Sunday, Mar. 06, 2005 - 9:01 p.m.

KASF recap and a good time was had by all

I had a terrific time down at KASF this weekend! (**check out my updated Glasswork album by following the PictureTrail link at the top**)

It started with a super road trip in Scarlet the Explorer. Genevieve, Thjora and myself all went down to NC for the event. Thanks so much to Jen and her truck for getting us there and back.

Thjora came over Friday evening, after I dropped Kira off, and Jen picked us up. We didn’t get to leave until after ten, because of traffic that held Jen up in NoVA. It was a pretty fun ride down, though, even if it was really late when we got in to the hotel.

Saturday, we got to site early, and I had an entire table on which to display my work. I was set up right next to Alianor’s display, and the autocrat had put all of the glassworkers together in one big row. Beads, mosaics, fused and slumped glass, engraving, and stained glass – it was a veritable glass-fest! I got set up, and Alianor graciously loaned me a table drape and allowed me the use of an outlet on her extension cord (thanks, A!) so my display could look pretty, and I could plug in my lightbox. Master Eldred (who received a Laurel – his second peerage) brought over a lamp, which he had thought to bring me to help my display be better lit. I originally declined it, because my panel was displayed in front of a white cloth, to help the glass show better, but his lovely lady delivered the fixture, and I was encouraged to make use of it.

WOW.

The panel, lit from behind with a light diffused by the white cloth, was absolutely breathtaking. I rarely say anything that effusive about my own work, but…wow. The colors were fantastic, the painted details looked wonderful, and the panel looked exactly as I had intended it – bright, glowing, and ethereal. I even looked impressive from across the (rather large) room. I was so happy! I got a ton of really positive comments about it, too.

The best thing about this trip was the tremendous opportunity I had to talk and talk and talk about my work, my research, and my creation of this latest panel (have you heard my really cool research story yet?). I spent the whole day behind the table of my work, and talked to everyone who came by. Lots of people came by, or were brought over by my Laurel, Thjora, and I gave my mini-lecture about period glasswork over and over and over. A bonus was that I also got to explain my homemade process for attaining period detail in glass windows without using the period materials. I met many people, and I really felt like my work was well-received. I think I have gotten a bit closer to determining what it is that people do and don’t understand about period glasswork, which makes it a lot easier to plan displays and tailor my documentation so that the things that I feel people need to know are at the forefront.

To top it off, I received a Kingdom Champions award for my work, got to see two very good people receive peerages, and also was present for a friend’s induction into the Order of the Pearl. Excellent.

The trip home was fun, too, lots of good discussion time with two women I like and respect very much (that’s you guys, Thjora and Gen!), and plenty of trading ideas, thinking about and planning for the artistic future. I am glad to be home, but happy that I went.

I really really missed Travis, though.

previous - next