Beginning Buddha

•January 20, 2013 • 6 Comments

New piece:

buddha piece

 

Going to try something different this time around. Less structured. Oh yeah. I wrote all this already. So I’ll just share the photos.

buddha and globs

 

Going to use glass globs. And big chunks of color in the background. I decided to tackle the globs first, because they would be the most tedious to grind and wrap. I find that the foil sticks much better if i grind a line around them. Took less time than I thought, but still… thank goodness for books on tape.

Foiled them tonight. Which is why I am posting this actually. My hands were cramped into claws by the time I was done, lol. Typing actually stretches them out, helps me limber them up. I’m going to go park my fanny on the couch in a few minutes and watch some Castle… but wanted to do this first.

glass globs

 

165 of the little bastards. I’m getting more and more excited about as I go along. Yay!!

Posted in Cool glass, Custom, For Sale, Technique
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a departure

•January 13, 2013 • Leave a Comment

For 2013 I am going to step out of my comfort zone. That is kind what this years theme is… so why not in glass as well?

Normally, I like my pieces tightly structured. I like them to fit together like puzzles. I meticulously cut out the patterns to ensure that they fit together like a puzzle. But I am not going to do that with this next piece. The next oe is a buddha window. Last summer I had all these ideas that I wanted to get down on paper. I never really managed it. the transition from in my head onto paper is not an easy one. I do not have the drawing skill for it. I can copy things, but freehand creating is much more of a problem for me. The drawing of the pattern is, by far, the most difficult aspect of the project.

Coming in a close second, for difficultly, is color selection. This part also takes me forever. Not as long as the pattern making, but certainly longer han I feel it should.

So this time, I am shaking things up. There are some organic pieces on Etsy.com that move me. I don’t know about copyright laws and all that, so I will not include and image, but you can find it here. And here.

they are abstract pieces, like someone has a super cool piece of glass and just built a window around it, using organic shapes and no pattern. Glass globs and sliced geodes are often a component.

il_570xN.355735320_2lfr

Artist is rneely, from sandcarvigworks.com, out of Gand Junction, CO and Etsy.

This one I particularly like for several reasons. The artist gets all 3D, with the use of the crystal cluster, for one. He/she  adds in some wire swirlies, which is a current fondness of mine. And lastly, using the rolled edge of the white and grey opaque glass, in its natural state. All of these things make me like this piece. And the iridescent, swirly glass.  Love it.

So I am going to incorporate almost all of these elements in my buddha piece. The wire add-ons and the glass globs, for sure. Not the crystals or geodes. Though I might in a later piece. I’m still in the process of thinking things through, but I have the pattern copied, and am finishing up a quicky commish for someone. then it is time to grind a crap-ton of glass globs. ugh. It will be sensational when it is done.

Thanks for sticking around, and Happy 2013!!

Posted in Cool glass, Custom, Inspiration, Patterns, Technique
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Purple Sunflower GEGE

•December 31, 2012 • 1 Comment

Now that the Golden Elephant Gift Exchange has happened at my fam’s home, I can post on here what it was. And I am really really happy with it. (disclaimer: inspired by pieces in Curliosity, the book).

GEGE 2012 purple sunflower

 

LOVE THIS!! love it love it love it. which is good, because I just took two more orders for  it. well, the small version. This one went to my lovely cousin P, who was so enamored of it in its drawn stage, and who has always been so enthusiastic about my glass in general. I am so glad that she just happened to pick my gift <wink>.

Still having those photo issues. Took a bunch of pix of this, and I thought they looked great on the camera, but when I downloaded them, they were yellow. F*ing bulb. I signed up for a photography class at the parks & rec dept in RB. He said he was going to spend a good amount of time on lighting. It is actually a class specifically for dSLRs. which is good, because I don’t even use my dSLR… which is a sad sad thing. To have spent all that money on it and never ever use it. ok, once in a blue moon I use it. Its a 10 week class, so not too long. here’s hoping I get somethign out of it, lol.

The wire work is looking good, right?!

