Reactive Glass – Gifts From a Fellow Artist

Yesterday I met Lynne the sister of a tennis buddy of mine. She was visiting Houston from California. Lynne is a glass artist so Lori arranged a lunch date for us to meet. What a joy it was talking to her about all things glass. Poor Lori was left in the dark for a while as she sat and listened to us wondering what the heck we were talking about as we used terms like ramp, soak, and devitrification.

Lynne has taken classes in Portland, Oregon at Bullseye Glass one of the largest manufacturers of glass. Taking a class there is definitely on my list of things to do. Lynne is doing some really cool stuff combining both fusing and glass blowing techniques. It was especially great to talk to Lynne about fusing since I am just beginning that journey.

She even brought me a present; a very precious present. To the average person, it may not look like much. These, however, are pieces of Bullseye reactive glass and silver foil. When reactive glass is fused together with silver it results in a new color. The color is caused by a reaction between the ingredients in the reactive glasses. The most common ingredients which lead to a reaction are sulfur, selenium, copper, lead, and silver. You can see a small sample of the effect that you can get with this glass. I also got a lovely kiln-formed bead that she made with this glass.

I was thrilled and totally energized after our visit. It was a reminder, once again, how important it is to be around other artists. Like Bullseye’s reactive glass, when you combine the ideas of artists you never know what great things you might create.