About a year ago, one of the major art glass manufacturers, Spectrum Glass, went out of business. Their departure left a lot of glass artists scrambling, especially when it came to fusible glass. All fusible glass manufacturers put a great deal of effort into creating glass that is compatible-- meaning it reacts to temperature changes in the kiln in the same way as others in the line. A consequence of using glass that is not compatible frequently is breakage. I had a very small quantity of the glass shown above that I wanted to use for my James Monroe Elementary School project. I am making a glass river that will visually join two wall sculptures on either side of the school's sign (see my March 2 blog post for more information). I thought this glass would be perfect but, unfortunately, by the time I went to buy it, there was none to be found. There was nothing that was even close to it with the compatibility I needed. This morning, as I was wandering around the glass store, I saw this gorgeous glass and my jaw dropped. Almost immediately, one of the employees came over to me and said they weren't able to sell it because they only had 4 remaining sheets. I'm not sure what changed his mind but the next thing I knew, he was calling the office to ask if I could buy one. And wouldn't you know it, they said yes! I can't explain how happy I am to have gotten this treasure! I had been waiting to start this section of the project and not really knowing why-- now I know. I was waiting for this!