Day 5 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Speedy Hands / Zebra

Day 5 was speedy hands again.  I combined this with trying to learn how to draw a zebra.  Some were not good at all, lol but I did realize more and more control with each successive drawing.  My aha for today is less is more.  I think I got too tied up with trying to make sure the powder was thick because it's ingrained in us that frit needs to be 1/8th inch thick to fire.  I made out much better when I added just a little bit of frit at a time rather than sift the powder all over and then take away.  This is evident in the progression of drawings.
1st attempt:

2nd attempt:

3rd attempt:

4th attempt:

5th attempt:

So, I wasn't able to complete the drawing I wanted in 5 minutes but I was happy with the way this last one was developing so I decided to finish this one.  After taking a critical look at it I think there are some minor touch ups to make and then I will fire it.




Finished Frozen Zebra :

 Frozen Zebras is the team name of my children's Polar Bear Plunge Team, and I made this from their fb banner.  Each year, the first Sunday in February marks the Lewes Polar Bear Plunge and the Frozen Zebras plunge in the icy Atlantic Ocean to raise money for the Special Olympics.  I am the official towel holder and photographer :)

Since the whole animal wouldn't fit on glass, I took away the back and legs before I fired.

First Firing:

I then added clear glass to the back and slumped to make a little vessel.

Perfect for a ring dish, or a tea bag holder!

Day 4 of Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Speedy Hands

Speedy Hands is an assignment where we need to make 5 drawings, each one to take no more than 5 minutes.  After 4 miserable tries I finally decided that I wasn't inspired by black.  So, I grabbed color glass and finally go the inspiration to make something passable.

I think I will post my not so good drawings as well... as painful as that is, lol.

Well, at least I think you can tell it's an owl...

This one went absolutely nowhere, lol!

It will take much more than 5 minutes for me to accomplish a lehua tree... I'll save this for a future project.

Not a terrible peacock.  If I had more time I would have made it more symmetrical.  As I did more drawings I developed better control over the powder.  I think it was because I didn't put it on as thick as the first few attempts.

Day 3 of Powder Sgrafitto Drawing challenge

Day 3 assignment is to make a landscape using only fingers and business card.  This wasn't as easy as it sounds. I dropped my card in my work more than once, lol, but what fun!!!  I was all set to make a landscape from a photo I took at Aiae Ridge Trail in Oahu but I kept thinking about Trish buying her new airstream today.  This is the result:

One issue I ran into was with borders.  I learned that I could do a general swatch of a desired color and then push the pile with my finger to close the gap between colors and get the shape of the distant mountains.  

I will fire the landscape tomorrow.  I have no doubt that if I can't control my OCD tendencies it will take multiple firings, ha ha ha!  Not being a professional artist, this probably took me 5 times as long as it should, but I sooo enjoy this!

Well,  2 weeks later and I finally got this fired. 

It took 2 firings because I mixed some black in with gray powder for the air stream and the black took over in the firing process.  I used silver luster on the camper and am really pleased with the results.

Day 2 of Powder Sgrafitto Drawing 30 Day Challenge

Hello!
Today the assignment was to use a business card and our fingers.  Yayy!!!  I still don't have access to the studio so I again used baking soda on the counter top.  I found myself wishing I was ambidextrous - I had much difficulty making curves to the left with my left hand.  I'll have to figure out a way around that. Or... maybe it's a matter of training the muscles in that hand.  I'll keep at it.

Day 1 of Powder Sgrafitto Drawing:

 I'm not home so I don't have my frit or glass.  I wanted to begin the technique and not get behind so I tried what I found in the pantry and used the counter top.  Flour was too clumpy, sugar was too bouncy.  Baking soda seemed to stay where I put it.
What I got the most out of this exercise is how to place the powder.  It really made a difference to pass and release evenly.  Letting too much go at one time left a clump or a hole.  Also, for coating it or shading it was much better to hold it up high for more control.

OK, here goes my first blog.  I'm not a blogger... but I'm driven to do this by my love of glass art.  I can't get enough!!! 

I'm really looking forward to the sgraffito drawing challenge!!! 

Thank you, Kelly Crosser Alge for organizing this.