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Sweet inspiration inside a hollow bead.
I've been busy lately creating a studio metamorphosis, and I'm bursting at the seams with excitement. I've had the same torching setup in our detached garage since I started about 6 years ago, and was ready for some changes to make it more functional, more efficient, and a more attractive place to be for me and my guests to create. I'll reveal the complete makeover in an upcoming post, but for now I thought I'd share a couple of takes on D'Arsie's "Container" theme for this month's Art Spark challenge. The first is the pendant above that I created with a message inside. It's a hollow glass bead with PMC bead caps.
The second take on the "container" theme is my glass rod storage. My raw materials are glass rods, cut to around 12 inches long. For the last 6 years I'd been storing them in short cuts of PVC pipe, stacked into a box that I had affixed to the wall. It became apparent to me over a year ago that there were not enough cubbies in this arrangement for all of my glass, and the unit began to show signs of structural failure from all of the weight. Glass is heavy! Not only that, but the mice treated it as a condominium, storing rice that they had found elsewhere in the garage (we don't keep rice out there any more, and the rodents are now gone) in the sections of pipe. Not good.
Original glass rod storage system, in the beginning.
As you may recall, I found some ranch fencing and cut it up to create new, square cubbies for my glass, and found an appropriately sized and priced stereo cabinet (no back, no front) for sale on Craig's List to contain it all. It sits on top of a metal cabinet with wheels, so I can move it any where I want. I cut some MDF for the back and painted it black to match. Then I built a frame for the door on the front and covered it with some clear corrugated polycarbonate roofing material, threw on some hinges, a magnetic catch and a knob, and it's done!
New glass storage cabinet.
No more rice showers when I take a rod of glass out, and my glass stays clean and safe too. Plus it's nice to see all the colors beaming out at me from behind the clear plastic.
I look forward to sharing the rest of my studio makeover with you soon! It's almost complete, and I'm very excited.