Cascadia Center For Arts & Crafts

Tuesday July 20, 2021 – 10am – 4pm $295.00 Max 6 Students.

This is an intermediate class. Soft Glass Marbles.
Prerequisite: Beginning Beads or approval by the instructor.
Move off the mandrel and learn how to make marbles with soft glass. We will be pulling stringers, making ‘twisties’, putting flowers inside glass marbles, and making old school cats-eye style marbles while having fun melting and shaping glass in marbles! This class uses the same techniques used in borosilicate but with the added benefit of better color selection and less heat needed to create these beautiful round masterpieces.

Supplies (supplied by Student): Favorite glass tools, marble mold/s. Materials provided by Cascadia Arts Center.: Complete Flameworking studio, annealing kilns, glass for class only.

Bring a lunch to eat at the studio, or restaurants located in the village. Full refrigerator and kitchen, bathroom at Raven Studio.
If you cannot be present the next day for marble pick up … arrangements can be made to mail them to you.

Bronwen Heilman is a full-time studio artist, flame-work glass instructor and the Director of the flameworking studio at Sonoran Glass School in Tucson, Arizona. Her work has been exhibited and received awards in numerous juried exhibitions. She is a recipient of the International Glass Bead Society Presidents Award, first place in soft marble competition, and others. Her work is published in 1000 Glass Beads, 500 Beaded Objects, Contemporary Lampworking, Glass Bead Masters, Bronwen Heilman: Vitreous Painting Techniques for Glass Beadmaking among others. Her most recent exhibition was “Lifeforms: The 2nd Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka Glass Biological Model Exhibition” in Corning, New York.

Saturday August 14, 2021 – 10am – 4pm $220.00 Max 6 Students.

Learn some blacksmithing fundamentals from Joe Vachon, the Season 6, Episode 27, Forged In Fire Champion, in this 1 day, hands on coarse. Safety, body mechanics, tools, and the working properties of hot steel will be addressed, as well as various techniques, such as: tapering, scrolling, twisting, bending, drilling, punching, hot cutting, flat peening, upsetting and shouldering.  Students will start out practicing the basics with the forging of a few decorative hooks for the first half of the class.  After lunch, folks are welcome to create something of their choosing with their new found skill-set, such as (but not limited to) a fire poker, meat turner, bottle opener, letter opener, necklace pendent, or an experimental piece. One hour lunch break.

Note about what to wear – Wear cotton pants and shirt (synthetics are flammable!).  Make sure your pants fit over the tops of your boots so nothing hot can fall in.  Safety glasses and ear plugs are available, or bring your own.  Bringing your own leather gloves can be a good idea.  Bring a water bottle to stay hydrated. 

Saturday October 24th 10am-4pm.
Cost $150.00
Maximum Number Of Students 6

Powder Carving is a technique that creates a pottery like texture/design by layering different colored and dampened powder frit onto an opal base. Designs are created with everyday tools and a final batik looking piece is created. Multiple layers of powder and frit will be used

Crackle is a technique that is often used to create a piece of glass that can be cut up and incorporated as elements in other pieces or used by itself. Many variations of crackle can be created in this project using reactive colors or pieces of silver or copper foil. All tools and materials are supplied.

This class includes two separate techniques that allow the artist to embellish another piece of glass or simply create a stunning piece of their own on the first firing. These techniques can be backed onto another piece of glass or further slumped into usable vessels.

There will be breaks and an hour lunch time to further visit with the instructor and other artists. This will be an excellent class to put more techniques into your arsenal. Masks are required and social distancing will be in place.

Instructor: Shirley Bishop –

Shirley is a native Oregonian who resides in Washougal, WA, who since very young has always been fond of anything glass. In high school she took her first stained glass class as an elective not realizing she’d fallen in love. After many years of her tools in storage and watching her friends explore their creativity, in 2013 she took her first FUSED GLASS class and fell back in love with the art. She got her first kiln that Christmas. She now has a teaching studio and workshop in Washougal, WA on 20 acres with 4 goats and creates beautiful pieces of art glass to use both as decoration and for practical purposes.

She is a member of the Pacific NW Glass Guild, Washougal Arts & Culture Alliance and a member of Washougal Studio Artists. She recently won 2nd place in the Cascadia Center for Arts & Crafts Isolation Art 2020 contest.

There will be a $25.00 cancellation fee if you cancel within 7 days of the start of your class.