Project by Jennifer O'Connor of San Diego, Calif. Jennifer learned about glasswork from her boyfriend. Once her interest was sparked, there was no turning back. Now she makes fabulous jewelry pieces, including a pendant with exploding "dots" of color. Materials: 3/4" glass rod for base
glass sticks: salmon, blue spruce, caramel
4mm clear glass rods to remove excess glass
stringer
torch
graphite pad
punty
tweezers
pliers
kiln Steps: 1. Fuse punty to color rod. Heat 1/4 inch of it. Pull stringer (a stringer is what Jennifer uses to draw her designs). 2. Fuse punty to a large rod. Using the flame, detach about 2 inches of glass from the large rod. 3. Heat half of large rod until white-orange. Smash flat on graphite pad. Fire polish graphite marks. 4. Using the first color, make a dot in the middle. Using the second color, put dots around the first. Using the third color, place a round of dots around the second. Then use the first color to do one more circle of dots. Cook the dots in smooth. 5. While holding glass at a downward angle, focus the flame on the edges; the glass will then start to come down and make a dome shape. Flatten the dome and repeat. 6. Fuse punty on the side you were just working on. Take off other punty. 7. Take off any excess glass. Cook smooth until it is a nice semicircle. 8. Attach punty to side of pendant. Take off other punty. Attach punty opposite the other. 9. Heat the pendant, concentrating the heat where the clasp will be pulled. Gently pull about 1 inch of glass from the pendant. Use tweezers to bend it over to form the clasp. 10. Focus heat on seal. Heat pliers and grab pendent. Brake off punty and fire polish punty mark. Fire in kiln. Website: www.jandjglassworks.com
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