Posted in Cool glass, Custom, Flowers, Technique
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photos and lighting

•December 18, 2012 • 2 Comments

i am having a total dilemma in regards to lighting and photographing my glass. some stuff photographs easily. Other pieces, not so much. It seems that no matter what I try, I cannot get the lighting right.

Natural light is the best, and of course, the hardest to manuever. And it changes with the time of the year. Late spring is perfect on my side porch and front window. The light is strong enough to illuminate, but not so harsh as to wash out the finer details. Other than late spring, it is a crap shoot. Sometimes direct lighting is good, though there are times I have to filter it with paper. The best stuff I have found is tissue paper, but it is so fragile, and I have het to find it in rolls, so it has folds in it when I use it. I also have a roll of thin butcher paper, white, that is very good. But still, it is a problem.

Amazon has these cool lighting set ups with a light tent and lights, for photography, which are great, but too small. I imagine i will try to rig something up in the garage in the warmer weather. the garage is now at 40 degree for the duration of winter. ok, they don’t have them anymore, but they directed me to this website, which is awesome!

speaking of winter, we had snow a couple days ago!! the last time it snowed was Feb 2011. it was lovely.

snow dec 2012this was right as it got going. It ended up snowing for a couple hours, and sticking for most of the day. which was super great. cold as hell though, lol.

Back to lighting. I can take cool, wacky, non-authentic-representational photos. Like this:

sunflower cool effectsor this:

effects flowerboth of which I think are super cool photos. But they don’t look remotely like the actual pieces. sigh.

Posted in Cool glass, Custom, Technique

White Elephant Gift Exchange

•December 11, 2012 • 2 Comments

Joined with a gift exchange for the Henna group I met in October. That I belong to. My giftee is one of the instructors, whom I admire very much. I even have a little henna crush on her. Her work is beautiful, she is a wonderful person… And I am very glad I got her.

I decided to do a piece of glass for her. The dollar limit is $20, so that is out the window right away. I didn’t want it to be too over the top, so I chose one of the Curliosity pieces to copy. Its small, maybe 7 wide, by 10 or so tall. It came together pretty quick, it is only 19 pieces, but the wire-work… that took like 5 hours, lol. I used the lead free solder on the drops, cuz I read somewhere that that is mostly what that solder is used for, decorative balls and such, because is has zero play in the melt temp.

victorias gift detailStill need to polish it. Then into the mail it goes. I am hoping to do that today, but it probably won’t happen. I am having some fairly serious pain in my shoulder and elbow, and now my neck, so will probably not aggravate it with polishing.

I really  like it though, I hope she does too. I was reading some of the comments on the henna con page, regarding the gifts, and i think a large number of them are going to be hand-made. so I should be fine. ok, typing is aggravating the shoulder, had a good twinge,  off I go.

Posted in Custom, Flowers, Inspiration, Technique
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December glass works

•December 8, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Last month I had a little sale on my remaining odds n ends of glass. I have a short list of clients who have become friends, and I sent the email out to them, offering the pieces. They were snatched up in like 13 hours. Thirteen overnight hours. Very gratifying. So I immediately made a couple more. Small guys.

sun n moon

I like the idea of these small guys. They are fairly quick, and easy to do. And I like that, I like the quicker gratification. I think I will be working on small guys for a while.

daisies

Whoops, except for this one. I love this one. Sold it to Vancine, a favorite client. I will be doing a larger version for my kitchen window. I should have taken a better photo. (the whole photo issue i beginning to drive me insane). Each daisy is a different clear glass. Saw it on etsy.com and copied it. (original found here).

Now that I am an orphan, Christmas is kinda sucky. I have no gift to open. And I realize that is a selfish thing, but its an honest feeling, so I am not ashamed of it. Mostly, i enjoy the lights and the good will. but on Christmas morning… its an incredibly lonely and desolate place to not be involved in any morning festivities.

So. I joined the Henna Con White Elephant Gift Exchange. Henna Con is the Convetin I attended in October, for henna design and application, at which I had such a lovely time. I joined the gift exchange so I will have a present to open. and I received my assignment for the gift I will give. It is Victoria Welch, one of the instructors, and someone I have a bit of a henna-crush on. She did this on my hand:

victoria welch on kelli graves

and i loved it!! So she is my giftee… and of course she is getting a piece of glass. the limit is supposed to be $20, and I would charge more than that for this, but whatever! It’s not the money, its the sentiment that counts. I should be done with it by Monday night, so I will post photos then.

ok, time to hit the shower and head to work for a day of making other people feel good. lol.

