On fire.

•May 18, 2014 • Leave a Comment

I feel hot, these days. Arty as all get-out. Finished a pattern tonight, and Jelly pattern, suncatcher-style. It’s a request from a fried in AZ, but since it is completely an Artist’s Choice, they have the right of refusal. While I’m drawing these up, I feel like I can bust them out, and stockpile a bunch and sell them at the Farmer’ Market, or, better yet, ArtWalk 2014, but it doesn’t actually happen that way, lol. I am not a fan of repeating stuff. Much.

Finished piece, for Sale. Resting Tree, $120   10×15

resting tree 1wtmk

This piece was inspired by another piece i saw somewhere on the web. I have just discovered image search on google, and am in the process of trying to locate all the original posters of images I have, so I can credit the original artist. Please be patient, I am working on it.

whoops, just realized that I have posted this already. My bad. Sorry.

Posted in Cool glass, For Sale, Inspiration, Technique
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Hopefully, it’s not terminal

•May 11, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Blew up my Gemini Saw last night. Turned it on, and it made a horrendous noise. Switched it off, checked it out… the blade was getting stuck at one point in its revolutions. I hand-walked it thru until it was moving well. The blet was a tad loose, checked the tension spring, that was a tad loose as well. Tried to tighten it, with less than ideal results. Turned it on, it gave a loud-ass whooping cough, and quit. I may, or may not, have seen a blue flash. I am really hoping that it is “NOT”. A blue flash would mean a burnt motor part, not my forte. Sprung springs and worn belts, I can handle. Burnt electric stuff: not so much.

rose pattern

 

Of course, this is the piece I am working on right now. With lots of sharp corners, and that big, deep inside curvature around the top of the rose. I will be testing my cutting skills today. Probably time that I practice those anyway. I love my saw, but having it has made me complacent.

I’ve picked up a couple guitars. Going to try the guitar face thing that is all the rage on SGA. I had a friend who saw one and wanted it, but I got cold feet and felt pressured and told her no-can-do. Now that I have mulled it over, I want to try it. Sky River Music, a music store in town, donated a guitar for me to practice with, and I picked up another at a garage sale yesterday. Enthused about that. Also have a couple little bee-and0flower pieces that I’m going to set my hand to. Simple. quick pieces.

I hope everyone has a slothful and boozy Mother’s Day. If anyone deserves it, it is mothers.

UPDATE

Cleaned her up, replaced the belt, held my breath and switched her on. She works!! YAY!!

Posted in Commissions, Custom, Flowers
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Jelly Jewelry

•May 4, 2014 • Leave a Comment

I adapted this piece from a jewelry piece by John Pacheco. I need a quickie pattern for a suncatcher. Now that I have worked it, I have some ideas and am looking forward to modifying it and playing with it.

jelly jewelry

jelly jewelry detail 1

jelly jewelry detail 2

 

this is one of those pieces that doesn’t photograph all that well. the jellyfish “legs” are a lovely iridescent glass, pale lavendar with bits of blue and green. the glass gems are purple, pale green and soft blue.

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I love Sundays

•May 4, 2014 • 2 Comments

Lazy days-y Sundays… Headed up into the mountain last night to be part of a stargazing group. Clouds were rolling in, and after watching a gorgeous sunset, the event was deemed a bust. I was not sad however. I came home and finished up some glass.

seahorse and kelp

A little 8.5×11 piece for a friend’s dads’ birthday. Very happy with the texture of the kelp. Old English Muffle glass is the bomb.

Have been trying some new polishing and patina techniques. I am very happy with them. I have been avoiding copper patina because it has been turning out so jacked up and ugly. Read a post on SGA a couple days ago that said to polish the solder first, then do the patina (wiping it up as you go along) then polish again. Tried it, and the result was the most gorgeous, shiny copper patina I have EVER had. love it. Eager to try it with the black.

tree of rest

that is some shiny patina

that is some shiny patina

waiting for the sun to get a little higher in the sky, for better illumination for this piece. This one is for sale, and measures 10×15. The two clear pieces, at the bottom, are bevels.

Loving these smalls. Off to begin 2 more pieces… have a wonderful Sunday.

Posted in Commissions, Custom, For Sale, Technique
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what i’ve got going on

•April 27, 2014 • 3 Comments

Headed up to Paradise yesterday, to look at, and hopefully purchase, some windows that had been salvaged from an old house. The windows have become a hot commodity in the art community and are increasingly difficult to find for a reasonable price, and in a reasonable condition. Thank you Jim in Paradise for listing these beauties.

old windowsBecause I am a greedy hooker, I really wanted to buy them all, lol, but I restrained myslef. These will be used for a new art form, to me, called Glass-on-Glass Mosaics. It is exactly like mosaics, but instead of gluing to a board or concrete or table top, you glue to glass, and the light shines thru. I am intrigued with the process because I do not have to foil, nor solder. Most people grout the glass, but I am not in love with the idea, so will see what happens.

Must find a home in the garage for them, for the time being. Need to finish Jen’s gifts. and I’m sure there are a ton of other things that I “should” do, rather than play with glass. but whatever, lol, its a cool, overcast day…I’m playing with glass.

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Smalls

•April 23, 2014 • 3 Comments

I have been working on some small stuff. Just farting around. My day job had been incredibly busy, and my outside-of-work commitments have been more numerous than usual, so doing the smalls is quite rewarding.

lesa's cat finished

 

a quickie commish for a colleague, for her sisters bday. a portrait of her bright orange kitty.

