City of Craft

What a great show it was!

I must give a big shout out to the City of Craft crew! Many thanks for organizing this wonderful event!!!

Another thank you is due to all of the people that came out to support your local craftspeople, I thoroughly enjoyed conversing with such a diverse crowd and all of the feedback that I received from you kind folks was very much appreciated!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from all of us here at patrickfisher.ca (okay it's just me)!

The Glassblowing Process

Recently, I have been hard at work preparing for this weekend's City of Craft event, happening Saturday and Sunday. I would like to share with you a few photos taken today which illustrate some of the processes involved in the making of my glass items. Photo credits go to my pal Steven Woodruff.


In the first photo I have a small bubble of coloured glass which I have partially covered in 23k gold leaf.

In photo #2 I have added a layer of clear glass and I am shaping it with a newspaper that has been specially folded and soaked in water.

Photo #3 shows the bubble immersed in the pool of molten glass (1150°C) while I am "gathering" more glass from the furnace onto the bubble.

In #4 the bubble has been freshly coated with new glass from the furnace. You can see how the gold leaf is beginning to spread throughout the bubble and is glowing brighter than the glass.

The glass must then be shaped again with the wet paper (#5).

Photo #6 shows me dripping off the excess glass from my final "gather" from the furnace. Now that I have gathered all of the glass that I will need to make the piece I can begin to start inflating the bubble and sculpting it into it's final shape.

Although the glass appears to be a red or orange colour while it is still hot, this particular piece will be a transparent blue colour tomorrow, when it has cooled to room temperature. The flecks of gold will retain their original colour from photo #1.

You may now be wondering what exactly it is that I was making with that big blob of glass on the end of a pipe? Well I encourage you to come join me at City of Craft to find out!

City of Craft
December 12+13, 2009
The Theatre Centre - 1087 Queen Street West, Toronto

A Rainy Day in Central Park

Hello World,

I have been sorting through some pictures from my recent trip to NYC, and I would like to share some photos that I took on a rainy day in Central Park with you.













If you have a chance to visit New York sometime before January 25th 2010, I strongly recommend that you go see the special exhibition:

Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity

which is now on view at the MoMA.

St. Pius X Christmas Bazaar

Please come and check out my table at the St. Pius X Christmas Bazaar! The Bazaar will be taking place tomorrow (Friday November 27) from 9:30am til 6:00pm. St. Pius X Catholic School is located at 71 Jane St., just one block North of Bloor St.

You can come to check out the handmade glass items... I will be there for the baked goods!

City of Craft 2009

I am incredibly excited to let you know that I will be participating in this year's City of Craft show, aka the best craft show you will ever attend (except maybe next years??)!

In all seriousness though, City of Craft is unlike any other craft show and it is one that you will not want to miss.

Here are the details:

City of Craft 2009
December 12 & 13, 2009
Saturday NOON-7:00pm
Sunday NOON-5:00pm

The Theatre Centre
1087 Queen Street West, Downstairs
Toronto, ON

$2 at the door

Musicworks Magazine - Winter 2009 Issue

The winter issue of Musicworks magazine is fresh off the press, featuring a great article on Extermination Music Night by Jay Somerset and cover photograph by yours truly:



Also included is a 15 track CD featuring Tom Zé, Joelle Léandre, Nicole Lizée, James Rolfe, Joda Clément and Nigel Craig, Canaille, Eve Egoyan and David Rokeby.

Pick yours up at Soundscapes today! Support Canadian magazine publishers!

Upcoming Show

I am pleased to announce that I will be participating in the 2009 annual Swansea Craft & Bake Sale on Saturday November 21st. I will be off on a trip to New York City while the show is happening, but there will be two lovely ladies looking after my table in my absence. This is good news for you, the craft show shopper, because they are much more fun than I am anyway.

Thanks D and Z!



From the Swansea website:

Please come out on Saturday, November 21st from 10:00am to 3:00pm and support a great cause while having the wonderful opportunity to purchase many unique gifts for the holiday season! There will be 55 vendors that sell everything you need - jewellery, christmas wreaths, ornaments, candles, children's hats, magnets, handmade chocolate, jams, jellies, strudel, dips, cookie mix, organic produce, soap, towels, toys, stuffed animals, quilts, stained glass, handsewn items, hand blown glass and much much more!! Make sure that you visit our popular baked goods table!


Please bring your friends, relatives, neighbours and of course the kids! Shop, have lunch, enter the raffle and get a tattoo! There will be lunch available and we will have once again our fun raffle draw! Bring your camera - Santa will be visiting from 11:00-1:00!! For more details contact swanseaparentcouncil@yahoo.ca


All admission money goes towards struggling families during the holiday season. For more information contact 416-393-9080.

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello Internet,

I have been thinking about publishing a blog for some time now, and now is the time for me to stop thinking about it and start posting!

I had the opportunity to travel to Chicago last week to visit the 2009 SOFA Chicago Exhibition. It was an amazing show and I was blown away by the quality of many of the works exhibited. Unfortunately photography is not allowed at the exhibition so instead I will share some photos that I took while exploring the beautiful city of Chicago.

Enjoy!