SLIDESHOW

First in an occasional series on home-based artisans and craftspeople.

A wooden sign that says "ALWAYS COLOR OUTSIDE THE LINES" hangs above Kelly Chenault's garage workshop in Mechanicsville.

The message has gotten through.

Chenault, 39, graduated from the University of Richmond with a degree in speech communication and English in 1991. But a desire to craft that traces back to her crayon days gnawed at her.

"My mom said that I always had glue, paper and blunt scissors in my hand from the get-go," Chenault said. "Making things is what makes me happy."

Chenault is a stay-at-home mom of two and creator of KellyGirl Glass, products made from fusing pieces of colored glass in a kiln. Her collection includes clocks, bowls, holiday ornaments, plates, cheese boards, magnets and jewelry. She also makes clocks and other decorative pieces from craft paper, laser-cut wood, fabric and recycled items such as vintage buttons.

Chenault's sizable stash of glass ranges from tubes of tiny confetti-like bits ordered online to grocery bags filled with empty Boylan creme soda bottles. Most of it, however, is in picture-frame-sized sheets -- sheer brilliant colors, textured clear pieces, marbled opaques.

She comes up with a mental design, then cuts the glass using a wet saw, a tabletop device that allows mosaic artists to make circles and other shapes.

She begins by layering the glass -- placing tiny confetti ornaments on two layers of green glass cut in tree shapes, for example. To keep the pieces in place before firing, Chenault uses plain old Elmer's glue. "It burns off," she said. She places a loop of heat-resistant wire between the tree layers as the ornament's hanger.

The glass pieces go into the kiln at a temperature of 950 to 1,050 degrees. In "tack fusing," items retain their three-dimensional qualities. A "full fuse" melts the glass completely into itself.

For larger pieces such as bowls, Chenault uses a draping mold. She creates her design, then rests the glass atop the mold and puts it into the kiln. As the glass heats, it slumps into the mold's shape. She melts the creme soda bottles into flat cheese boards, leaving a hole where she can attach a dainty cheese knife with a ribbon.

Each kiln stage, from firing to cool-down, takes 12 hours. "If you heat it [the glass] too quickly, it will crack," she said. If you heat it too long, you end up with devitrification, a whitish scum that appears on the surface of fired glass.

Chenault began working with glass after taking a class in 2002 at the former Hand Workshop. About two years ago, she pulled out her notes, bought a small $800 kiln and made glasswork a full-blown hobby. She sells her pieces at the Crossroads Art Center in Richmond and online at www.kellygirl.etsy.com. Prices range from $12 ornaments to $65 bowls.

"I could mass-produce this, but I don't really want to," she said. "The thing I love the most is that nothing is ever quite the same.

"I love color. I love working with color and I love to see the colors mold together." Contact Julie Young at (804) 649-6732 or jyoung@timesdispatch.com.
Do you enjoy a home-based hobby that you'd like to share? Send a description and a photo, if possible, to Julie Young, Home & Garden, Richmond Times-Dispatch, P.O. Box 85333, Richmond, VA 23293, or e-mail jyoung@timesdispatch.com. Please include your name, address and phone number.