Handmade fused glass, made in Kelso in the Scottish Borders.

Anne Somers studied ceramic design at Glasgow School of Art in the 1980s, however realising that it would be difficult to have a kiln in a top floor tenement flat moved to working in glass. She started by learning to make copper foiled ornaments such as sun catchers, light shades and mirrors. After moving to Hornby 20 years ago she attended Dallam College in Milnthorpe and completed a course in leaded stained glass windows. Since then she discovered “fused” glass and has now returned to using a kiln!

Her fused glass pieces are made by cutting sheets of specialist glass into detailed shapes and forming pictures and patterns by layering the cut glass onto a backing piece of clear glass. This is then fired in a kiln to a temperature of approximately 840°C. The firing cycle is critical to the successful fusing of glass and must increase and decrease at a controlled rate to prevent the glass from cracking.

Other elements can be added to the glass such as oxides, metal and other specialist glass such as millefiore beads or dichroic glass. Plates and dishes are formed by allowing the glass to “slump” into pre-formed moulds.

Anne loves the bright colours of the glass and enjoys trying to recreate local landscapes and the flowers & wildlife in and around the Lune Valley and Forest of Bowland. The seaside scenes are based on the villages around her family home in Fife, Scotland as well as local seaside trips to Morecambe and Blackpool. Each piece is a unique memento of local life.