beachbites
10
WBM january 2012
Plates of colored
glass are racked like
dishes. Canisters of
glass powders in a
rainbow of colors with textures like
refined sugars and coarse salts line
the shelves. Tubes of glass string
rest beside rods of colored glass that
will be cut into pieces and fused to
paper to form pebbles. Across the
length of one wall are grinders and
polishing tools.
The poured concrete floors are
cushioned with interlocking rubberized
floor tiles.
In the center of the space, surrounded
by the orderly arrangement
of all of her components, is Jeri Leigh
Dearing’s workbench. Behind her
rests a gleaming new kiln ready to
receive the next batch of glass.
These are but some of the raw
materials and trade tools that Jeri
Leigh uses to craft her exquisite kilnfused
glass art creations.
Though she says she is not
inspired by nature, she is surrounded
by it. Her studio is tucked behind her
home, on a wooded lot, in nearby
Rocky Point. Here in the whispering
pines, Jeri Leigh sifts glass powders
onto glass blanks, manipulating the
pattern with a stylus before baking it
in her kiln.
Most of her pieces will make four
trips into and out of the kiln before
they are finished. In between she
grinds and polishes, sifts and manipulates.
The blank sheets of glass, cut
into squares or rounds, slowly evolve
into tiles, coasters, platters, sushi
sets and bowls during the slumping
process, in which the plate of
colored, textured glass is laid on a
plaster mold and baked again. As the
glass softens it takes the shape of
the mold. When finished, her functionally
decorative pieces fetch tens,
hundreds, even thousands of dollars.
Though not formally schooled in
Art Trio
Glass
fusion
Jeri Leigh Dearing
cooks up gourmet glass