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McManus Glass & Jewelry Kiln Formed Dichroic Art Glass Jewelry & Tiles About Michele |
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I remember
being about 6 or 7 years old and being asked that age old
question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I would
say "I am going to go to FIT (Fashion Institute of
Technology). I am going to design clothes." I know, I
was a strange kid. I did not do that. Here are some of the
things I have done. At 16 I graduated from high school. The summer in-between high school and college, I traveled through the US. I made acrylic flowers and beads from Playdoh strung them on telephone wire. People gave me money for these "creations". I know, I was a strange teen. A word of warning Playdoh melts in the heat of the sun. Throughout college I was the organizer and facilitator of our school's art shows, classes and a cooperative of students and instructors. In the 1970's I co-owned a leather shop. Most of what we sold we made ourselves. My hobbies have included, weaving/spinning, hand building clay forms, carving then firing in the raku process, polymer clay, beading, metalsmithing. Then in 1999 I saw kiln formed glass. Specifically, dichroic glass. I fell in love. The colors are captivating and move people emotionally. I approached learning about the glass and the processes pretty much the way I do most things. With passion, zeal and determination to create something unique and pristinely finished. When I am working on something I can easily work around the clock without realizing the day and night has passed. As opposed to self-taught I consider myself “self-mistaked”. Initially, I wanted dichroic glass cabochons to bezel set in my sterling silver, beaded jewelry. Then the glass took over my life. In addition to jewelry I have been creating accessories for the home. One of the things that amazes me about kiln formed glass - are the visually very significant changes every step in the process. I am like a child waking up Christmas morning every time I open the kiln. I start with full sheets of glass. Each piece I make has dozens sometimes hundreds of tiny pieces of glass. It is fired in a kiln then cut, ground and polished and fired again. Some pieces go through this process several times. I finish the glass the same way semi-precious stones are finished. With diamond encrusted lapidary equipment. Starting with a coarse grit and using finer and finer grits to achieve pristinely finished pieces. It gives me a great deal of joy to share my work. What a gratifying feeling to enhance someone’s life with something that gives them pleasure! Stephen King was asked why he wrote and his response was, that's what I do, that's what I have to do. (I am paraphrasing). Well, that's my answer or something like that. Enjoy Beauty Always! |
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