The Villages - June 2018 - 24

Love

{ For The

oF ArT }

Annie DotzAuer

Fuses Glass
and Imagination
Story By rica LewiS | PhotoS By Brandon atweLL
She's a glass-half-full kind of gal, because the
material has become her muse. With a sheet of
glass and an idea, Annie Dotzauer fuses multicolored
creations to life.
It started with a class several years ago, with the goal
of making glass pendants. From there, she worked up
to bigger things: intricate seascapes, decorative cheese
plates and delicate works of art. Soon, her art spilled
over and demanded its very own space.
"My husband, Jimmy, said, 'I think you need a
studio,'" Dotzauer joked.
Her creative cocoon is a 13-by-13-foot space where
custom cabinets are stocked with colored glass, various
glass-cutting tools and a massive collection of tiny
shakers filled with frit - shimmering glass granules that
have the appearance of fairy dust.
Dotzauer's garage houses yet more equipment and
many great gifts from her husband. Some women get
flowers or fine chocolates, but she prefers other things: a
wet belt sander, a tile saw and a kiln.
"Jimmy supports my art. I'm very lucky to have him,"
she said.
Having just returned from a glass fusing conference in
Las Vegas, Dotzauer has stocked up on dichroic glass tiles
and is ready to fire up her kiln.
"I like to have supplies on hand so I can make anything I
want on a whim. I'm always scratching ideas down and trying
new things, playing with stuff. Last year I took a class on how to
embed metal."
Cooking glass is similar to baking, a process of trial and error
and experimenting with temperatures and cook times. Dotzauer
keeps detailed records of her projects, even photographs and
glass samples to reference her colors.
"Sometimes it takes several firings to fuse all the glass pieces
together," she said.
Glasses with coefficients of expansion or viscosity cannot be
fused together. Once cooled, incompatible glasses will crack. It's
also crucial to let temperatures down slowly, so glass can get used
to its new shape.

24

JUNE 2018

I like to have supplies
on hand so I can make
anything I want on
a whim. I'm always
scratching ideas down
and trying new things,
playing with stuff. Last
year I took a class on
how to embed metal.
- annie dotzauer



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Villages - June 2018

Contents
The Villages - June 2018 - Cover1
The Villages - June 2018 - Contents
The Villages - June 2018 - 1
The Villages - June 2018 - 2
The Villages - June 2018 - 3
The Villages - June 2018 - 4
The Villages - June 2018 - 5
The Villages - June 2018 - 6
The Villages - June 2018 - 7
The Villages - June 2018 - 8
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The Villages - June 2018 - 24
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The Villages - June 2018 - 26
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The Villages - June 2018 - 54
The Villages - June 2018 - Cover3
The Villages - June 2018 - Cover4
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