The Great Minnesota Get “Back” Together

On August 31, 2021 By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Crochet, Flowers, Fused glass, Life, Minnesota State Fair, Quilting, Scrap Quilt, Weaving, Wood workingLeave a comment

Each year, I enjoy going the the Minnesota State Fair, viewing the artistry of the creative activities entries, as well as entering a couple quilts in the competition. In 2020, I was disappointed when the fair was cancelled.

This year, I had originally thought that I would not be able to enter any quilts in the competition. Having a trip to Colorado scheduled during the drop off days for the creative activities, I was at first unsure how I would be able to enter. About a week prior to our trip, I learned that I could drop off entries at the fair office during early drop off days before leaving on our trip.

After entering, I was still hesitant to attend the fair due to the increase in Covid cases. However, with the attendance numbers on previous days being down, I decided to go this morning. Being there from 8 to 11am, the number of people that were there was pretty small. The weather was cool and it was an enjoyable morning.

Things that I did not do:

Utilize a Park & Ride bus – to avoid the crowds of people on the buses, I left home early morning and was able to find parking in a lots across the street from one of the fair entrances.
Eat Fair Food – I usually avoid the fair food, so this was nothing new for me.
Ride any amusement in the Mighty Midway
Do any shopping in the Market areas.

Things that I did do:

Wore a mask and avoided crowds
Arriving early, I walked through several of the animal and 4H exhibits prior to the other buildings opening
Enjoyed the artistry in the Creative Activities building, including quilting, weaving, crochet and woodworking
Enjoyed the flora of the fair, a much overlooked aspect of the fairgrounds

Animals:

Creative Activities – My entries:

My hexagon quilt received a third place ribbon. The quality of the entries this year was amazing. So, I am pleased with a third place finish.

My miniature doll quilt, made with hand dyed fabrics received a second place ribbon. This was a huge surprise to me. I only entered this quilt as a whim at the last minute, the quilt was never intended to be entered into a competition.

The Twin Cities Skyline wall quilt that I made for a friend did not place. However, it is displayed in a very prominent location at the entrance to the Creative Activities Building. I will be interested to read the comments from the judge when I pick it up next week.

Creative Activities – Noah’s Ark: My absolute favorite of all of the creative activities entries that I saw today!

Creative Activities – Other Quilting:

Creative Activities – Weaving:

Creative Activities – Others:

Butter Sculptures of the Fair Princesses:

Flora of the State Fair:

Repurposed Glass Bottles

On April 19, 2021April 20, 2021 By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Fused glass, Repurposed items1 Comment

This posting is a bit late, since these were gifts given to my brother for Christmas. But, better late than never.

The inspiration for these gifts were my brother’s strong liking for beer. This is one thing I do not have in common with him, I actually hate the taste of beer. So, to obtain the bottles that I needed for these projects, I had to rely on my sons and some of my friends for the empty bottles.

Glass Art: After taking a class at a local glass supply store, I tried my hand at making glass art from crushed bottles and scrap window glass. This was a fun project, but actually a lot of work.

For the clear background, I used glass that came with a couple frames that I had recently purchased. Because most window and photo frame glass has a thin film of tin, this layer needs to be identified and removed with a chemical solution prior to fusing. After cleaning with isopropyl alcohol, two pieces of glass were then fused together using a full fuse program to make the main background of the project .

For the tree, brown and green bottles were crushed with a frit piston and screened with frit sifters.

To make the trunk of the tree, brown glass frit was contoured on the background glass with some GlasTac.

The green frit was then added to create the canopy of the tree and the surrounding ground. The project was fired using a contour fuse program (1375F max temp).

Finally for display purposes, the project was slumped over a gentle curved stainless steel mold and mounted in a metal base (see photo above).

This was a fun project, but I think the next time I attempt glass sculpture with frit, I will probably use premade purchased frit.

Bottle Projects:

I have previously used empty bottles for wind chimes and as the base of pot melt mushrooms. Most wine bottles have a dimpled or punted bottoms. However, beer bottles generally have a flat bottom. When fired on their sides, flat bottoms fold up nicely. This made these beer bottles useful for making several projects. After several trials, I settled on using a full fuse program (max temp 1425F) for flattening the bottles on my kiln shelf.

Napkin holder: The flattened bottle was balanced on a napkin holder mold and fired at using a slumping program (max temp 1280F).

