Fused Glass Poppies with Craig Mitchell Smith

In his first video tutorial, renowned glass artist Craig Mitchell Smith will share the making of his famous classic poppies over 2+ hours. His poppies are displayed at Disney’s Epcot Center, in homes and gardens across the nation, and his work was recently the feature exhibition throughout the nationally-awarded Dow Gardens.

Craig shares all his tips, tricks, and techniques for creating this classic flower. This includes Craig’s templates and free form style of cutting and construction, and adding flair and style to each blossom created. You will learn radically unique slumping techniques, using surprising materials to make their poppies come alive, and will learn the nuanced details of presenting their poppies for wall mounted interior presentation, table top interior presentation, or stemmed for an exterior garden installation.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

As a self-taught artist, my curiosity and creativity have taken me in many directions over the years. I am a painter; I have done interior and garden design throughout the U.S., set design for local theaters and floral design. I have also designed weddings throughout the U.S. and in England. In late 2005, I found glass. I started with making glass jewelry, but soon felt limited by the size and dimension. I moved quickly to glass sculpture because I liked the freedom of expression and scale. For me, the transparency of glass is a metaphor for memory. Even though the glass sculpture or design stays the same, if you move around the piece, or change the direction of the light or its intensity, you can change the memory. My designs often include the interplay of glass, light and water and range from garden sculptures to sculptural drawings, to portraits in glass, to wall hangings.