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Description
The City of Bloomington and the Housing and Redevelopment Authority hosted the 10th Home Improvement Fair on Saturday, February 25, 2012. Fairgoers attended how-to seminars, visited with home improvement exhibitors, asked questions and got ideas for upcoming remodeling projects.
A
Hi
welcome
to
glass,
it's
not
just
for
windows,
anymore,
I'm,
Stacey,
Kelly
and
I'm,
a
glass
artist.
You
might
be
asking
yourself:
what's
a
glass
artists,
doing
presenting
at
home
improvement,
fair
and
that's
a
fair
question,
pretty
good
question.
Actually,
so
a
little
background
about
me
is
probably
in
order.
I
come
from
a
construction
family.
My
first
job
at
the
tender
age
of
14
was
as
a
roofer
I
moved
on
until
I
wound
up
being
a
finish
carpenter,
so
I
can
set
trim
around
windows
like
nobody's
business.
A
A
A
A
A
Let's
talk
about
glass
and
let's
talk
about
some
of
the
most
common
uses
of
glass
in
our
homes.
We
all
have
these
windows
mirrors
lamp,
fixture,
globes
and
drinking
glasses.
Alright,
some
of
you
don't
have
glass
for
drinking
out
of
but
they're
very
common,
less
common
uses
in
our
homes,
tile
sinks
and
furniture.
A
Now
the
less
common
items
are
all
readily
available
on
the
commercial
market.
Glass
table
tops
in
particular
have
been
around
for
a
long
time
and
we
can
even
find
them
in
lawn
furniture.
We
trust
glass
in
those
applications
as
homeowners,
we
want
beauty,
easy
maintenance
and
longevity
in
our
home
and
our
home
finish:
glass
fulfills
all
these
requirements,
but
many
people
are
still
hesitant
to
choose
class.
So,
let's
address
some
of
those
reasons,
glass
fears,
it
will
scratch.
A
The
truth
is
every
surface
can
be
scratched
for
many
people,
it's
easier
to
accept
glass
when
it's
placed
vertically,
as
in
a
window
or
on
the
wall
since
you're
not
going
to
be
sliding
things
across
it
for
that
matter,
you're
not
going
to
be
walking
across
it,
as
you
would
in
a
flooring,
application
grinding
in
salt
and
gravel.
You
know
that
reality
of
all
of
us
who
live
in
Minnesota
admit
it.
Even
if
you
take
your
shoes
off
at
the
door
that
stuff
migrates
through
your
house,
it's
going
to
go
across
your
floor
surfaces.
A
Interestingly
enough,
we
have
very
little
fear
that
our
water
ceramic
tile
floors
are
going
to
be
scratched.
Let
me
give
you
a
little
tidbit
of
information
about
ceramic
tile.
However,
all
those
beautiful
glossy
glazes,
that's
class,
it's
a
layer
of
glass
on
the
surface
of
the
ceramics,
the
thinner,
the
glass
layer,
the
easier
it
is
to
scratch.
The
same
holds
true
of
would,
of
course,
I.
Can
snap
a
stick
of
wood
in
my
hands,
but
I,
wouldn't
even
try
to
break
it
to
buy
for
over
my
knee
thickness
equals
strength.
A
A
Even
chorion,
Formica,
similar
laminate
or
solid
composite
countertop
materials
are
going
to
be
damaged
by
that
kind
of
behavior.
Some
things
you
just
have
to
whack
pretty
hard
to
chip
and
the
number
one
fear
the
perception
of
glass.
It's
delicate
and
very,
very
fragile.
Like
a
hothouse
flower,
we've
all
heard
this
one,
don't
touch
it.
It's
glass!
A
It
was
burned
into
our
psyches
in
our
childhood
I've
watched,
full-grown
adults
standing
talking
to
me
at
an
art
exhibit,
and
they
hear
it
now
what
they
here
comes
from
30
feet,
away,
it's
being
addressed
to
a
small
child
who
they
have
no
relation
to
and
their
immediate
response
is
this
we
put
our
hands
away.
We
know
glass
is
fragile,
the
funniest
part
they
don't
even
skip
a
beat
in
their
conversation.
That's
how
deeply
we
have
this
idea
embedded.
A
A
I'm
going
to
drop
something
on
it
or
in
it,
for
example,
a
razor,
a
toothbrush
glass
or,
if
you're
like
me,
your
coffee,
mug
notice.
This
isn't
just
a
glass
sink
that
it's
also
a
glass
countertop,
don't
know
what
to
tell
you,
the
coffee,
mug
didn't
survive.
The
sink
remains,
and
it's
flawless
talking
about
sinks
and
this
one
since
I
dropped
a
coffee
mug
in
it.
You
might
guess
it's
in
my
home,
one
of
the
other
sinks
in
my
home
is
commercially
available
porcelain.
