The Blues

Artist-made glass, handcrafted copper chimes, beach stone clapper wind chime.
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After years of working with glass, I have developed a feel for it. Each piece is different. But there are generalizations, too. For example, blue glass is always a headache. It's hard to sculpt, and hard to drill.

For sculpting, the blue glass tends to fracture in ways I do not like: jagged, sharp shapes. And the blue glass does not enjoy being drilled. Sometimes it breaks, or fracture lines appear around the holes. Fracture lines are evil, as they will in time spread and cause a break in the glass. It used to be that I would toss aside any slightly broken or fractured piece of blue glass. But you live and learn. Now, mostly I can salvage the piece by carefully working out the defects. It takes a lot of time to do this, and I believe considerable skill, too. But for a nicely shaped piece of blue glass, it's worth it.

With other colors, I feel the glass is cooperating, almost working with me. But blue glass fights every inch of the way. Years ago, when I did not have much experience, the glass would mostly win. Now I win.