This is both a welcome and an invitation to participate.

We are publishing a quarterly newsletter which will be a resource for the fostering of craft in NSW and thus provide a platform where craft workers can promote their exhibitions, workshops, classes, get togethers, tutorials.

We intend to feature informative snips, clips, tips and images about craft, together with information about Craft NSW members' and invited craftworkers' exhibitions.

For this, we need your participation. If you or your organisation have a craft event of any kind in NSW, submit it for free inclusion in future issues of Craft Matters. Please email your interest to: newsletter@artsandcraftsnsw.com.au

Craft NSW promotes contemporary craft through exhibitions, our retail gallery, public programs and publications.

Of course, your feedback and suggestions are always welcome.

Craft NSW is the gallery of the Society of Arts and Crafts of NSW, a not-for-profit organisation established in 1906, among other things, to encourage and promote arts and crafts, encourage the use of Australian culture, materials and motif in work and design and provide opportunities for the exhibition and sale of work of members and others.

The Society of Arts and Crafts of NSW - visit our website

We can't guarantee its inclusion, but we promise to consider it honestly and respectfully.

1. Brian Cox, 'MGT4' silver cutlery
2. Mary Raymond 'Sand Dunes and Waterholes' copper, enamel, fine silver
3. Bev Orme 'Sculptural form, copper wire, leather, plastic
4. Shobana Valentine 'Pram' banana fibre miniature 1/2":1'
5. Linda Bottari 'Book' hand bound
6. Pat Hayward 'This isn't Tupperware' stoneware, nails, wire, glass
7. Penelope Wood mixed media wall sculpure
8. Pam de Groot 'Bush Priestess' hat, wet felted, double resist, merino wool

 9. Martha Catano, treadle machine embroidery
10. Marlies Benjamin, decoupage box
11. Mette Haulrik, sterling silver, 9 ct gold
12. Keith Lo Bue,'Spoonfed' Georgian spoons, Victorian forks, mixed media
13. Maret Kalmar, pendant, sterling silver
14. Mike St Clair, turned burl bowl
15. Jane Hinde, handpainted silk georgette wrap
16. Krysia St Clair, ceramic teapot, brass handle
17. Michael Ripoll 'Wings' huon pine, ironbark, rusted metals

And from that seemingly simple formula, crafts men and women produce a dazzling array of glass art.

And dazzling it is, with techniques including blowing, fusing, casting, slumping, carving, leadlighting, painting, sculpting, pate de vere, enamelling, etching, sandblasting, mosaic and flameworking.

Glass art can sometimes be spectacular and we can be forgiven if we forget that glass plays a part in a lot of other crafts. In Craft NSW alone, to the ranks of the (strictly speaking) glass workers can be added enamellists (yes, it's glass).

Enamel is a glass medium which dates back to the 6th century BC. The better known application today is probably 'cloisonne', where ground glass is applied to 'cells' separated by thin metal (copper, silver or gold) strips, then heated until the glass and metal base fuse together.

If that wasn't challenging enough, there's 'plique-a-jour' where you do the same, but this time without the benefit of the metal base.

Then there are the ceramicists with their glazes (yes, these too can be a form of glass). Not to mention glass beads used in some of our leathercraft and garments, mirrors in pewterwork, kaleidoscopes, masks, wall hangings, decorative jewellery, found objects sculptures... the list goes on.

The images shown here are deliberately devoid of relative scale and range in size from 50cms to 4cms. Yet all of them use glass... made from some sand, a little soda, a little lime and lots of heat.

1. Penel Bigg, glass
2. Heather Calnan, enamel
3. Mary Raymond, enamel
4. Margot Alexander, kiln fired glass
5. Robin Phillips, cloisonne
6. Valerie Aked, plique a jour
7. Margaret Ramsey, kiln fired glass
8. Karen McPhee, kiln fired glass
9. Carolyn Delzoppo, cloisonne

Inspired by the wonderful way glass holds colour and light, and by the beautiful bush environment she lives in, Penel's work is continually changing as she tries to characterise and portray these inspirations within the medium of glass.

Recently Penel has begun to work in borosilicate glass (the stuff glass cookware is made from) as well as soda-lime glass (what most beadmakers use) and this has allowed her to begin dabbling in blown pieces with more of a sculptural appeal.

Penel has just launched her website firebirdbeads.com in which she writes each week about some aspect of glass, flameworking and the creative process

Disclaimer: The information in Craft Matters is subject to change. Although we make every effort to ensure that the content at the time of publication is correct, we do not guarantee its accuracy. Craft NSW accepts no responsibility to you or anyone else arising from any use or reliance on the information contained in Craft Matters or any inaccuracy or lack of currency in the information.