Trivet: To make two different serving trays, two and three bottles were overlapped slightly and again fired at a full fuse program (1425F). After firing and cooling, clear adhesive pads were placed on the bottom of the trivets. I forgot to take a photo of the beer bottle trivet, but I did recently make a trivet out of sparkling cider bottles.

Serving dishes: A cleaned and empty beer bottle, sparkling cider bottles or wine bottles (not flattened), was placed in an appropriate sized bottle slumping mold and fired following a bottle slump program (max temp 1280F, with a slow initial ramp at 250F/hour and a 30 min hold at 1100F to allow for the air to escape from the bottle).

These were all really fun projects to make.

The Ants (and other bugs) Come Marching In

On June 18, 2020June 27, 2020 By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Fused glass, Landscaping, Yard Art3 Comments

Ants, wasps and other bugs are a part of life no matter where you live. Every year, these pests like to invade my yard, and sometimes my house. I have taken to spreading Diatomaceous Earth around the perimeter of my house to help decrease their numbers entering my house. This helps, but they are pesky and I still have to deal with them each year.

This year I am dealing with a bug invasion of my own making. Having seen some photos of fused glass garden bugs, I decided to make some of my own. Using the same technique that I did last year to make a centipede for my garden (see June 7, 2019), I created some more.

In order to conserve expenses, I sorted through my scrap glass and found pieces that would work for each bug. The glass pieces were then fused following full fuse and contour fuse schedules.

The copper exoskeletons were made from scrap copper sheet, pipe pounded flat and wire soldered together.

The glass was then adhered to the copper exoskeleton using E6000 adhesive

I now have some fun bugs in my garden. And, these bugs won’t find their way into my house!

Frogs – In the Garden (& Clinic?)

On April 23, 2020 By Erickson's HeirloomsIn 3D printing, Family, Fused glass, Yard Art1 Comment

kung-fu-frog-batam-island-indonesia2

For those that are unaware, I am a pediatric dentist by profession. I work with a group of seven doctors and 37 staff. Nearly all of the procedures we perform (tooth cleanings, filling, crowns, etc) create an aerosol. This is problematic in the current viral pandemic because the aerosol could put everyone at risk. So, we know we will need to change our PPE (personal protective equipment) when we reopen our practice.

Because all of the PPE is being directed to medical facilities, as a dentist, it is nearly impossible to obtain face shields and masks. In anticipation of this being a problem, when my son came home from NYC, I spent some time talking with him about 3D printers and how to use one to make our own masks and face shields. I am very fortunate that, as an architecture student, he has lots of experience with several types of printers.

With his help, several weeks ago I purchased a Prusa printer kit. I ordered a kit for two reasons. First, it was less expensive and I could get a better printer for less cost. And, more importantly, the cost of the kit was just below the limit for having to pay import duties. The kit took 18 days to arrive. I am really glad I ordered when I did, because the estimate now is 5-6 weeks.

When the kit arrived, we needed to build the printer. Okay, to be honest, it was mostly my son who put it together. But, I did do a couple hours of the process. The kit was like trying to build a house sold by IKEA! The manual for putting it together was 225 pages long. Fortunately the directions and photos were excellent.

It was exciting when the build was completed. The first thing we printed was one of the sample files that came with the printer. It was a tree frog.

Since the plan is to print things for use in my dental office, I wanted to verify that the printed items could be sterilized in our office steam autoclave. I took the frog to one of my offices and tested it in the autoclave. The plastic filament was not impacted by the heat or the steam. However, I forgot that the frog was printed as a hollow form with air trapped inside. So, when the air heated up and expanded, it caused the belly of the frog to pop out. I now have a pregnant looking frog!!. This should not be a problem with the other items I plan to print because they do not have a large space with trapped air.

I am in the process of testing out different face shield and mask ideas. I’ll give an update on those in a few days.

In the meantime, and keeping with the frog theme, I thought I would give some information about a new piece of garden art that is in my flower bed. Over the winter, one of the glass projects I made was a really cute frog.

The construction of this was somewhat similar to the turtle that I made last summer (July 14, 2019 post). It has a copper understructure with copper wire legs soldered and the glass attached to the copper. When making it, I didn’t want to mess around with creating a custom slumping mold to “shape” the frog. So, I left the glass flat. Once the flowers start growing, I think this will be really cute in my garden.

nehru-inspirational-travel-quote-480x600

Who knew there were so many inspirational quotes about frogs (google it and see for yourself)!

