Fused Glass Class: My First Teaching Experience

When I'm at art shows, I frequently get asked whether I teach.  As I haven't taught before and teaching isn't something that I pursued, I typically say "no"....  However, recently someone reached out to me to see whether I would teach her how to make my millefiori pendants (which she found through this blog).

This is a picture of Donna, my first student, who came up from the Palm Springs area.  Donna is millefiori enthusiast and has searched high and low for all things millefiori.

I had a great time not only teaching her but also getting to know her as we spent 2 1/4 days together
last week.  Donna does lampworking and makes earrings as well as fabulous bracelets.  She also did woodworking in the past, so she already has a full studio!

We worked on various millefiori techniques ranging from making pendants (similar to the one above as well as in the style of my window pendants) to using millefiori in part sheets that we would later incorporate into plate designs.  We also made frit to use with the millefiori and tested making millefiori jewelry using some unique molds that Donna found online.  Plus, we did some coldworking using the tile saw and grinder. We covered a lot in a short amount of time!

Here's a photo of some of the pendants Donna made.

Overall, this was a good experience for me.  As mentioned, it was great to get to know Donna and teaching also confirmed my knowledge of fused glass as Donna is quite inquisitive :)

When I mentioned to Donna that I would be including her in my blog, she wrote:

Please include how much I learned and much more than I even thought I needed to know! 

Spending the time with you is absolutely invaluable!! You taught me things a "class" never could. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and insight to so many things...

even to setting up my own studio.

Nice feedback for my first class!  Here's a few tips of things that may be helpful to others considering teaching:

• Plan out in advance what you'll make - the limiting factor will be how many kilns you have and what type of firing you'll be doing (e.g. full fuse vs fire polish).  It also makes a difference if you are using glass of different COEs as the process temperatures will be different.
• Be flexible.  Since this was a one-on-one class, I needed to adjust to the projects that Donna wanted to do.
• Use the opportunity to test and learn if you're venturing into something new.  Donna came with 3 different molds designed specifically for millefiori, so we tested kiln wash vs. MR-97 and tack fuse (per the mold instructions) vs. full fuse.
• Be available.  It helps to watch as your student is working on projects, then you can instruct along the way, if needed.

And, if any of you are interested in taking a class in the future please let me know :)