WIP FISH

 

this is a copy of another artists work. I have since changed out the eye for a glass glob, and painted the iris on. This will  be a gift for a fisher friend.

WIP tree branches.jpeg

 

WIP also a copy of another artists work. i love how the solder lines are the bare branches. Not sure how it happened, but the pieces became a little loose, so i had to stick the pins in to keep it all lined up for solder. I am out of 60/40, so thought i would try doing this with 50/50, but the bead isn’t tall enough. i think this piece, especially, needs the taller bead, so have ordered some 60/40 and am waiting on it.

Posted in Commissions, Cool glass, Custom, For Sale
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just to get something new up here.

•April 1, 2014 • 1 Comment

need to jump start my blogging again. been insanely busy, lol.

current project. finished grinding tonight. this is a copy of someone else’s work.

tree ground

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for Denette- Taking Photos

•February 2, 2014 • 1 Comment

I’ve talked on here about the difficulty of taking photos of my work. I think all glass artists struggle with this. Glass is such a visual medium, as is photography. For decades people have been striving to produce the perfect representational photo. I dabbled in photography in my 20’s, and I think I was pretty decent at it, with my old school Yashica and film. But digital photography escapes me. I took a class on Photoshop, but was unable to complete it because I unexpectedly relocated my business, so i am still in the dark a bit when it comes to photography.

I understand the basics: illumination. The piece, especially glass, must be lit adequately to have any hope of proper color reproduction. I have hung pieces in just about every window in my home plus the back porch, the side porch and the front yard, trying to get a good photo. What has worked best for me is this:

1. South side of the house. time of day will vary, depending on the time of the year and the position of the sun. Yesterday was a better day to take these photos (sunny, as opposed to overcast) but I never got around to it. This time of year I like between 11-2pm for the best light.

I drilled holes in the eaves of my house, and inserted screw eyes. Two sets, one for the white screen/deflector and the other for the art. From these I hung lengths of chain, with S hooks.

photo system 1

2. Hang your white screen/deflector. Use what works for you. I made a stretcher frame using furring strips, and stretched an old white sheet over it. I put screw eyes in the outer edges of the top of the frame. The sheet doesn’t have to be pristine. This sheet has a few areas of discoloration and some small stains here and there, but it doesn’t show up in the photos. The important thing is that light must transmit thru the screen, it needs to seem lit from within. Linen, cotton, nylon, all with work. try assorted things, or just go buy a flat sheet.

photo system 3

photo system 2

3. Hang your art and start taking photos.

photo system 4

 

Today is overcast, the kind of day that is perfect for no backdrop photos. The no-backdrop photos actually look better than the ones shot with the white screen.

with white screen

with white screen

no white screen

no white screen

 

There is no single way, in my humble opinion, unless you are blessed enough to have a photography studio available to you. Experiment, find what works for you.

 

 

Posted in Technique
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teaching a class

•February 2, 2014 • 1 Comment

I have learned a few things, as I put together a class for beginning stained glass. I will incorporate them into the next class, if I elect to teach one. Which I probably will.

1. People wait until the last minute to sign up. Always. One third of the class signed up after the deadline, and now I am scrambling.

2. People always want you to cut them some slack on the rules, and offer amazingly intricate excuses as to why you should do so. One lady who inquired into the class wanted to know if I would sign her up, order all her tools and supplies on my dime, and she would pay me on the 3rd of the month, after she got her check from the state. Really? Wrong on several levels.

3. Some choices are hard. Buy locally and risk not having a bunch of colors I want, or buy from the SG supplier and pay outrageous shipping costs on the glass. I went with ordering it and having it shipped. $200 in glass, $150 to ship it. Yes, I am serious. Despite its cost, it was the better choice in the end. I went to the local shop to get glass for the latecomers, and she had half of the color choices I wanted.

I’m going to have to total everything up today and make sure I am not spending more money than I took in (a habit, i’m sad to announce), and re-evalute the necessity of the remaining supplies. Its fun, honestly. Can’t wait to start the class. Sixteen more days.

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Class time

•January 12, 2014 • 2 Comments

Well, I have bitten the bullet and agreed to teach a beginning stained glass class at a local community art venue. It should be interesting. The venue itself is newly opened, right across the street from my day job, so the commute will be a breeze. Class starts 2/18, and will go for 6 weeks. I am crazy excited to do it, although with an undercurrent of anxiety. But whatever! lol.

I’ve begun a commish piece for a Valentine gift. Haven’t settled on a title yet. Full Moon Bonsai, Bonsai Moon… I think it will end up the latter, but we will see.

bonsai tree pattern

Was able to cut out all the pieces last night, and as soon as I finish this post and shower, I’ll begin the grind. Received the Aqua Flow device, and the Quick-Bit grinder bit, so will install those and see how they work. Looking forward to that. All reports from SGA, on the Aqua-Flow, are very complimentary.

oooh! Stopped by Makin Glass yesterday, to see if they had a piece of green Old Mississippi glass, for the tree. They didn’t have that,  but I did find a decent sized piece of that deep teal glass, that i have looked for the past several years. It isn’t made any more, the company that produced it has closed. Kim said someone came in  with supplies to sell and that chunk was in the batch. I told her that I would take whatever came in, in the future, that she didn’t want to keep for herself, anyway. Really stoked about that.

ok, kids, off to the shower…

Posted in Commissions, Cool glass, Custom, Technique

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