Papillon/Butterfly

On March 1, 2020 By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Applique, Fabric Dyeing, Fused glass, Knitting, Scarf, Yard ArtLeave a comment

I love butterflies. They are colorful, graceful, almost ethereal. Because I like them, I have used them in my craft projects, such as:

Quilting:

Fabric Dyeing:

76c2f-backing — Images from backing of Butterfly Art Quilt

and Fused Glass:

Recently, an email from a yarn store featured several new patterns. The Butterfly/Papillon shawl pattern by Marin Melchoir caught my eye. Later that same week, while shopping a a local yarn store (Three Kittens, Mendota Heights, MN), the owner was wearing the shawl. Written for fingering weight yarn, this was the weight of yarn she had used for her shawl. I really liked the pattern, so I purchased it. However, I wanted the shawl to have more “movement”. So, instead, I knit the shawl in lace weight yarn, using the indicated needle size. This created a softer, lighter version of the shawl, but the same size as the pattern.

I really like how the shawl turned out. However, I’m not sure whether I will make another. This shawl took about 40 hours to complete!

Storms, Sunshine and Smiles

On February 24, 2020 By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Fused glass, TravelLeave a comment

I recently returned from a trip to Tampa, Florida. This trip was the annual retreat for a dental study club I belong to.

For the second year in a row that my travels to Tampa were impacted by the weather.

Last year a snow storm caused a six hour delay in leaving Minnesota. To make the most of my time, I walked around the airport. Fun fact – if you walk to every gate of each concourse of Terminal One at MSP airport, it’s 11,266 steps and 4.6 miles.

This year, the weather in Minnesota was not a problem. Unfortunately the weather in Florida was not so nice. Due to strong storms and a tornado, our flight was diverted from Tampa to Melbourne, Florida (on the Atlantic side of the state) landing after 11pm. The airport was closed, the crew was over their allowed flying time, and there was no other crew available. After several hours, the airline eventually announced that we would be bused to Tampa but they were unable to tell us when that would happen. So, at 1 am, with no rental cars available, we took a Lyft ride across the state. Three and a half hours later, we finally arrived in Clearwater Beach!

Once there, we had a delightful weekend discussing all things dental, enjoying good food and walks on the beach.

On Saturday, we took a glass blowing class. Great fun!

George, the owner of Glass Crafters, taught us how to blow bulbs. Using propane torches, glass frits and stringer and some “hot air”, we each had an opportunity to blow ten items. These could then be used as watering bulbs, ornaments, or just decorations. Some of our group had more hot air than I did. Exploding bulbs make for some beautiful art!

Being very fragile, I was glad my bulbs survived the flight back to Minnesota intact.

To show them off, I cut the stems off, added bulb hangers, fused some white glass to make a mobile support, strung them with fishline and hung them in my sewing room.

We had a great weekend, made many memories and a few crafts!

Happy Valentines Day!

On February 14, 2020 By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Fused glass, HolidaysLeave a comment

Combined my love of quilting with fused glass to make a decorative plate for my kitchen.

Give those you love a big hug today !

Flower of the Month Suncatchers

On October 16, 2019 By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Flowers, Fused glass2 Comments

Earlier this summer, I was sitting in my sunroom having my morning cup of coffee. On a sunny day, this is a relaxing place to sit. Looking around the room, I thought it would be nice to add some more color to the room, possibly suncatchers in the windows. When I counted the windows, I realized that there are twelve of them and I thought that something related to each month of the year would be nice to try and settled on a flower for each month.

January – Carnation
February – Iris
March – Daffodil
April – Daisy
May – Lily of the Valley
June – Rose
July – Delphinium
August – Gladiolus
September – Aster
October – Marigold
November – Chrysanthemum
December – Poinsettia

To make the suncatchers, I used COE 96 clear glass cut 2″ x 6″ as the base. Only a single layer was used and the glass was fused at 1350 degrees, a temperature between tack fuse and contour fuse to give a slight softening to the edges of the glass.

For the stems, I used green noodles and stringer. To create curves in these, the glass was heated in the flame of a soldering torch and allowed to bend before placing on a heat resistant tile to cool.