A
Glass,
wonderful,
so
just
how
delicate
and
fragile
is
glass
well
in
some
ways,
it's
stronger
than
steel
glass
has
a
higher
compressive
strength
and
structural
steel
at
325,
megapascals
versus
steals
250
megapascals,
it's
roughly
equal
to
steal
in
terms
of
sheer
strength
or
how
much
pressure
is
going
to
take
to
break
or
tear
it.
Apart
with
steel
at
29
and
glass
at
28.5,
giga,
pascals,
respectively.
A
This
is
one
of
those
moments
when
I'm
really
glad
for
the
computer
age,
because,
while
many
of
us
don't
know
and
may
not
care
about
a
pascal
measurement,
we've
at
least
heard
megas
and
gigas,
so
we
have
some
idea
of
how
large
this
is
just
in
case
you're.
More
technically
minded
a
Pascal
is
a
measure
of
force
per
unit
area
and
is
equal
to
145
point
zero.
A
Four
pounds
per
square
inch
x,
10
to
the
negative
sixth
I,
know
you're
thinking
this
whole
slide
with
all
these
measurements
seems
like
it
came
out
of
the
head
of
the
engineer.
Part
well
I
have
to
admit
that
it
was
the
hammer
swinger
who
found
this
little
tidbit
about
tensile
strength
of
grass.
First,
where
it's
gone
since
then
may
have
something
to
do
with
my
close
association
to
an
engineer,
but
I
really
do
think
it's
just
a
neat
concept.
A
That
glass
can
be
as
strong
as
steel
notice
to
that
I'm
specifying
soda
lime
glass
as
the
glass
that
we
are,
comparing
that's
the
kind
of
glass
that
I
work
in
as
well
as
the
most
common
form
of
glass
that
most
of
your
household
items
are
made
from
some
other
types
of
glass,
such
as
borosilicate,
which
is
what
pyrex
is
made
of,
and
quartz
glass
have
slightly
different
properties
to
include
different
strength,
measurements
now,
I'm,
not
saying
that
glass
isn't
fragile.
It's
just
that!
It's
not
that
fragile!
A
Think
of
it
as
a
nice
sturdy
marigold,
rather
than
that
hothouse
orchid
glass
is
certainly
not
as
elastic
as
steel.
You
can
see
that
in
the
Youngs
modulus
section
under
elasticity,
steal,
Ben's
or
two
flex
significantly
farther
than
glass
before
reaching
its
breaking
point
and
I'm,
not
saying
that
it's
absolutely
stronger
than
steel.
A
A
The
very
stuff
we
put
the
foundations
of
our
homes
on
comes
in
at
a
whopping
22
megapascals
and
has
an
ultimate
tensile
strength
of
only
1
point.
1
mega
pascals
human
skin
has
a
tensile
strength
of
almost
three
times.
Higher
really
makes
you
glad
that
they
add
natural,
stone
and
other
aggregates
in
the
process
of
making
concrete.
A
There
was
in
fact
a
reason
for
natural
stone
being
up
there
on
that
chart
that
and
the
fact
that
we
use
it
a
lot
in
our
interior
of
our
homes.
Anyhow
now
so
measurably
I
can
say,
class
is
strung.
I
could
also
create
for
you
a
slide
of
Vickers
hardness
a--'s.
So
I
can
prove
to
you
just
how
scratch-resistant
it
is,
but
I'm
going
to
trust
that
I.
Don't
need
to
do
that
for
you.
A
A
A
I
can't
have
glass
in
my
home,
I
have
children
or
I
have
grandchildren
and
I
want
you
to
not
think
I
can't
have
glass
I'm
the
biggest
klutz
in
the
world,
I'm
going
to
drop
my
coffee
mug
in
it,
and
because
I
hope
that
it
gives
you
the
power
to
make
unexpected
choices.
Imagine
the
possibilities
in
living
with
glass,
because
I
absolutely
love
class.
The
beauty
inherent
in
the
material
stuns
me
I
want
everyone
to
have
the
confidence
to
choose
glass
for
things
in
their
homes,
besides
just
windows,
and
have
that
same
experience.
A
Absolutely
not
glass
is
a
very
stable
material.
It
soda
lime,
glass
to
some
degree,
is
thermally
sensitive,
so
it
doesn't
really
like
it
if
you
apply
a
heating
iron
to
one
side
of
it,
well,
the
other
side
of
it
sitting
in
a
bath
of
ice,
but
it
has
to
be
that
kind
of
extremity
where
you're
talking
about
three
to
four
hundred
degree
temperature
variations
between
the
inside
and
the
outside
of
the
glass
surface.
A
Okay,
so
the
glass
countertop
that
was
around
the
sink.
Yes,
that
is
that
standard
plate,
and
you
can
have
that
created
at
any
glass
shop
that
handles
things
like
shower
doors,
so
forth,
nothing
terribly
complex,
used
in
a
large
counter
application.
The
thing
that
you
really
want
to
know
is
that
it
either
has
to
be
extremely
well
supported
or
very
thick
in
order
to
cover
wide
spans.
A
Yes,
I
do
have
a
website.
My
website
is
WWF
k,
art
class
com,
FK,
a
RT,
GLA,
SS
dot-com.