART NEWS
SPRING 2024
Our member appreciation night held at Susan and Paul Auster’s home was a great success. There was great food from Bubb’s Grubb, fun give away drawings, and it was nice to meet member’s spouses. A huge thank you to the Austers for opening their lovely home to us on this fun evening.The Glass Art Club of Saddlebrooke has 94 members, and Monday and Thursday mornings are
buzzing with activity in the Turquoise room. Classes have been well attended and the rest ofthe room is filled with members working on their projects. Attending the room on Saturday mornings has gone well. We are continuing until the end of April. Hours are 9 to 12. For those that are going off to their summer habitats, safe travels and see you when you return. For those staying, we will be taking a break from classes, but we will still maintain attended hours on Monday and Thursday mornings 9 am to 12 noon.
REMINDERS
Please sign in on the clipboard with the date next to your name every time you come in. The list for retail stores, rules of the club, and people to contact is on the inside of the closet door. Always wear closed toe shoes, and wear safety glasses when using grinders or saws. Speaking of grinders. Please check the sponge to make sure it is touching the grinder head at all times. If white grit appears, stop immediately. That means no water – it wears the grinder head and can overheat your glass. When putting grinders away in the closet, please clean out the glass grit and make sure there is no water left in the reservoir. Always ask if you’re not sure. No classes happen on Thursday afternoons, Saturday or Sunday. You’ll have more room to work.
FUSING NEWS
We are having a problem! People are having a hard time minding the rules for the kiln room. At times the room has been so crowded, team members have not been able to move in or out. If you want your pieces fused in a timely manner, please let the team members have room to load and unload the kiln, prepare molds, and countless other tasks needing to be done to keep our fusing operation running smoothly. Here is a reminder: The Kiln Room is very small with limited storage space for our glass and supplies, as well as work space. When the kilns are open, pieces can be easily damaged by touching or bumping inside or outside the kiln.
The Mold Room – Only fusing team members are allowed in the back room. Use the Mold Book to choose a mold for your project. If you want to see any of the molds, ask one of the team members to bring them out for you to look at. Please do not follow them into the Mold Room. The Kiln room is limited to 1 non-team person at a time. If you are here to pick up a completed project, or check on the progress of a project, please check in with a team member before going into the kiln room. Please place your projects ready to be fired on a table in the Turquoise room and the fusing team will take them to the kiln room. Hopefully this will ease the shelf overload situation.
Team members are: Esther, Susan, Ginger, Suz, Maurreen and Jane. We are all happy to get things from the kiln room for you. To help we will be putting out on a table in the Turquoise room: firing slips, trays, tiles, glues, cleaners , towels, the Mold Book, and dots. Members are more than welcome to come to the Turquoise room to work on their projects during class time. However, students take priority for instructors and team members. The glass, embellishments – noodles, stringers, frit, etc. are set out for the student’s use. You should have your own glass for your projects. If you would like to purchase glass or embellishments for your project, please ask for a team member to assist you in your selection. The Firing Request forms have an area on the back to list your purchases. Transfer the total to the front of the form. If you are not in a class, please fill out your form completely with measurements and fee amounts on both sides of the form (including club copy) side. When in doubt, ask a team member.
Thank you for your cooperation! Drawer space to store your project while you are working on it is available for check out in 2 month increments. See a team member to be assigned a drawer. We appreciate you coming to pick up your SW Art Glass orders as soon as possible. It usually comes on the first Friday of the month around 9:30 am. As you know our space is limited.
Until next time…