Craft project decision-point: stop, continue, or start over?

Post date: 2024-11-13 06:05:52

I made a fused glass house number to post on a rock at the top of our driveway. I'm not super-satisfied with how it came out (so far?). I'd like opinions and advice on the three options I have from here.

Here's how it looks now. It's very roughly 10"x10".

If you're aesthetically picky, I'd love your honest opinion. Am I having house number dysphoria? Or am I right that the blobbiness makes it look too amateurish? The studio owner says it's already beautiful, and no one will notice the lumps when they're at viewing distance from the rock. Is she right and my perfectionism is just getting in my way? Or is it really as amateurish as it looks to me?

The top part of the 6 is nice and smooth, just how I wanted it. The rest isn't, and it's not going to get there at the studio where I made it. The studio owner has already fired it twice, with some work in between to smooth the edges. My amateur opinion is that it needs to be fired hotter for longer, but her professional practice is that she's not going to do that. So I have three options:
1. Pick it up and install it as-is.
2. Grind out some of the worst lumps on the edges, and have her fire it again to polish the ground edges. She will NOT be happy to do this, so I'd have to insist. She won't like it, and I won't like doing it (but also, I'm not planning to go back after this). I don't know if it'd end up enough better to be worth it. The surface will still be lumpy -- it's only some of the edges I could grind down a bit. I outlined those in pink on the second image, but I'm not sure if I even could fix all of them. The grinder might not fit inside the circle of the 6, or in the narrow space between the 2 and the 6.
3. Start over at another studio. I found one where I'm confident I could get the result I'd like. She spent time with me on the phone, shared lots of expertise, and suggested a different process (cutting a mold from 6mm fiber paper).

I'm not feeling psyched to start from scratch, but I'm also not sure whether this looks good enough to use as-is, or even with the grinding I could do. I do like the colors, and I'm not sure what color range the other studio will have in the scrap bins I'd be using. The other studio is a long drive away, and I'd have to make 2-3 trips. I'd have to spend more money to start over, and I've already spent what's verging on a silly amount for house numbers.

So I don't know: use it as-is, grind what I can, or bite the bullet and start over?

It's tricky, because I'm a newbie and the studio owner where I went is an experienced pro, but I think she's wrong about some of what she's telling me. Those details are collapsed

here, but skippable.]

She says the lumpiness is because I used different thicknesses of glass. I did, but I think it should still melt smooth if held hot enough for long enough. The plan we'd discussed ahead of time was to just let it melt and puddle out unevenly, and then cut out the right shape with her ring saw, but now she doesn't want to do that. She says it already has spots that are devitrifying. It does, but my understanding is that we can address that with clear frit powder on top. She says it risks being more brittle each time we fire it, but I heard that bullseye glass was tested to five firings at 1500 degrees each -- which I think she's probably not even hitting.

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