For the flowers, a variety of techniques were used. Some flowers were just pieces of cut glass. For the Lily of the Valley, frit balls were first created by heating to full fuse small pieces of glass. For the delphinium, I used coarse frit. For the gladiolus, I used fine frit. And for the marigold, pieces of tangerine glass were dipped in glass tack and then dipped in yellow fine frit to create the light colored tips.

Here are some of the pre-firing photos:

And, the photos hanging in my windows:

One Smile Gala

On October 2, 2019 By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Flowers, Fused glass, Yard ArtLeave a comment

The Minnesota Dental Foundation held their annual One Smile Gala last Friday evening. The gala was an evening raising funds for the Foundations outreach to the under served in the state. It was a fun evening seeing colleagues and friends from around the state.

The vision of the Minnesota Dental Foundation is to eliminate unmet oral health needs in Minnesota. The Foundation raised over $1M in 2018. These funds were used for the Minnesota Mission of Mercy, Give Kids a Smile, and several other programs.

Along with attending the gala, I also donated a few glass items to the silent auction.

Flower4 Flower2 Flower1 Flower3

These garden flowers were well liked and raised a couple hundred dollars for the foundation. Perhaps next year I will do some other glass garden art for the auction.

Fused Glass Turtle

On July 14, 2019July 15, 2019 By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Fused glass, Yard Art2 Comments

Waste Not, Want Not – that is my approach to my crafts. I just hate to throw away fabric, yarn, glass, or anything that could potentially be used in another project. That’s why I have baskets of small pieces of fabric scraps, drawers of larger pieces of fabric, other drawers of yarn, embroidery supplies and beads. I even save small pieces of batting because I never know when I might need only a bit.

In my glass room, I save all my glass scraps as well. I even save my failed projects, things that crack or just don’t turn out the way I wanted. These failed projects are given new life with pot melting. These pot melts are really cute made into mushrooms, of which I have made numerous. Running out of people to give mushrooms to, I really needed to find another idea for using pot melts.

For the past year, I have had three different pot melt circles sitting on a shelf in my glass studio waiting for me to come up with an idea. When making the glass centipede for my garden, I finally had a bit of inspiration. I was looking at clip art pictures of different garden animals and insects and saw a cartoon of a turtle. Looking at the image, I thought that the shell of the turtle could be made out of a pot melt circle.

So, a new project – fused glass turtle!

Materials
Green COE 96 1/2″ pebbles, 2 pieces
Black COE 96, 12″ x 18″
Castalot Glass Mold Material, 3 cups mixed with water according to directions
Cardboard box for forming mold
Exacto Knife for shaping mold
Copper end caps, 1/2″, 2 pieces
Copper pipe, 1/2″ x 1 3/4″
E6000 Adhesive, clear and black

Steps:

1. Pot melt a 7″ circle of glass. Slump over a bowl shape. Since I already had some of these, I used what I had. In the future, I probably would not have fused the white pebbles onto the pot melt. But, since I had already done this, I used what I had.

Turtle

2. Draw a turtle outline on paper and trace onto clear plastic. Cut two pieces of black glass from the turtle pattern.

If you want to replicate this idea, I am providing the turtle pattern. Print out the photo, making sure that your printer is calibrated to the 1″ box on the pattern.

3. Full fuse the two pieces of black glass.

4. Contour fuse eyes to the head piece.

5. Create a slumping mold.

Again, I am providing an outline of the mold. If you want to make one, the mold is 1″ thick.

6. After allowing the material to set for an hour, remove the cardboard and use an Exacto Knife to carve the edges of the pattern smooth. Allow to dry overnight and then fire according to the directions on the package. Coat the mold with several coats of Primo Primer Kiln Wash.

7. Place your turtle shape over the mold. Slump the shape according to your kiln settings.

8. Using the black E6000, adhere one end cap in the center of the back of the turtle and allow to set over night. Meanwhile, run a thin bead of clear E6000 along the edge of the turtle shell and allow this to also set over night. This bead will provide a cushion between the shell and the body of the turtle to avoid having glass against glass that could cause breakage.

9. Cut a piece of copper pipe the height of the slumped pot melt. Generally you want the turtle shell to light rest against the turtle body. Insert this pipe into the cap on the turtle back. Add a copper cap to the top end of the pipe. Place black E6000 on the copper cap and adhere the turtle shell to the copper. Note that the copper pipe is not glued or secured to the copper caps. This will allow you to take apart the turtle a wrap it for save winter storage. Allow the adhesive to set overnight and your turtle will be ready to invade your garden.