Posted in For Sale, SunCatchers
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should have done that earlier

•November 19, 2012 • 1 Comment

Or maybe not, now that I think  of it. I sent out an email to several favored clients, regarding some misc glass pieces that I had for sale. and By 7am, they were all spoken for except for one. so that’s great. I guess Christmas is a good time to off these bad boys for sale. I need to remember that.

Still for sale, at a discounted price… local pick-up only:

Posted in For Sale, Scenics, SunCatchers
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soldering iron dilemma figured out

•November 19, 2012 • 1 Comment

i don’ think I ever posted the ending of the iron saga.

It wasn’t staying hot, just to remind you. And the flux was popping and splattering all over the place. I purchased new flux, gel flux, and I LOVE it. it still pops a bit if I use too much, but overall i am super dooper happy with it. I think the old stuff was just old and dirty. it was about 20 yr old flux, maybe even older. i purchased it with a huge lot of glass and stuff, from a lady out in French Gulch.

Turns out I had the temp set wrong. I was setting it at F, when it was a C number. Reset the iron, and all is well. Also realized that whent he AC comes on, the iron cools down. I have a fan, as well, that blows the solder fumes away from me, and that cools the air around the iron and causes problems. I used to have the fan in front of me, with the back to me, pulling the air away, but moved it. Needless to say, I will be moving it back, lol.

I took a bit of a break to do some other art stuff, but turns out that project is a warm weather project. and the weather is no longer warm. So… back to glass. Finished another small commision, to go with the modern rose window i did a couple months ago. A lovely client purchased that and asked for another, with different colors so they could be gifts for sisters-in-law for Xmas. Today I finally photgraphed them and packaged them for airplane travel. I am sending out an email to a select few, offering my misc glass pieces for sale. Stuff that I am no longer in love with, or isn’t being hung and enjoyed, stuff that needs a new home.

ok, time to do other stuff.

 

Posted in Commissions
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jumpstart activity

•September 29, 2012 • 2 Comments

All of a sudden, there is glass activity! some is actual, some is inquiries, but activity is activity, and I am grateful for it. Did I mention on here that I finally sold the windsock fishies? If not, then consider it mentioned. At the Farmer’s Market that I was doing over the summer, to get my day-job biz name out there, a lady bought one of the fishies, then came back two weeks later and bought the second. Stoke!!

I had a random text last week from a client asking about doing a Tree of Life for a circular window in her house. When texted back and forth a few times, trying to work out a time for meeting and measuring, then she dropped off the face of the earth. A couple days later another client asked about a dog piece for her husband for christmas. Ironic, right? She has a shelty, so I said ok. She is supposed to get me a picture by the end of the month, but that is pretty much today, so dunno if that will happen.

One of the other vendors at the farmers market (too tired for caps and punctuation, sorry) asked if I would display/sell some of my pieces in her shop. I said ok, and started working on some small pieces to get to her. two days ago i worked on a client who loves my glass, so I thought I would bring the pieces to show her, since they were so small, and I need the validation that showing them to someone gives me. Just another way in which I miss my mom.

Ironically, this piece is small, 8×16, but the photo option on this website only allows for a thumbnail, this size or an even larger size…

So I brought this piece in and the teaser piece I posted a couple days ago. The client bought this piece and commissioned another, just like it but with different colors. Christmas gifts. Boom.

I want to amend this post to say that the above design, and the design seen in “teaser!” are copied form a book by m. skip vasquez, called curliosity. The original designs are hers, and she does beautiful work, and totally deserves credit for them.

crazy and fun, right?!

Posted in Commissions, For Sale

teaser!

•September 27, 2012 • 1 Comment

A couple of new pieces out of that M. Skip Vasquez book. only have a photo of one, and it isn’t finsihed. I just finished the wire attaching work. Super tedious, but strangely compelling…

Posted in Cool glass, Custom, Inspiration

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