I just wrapped up the April Layered Landscape workshop, so I thought I'd share some images. Every single person did great work.

Here are the finished pieces - the larger ones were used to teach techniques for capturing realism in glass and the smaller ones were an exercise in atmospheric effects.

We started with the same inspiration photo, applied some painterly rules & tips, and each person made the composition her own.

Here is a shot of the pieces in progress. It looks like this was layer three of the larger pieces, loaded in the kiln and ready for firing.  The smaller atmospheric pieces have the layer two fog and middle-ground trees built.

The dams prevent spreading as the glass gets thicker.

We spent a lot of time learning to pull stringers in the torch - the smaller pieces have three layers of trees in different colors to capture perspective in the fog.

Here are the smaller pieces loaded in the kiln for their last firing.

There's nothing better than hanging out in the creative think-tank of a glass workshop!

Many thanks to my wonderful participants.

I'm getting ready to teach a "Working With Frits & Powders" workshop on April 28-30.

The last workshop was so much fun, I thought I'd post a few images.

It's amazing how many things you can do with a little scrap glass, frit and powder. Once you understand the principles behind  the glass volume/heat equation, you are queen of the studio.

There is so much to know about glass. To operate with any control at all, you have to embrace your inner glass geek and learn a little about the technical side.

This workshop explores one really interesting aspect of fused glass work - the control of glass movement - in particular, the equation between particle size, weight, volume and heat.

We explore several techniques with a variety of glass sizes from cullet to powders.

Large cullet produces large, irregular holes that look eroded and echo the patterns of water puddles or lakes from the air. As you use smaller and smaller particles, the patterns change.

There are some fantastic techniques to use with finer particles - you start to get more and more control, until you can sculpt the frit into curvy patterns and sea shapes.

If you're interested, check out the workshop page on my site. I'd love to have you here with me in the studio!