Antics

The base of the piece is about 12" X 8" - it is an irregular shaped base.  There is an ant hill whihc I constructed out of frit that I made from the glass that I used for the base of the pice - the sandy spot for the anthill.  I used Wasser glass silver with small bits of red and blue to make a soda cap with crimped edges.  As the firing was nearly completed, I bent the soda cap so it would look as though it had been bent with a bottle opener.  The ants themselves are each constructed from three separate beads - the heads which have black dots for eyes, the middle section, and the tail segment that has small black stripes.  I used copper wire twisted around a mandrel to make the coils with which I connected body parts so the ants were made to be posed in various position.  On the base I also droped amber glass top make droplets of the soda that 'spilled' whjen the bottle cap was removed.  The base is made from a bullseye glass, the ants from amber rods.  The anthill base is framed with small lead.  In the photo I am holding a magnifying glass, which signifies that the 'antics' go both ways - the ants picking up their booty and the human observer picking out an ant!

I selected kiln formed glass as the category , but this project actually combines bead work and kiln forming.