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Where to go – 9 Rowland Close, Wolvercote, Oxford. OX2 8PW – 08432 896273
Parking is available in the close or in adjacent streets, please do so sensibly so as not to upset the neighbours – thank you. If you are unable to walk far, please do let us know and we can arrange parking just outside for you.
Times – Coffee from 09.50, course starts at 10.00 AM with books on fused glass available beforehand to browse and talk about if you wish. The course will finish around 16.00. It would be great if you arrived no earlier than 09.40 please so that we may finish preparing for your day. Jacobs Inn in the village serves coffee or even breakfast from 09.00 if required. It’s only a few hundred yards away, opposite the green, on the bend in the road.
Morning & Afternoon – We will have a brief chat on the health and safety issues in working with warm glass as well as some introductions. We’ll teach you to cut glass and we’ll do a mixture of set exercises and more freestyle ones with new materials and techniques being introduced regularly during the day, depending upon which course you are doing with us.
Lunch – If the weather is kind we can have lunch outside overlooking Port Meadow. Please bring a packed lunch for yourself. We will provide drinks and biscuits etc throughout the day.
What to bring, what to wear and “what will I make”?
Firstly, there is no way to avoid it, cut glass is sharp and there is a risk of you cutting yourself. Nothing to worry about it’ll only be a minor nick and we have lots of plasters! We will provide you with all the personal protective equipment (PPE) you need to make the day as enjoyable and safe as is possible. Please be prepared to wear it when asked.
- Please can you wear enclosed shoes, no skirts or shorts and a non fluffy top – jeans and t shirt type top (any sleeve length) or similar are ideal. The studio may get quite warm depending on the weather so layers may be useful.
- If you have ideas as to what you’d like to incorporate in your work then please bring those along with you – it is definitely worth a look at the past students blog for ideas too www.blog.glassjewels.co.uk
- For Float Glass students – organic materials such as twigs, leaves (conifers and ivy seem to survive high temperatures well but any favourite plant materials are worth a try). Paper or fibrous fabric will probably leave a mark or trace as well. Any thin metals are a good idea, for example wire wool in brillo pads, to try as well as any ceramic glazes you might have if you have done pottery in the past. If in doubt please bring materials with you and hopefully it will leave a trace after going up to 820 C in the kiln. However, please avoid bringing any glass with you as it will very likely be incompatible with ours and lead to dissappointment if you try and use it
- For practical reasons (and Float Glass students) there is a limit to the size and number of pieces you can make so don’t expect to be aiming to fill our big kiln on your own 🙂 In reality, making a total of four to five pieces will easily fill your time with us. By the end of the day these will be ready for firing and available to collect once this is done. Similarly, Fused Glass Jewellery students can expect to make between 8 and 12 pendants/earring/cufflinks.
Should you require we can post your work on to you, well packed and sent recorded delivery. Understandably this will incur a small additional cost of £12 per person, £8 for jewellery courses.
Further Reading
There will be a handout to accompany the course given out on the day. Also we have a secure section of our website where there is further information for you to download and peruse at your leisure and details of that will be on the bottom of the handout.
Finally
We are aiming to provide a fun, informative and creative day and hope very much that you will enjoy yourselves.
We look forward to meeting you,
Sue and Vince
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