SB, day 47

Breakfast: 2 eggs, over medium. 1 toasted 100% whole wheat English butter with margarine. Water.

Lunch: ... You know, I know I had this meal. I'm almost sure of it. And yet, I have no idea what it was. Maybe I didn't and just thought I had. But I could swear I remember eating something...

Snack: SF jello. Grapes. Laughing cow cheese. A cup of vanilla soymilk.

Dinner: Huge salad, with chicken, chedder & monterey jack cheese, a few corn tortilla strips, and salsa for dressing.

Dessert: Greek yoghurt w/ agave nectar & dried cranberries.

Oh, and water all day long. Not enough, mind you, but only that.

A riot of color in a dreary grey world...

Or, Michelle's started working with glass again.

I've had some pieces in mind for a while, and then a friend requested some glass pendants from me, so today I've been trying my hand at it. I spent last night and today cutting glass and grinding it, which taught me a few things.

1) My glass-cutting skills have improved.

2) It is possible to get tired of glass grinding.

3) The glass I was thinking of using for a larger project is actually vampire glass, and I must treat it with caution.

The last one I realized as I stared down at my right index finger, which is now covered with small shallow cuts from pushing glass around. On top of that, I realized that it wasn't all of the glass that did this by any means. It was one specific type. See, I have a couple of sheets of cobalt-blue dichroic glass that I'd purchased for another project altogether, one I never made. Seemed to me like they'd make good pendants, so I got one out and cut off a slice to use.

Glass is funny. Because we're not just talking window glass, because we're talking about glass with this or that added in for color or texture, and because it's been through a couple of varied processes during the alchemical transformation that occurs, no two pieces are alike. Not just in color and pattern and texture, but also in temperment. One type of glass will be steady and calm, always break where it should, and never give you the slightest bit of trouble as you shape it. Other types of glass are fractious, difficult to cut, even more difficult to break out correctly, and prone to splintering when it's the most inconvenient.

This dichroic glass, my friends, is a tempermental wee bitch that wants to drink my blood.

I did not let it, mind you. I respected the glass. I kept a steady hand and carefully ground off the sharp edges, after getting what I could out of the cutting (because it naturally would not break straight). Thus I have only these few shallow cuts to show for it. But in a larger project, where I'm working with it more heavily? Yeesh. It's going to be a pain and a half. Pretty, but definitely a huge pain. And I was considering doing some knotwork with it, and with all those curves? Eek, my friends. Eek.

I love the glass, but sometimes it's tempting to remember that knitting never sliced open a vein. :)