I'm thinking Christmas

Day of the Dead--cat coaster

Crashing boar?

I thought I was going to work on etching glass this week. Somehow this boar got in the way and I ended up painting him (or her) on glass and then he/she landed on a 9" x 12" x 1" plate. Boar isn't just for Thanksgiving anymore.

I used Glassline paint this time, instead of the usual Reusche brand because I wanted to get on with etching and get the boar out of my head. I sandwiched 90 coe cobalt blue frit between two pieces of 90 coe clear, the top layer of clear was painted. Fused all of it in one firing at 1460 dF and then slumped it into a plate mold at 1260 dF.

$50.00 for the perfect Christmas gift for the hunter in your life. Can you say NRA?

Margaret's birthday present

My daughter, Margaret, is having a birthday in a couple of days. She lives in an old, Victorian-style shotgun house in the Midwest, with 10' ceilings and original wide plank hardwood floors. There are transoms above some of the doorways and a high, narrow window on one wall in the living room. This is where this window will go. The room receives very little light from this window because of the overhanging pine trees in the neighbor's yard; thus, the clear "crackle" background glass. There is a yellow agate slice hanging in the limbs of the tree.

The window is 40.5" long x 16.5" tall and is copper foiled. I ran out of solder today which is exasperating because I was only able to solder the front side of the glass. Backside, with re-bar, will be done when my solder shipment arrives.

Tree of life stained glass panel

I am making a "tree of life" stained glass panel to fit in a long, narrow window that is high up on a wall (10' ceilings) in a Victorian era shot-gun house in Kentucky.  The window has restricted back light because of thick pine tree branches that cover the view.

 This is a close up of the panel. I am using Uroborus bright, grenadine red on clear wispy glass for the fall side of the tree and a bright yellow agate slice with crystals for the sun. The background is Spectrum clear crinkled glass. The texture of the background glass diffuses the light in different directions.

On the summer side of the tree I am using Kokomo dark green and lime green on clear wispy glass for the leaves. The middle of the tree, where the leaves change from green to red, is cut from Kokomo green, cerise, ruby red on clear streaky. The trunk and branches are cut from an opalescent Uroborus glass, and the bottom of the window is cut from Youghiogheny beige, copper, cobalt blue with a dark green stipple. It looks gorgeous with a minimum of light behind it. The window will be copper foiled and encased in 1/2" wide zinc came. To aid in structural support I will add curved, narrow re-bar along the top of the ground line as well as copper re-stripping in strategic areas of the tree. None of the structural support will show.

Baptismal bowl

Baptismal bowl with hand painted doves on clear glass, fired on royal blue dichroic glass underneath. Bubbles formed between the clear painted cap and the dichroic glass, giving the bowl depth and texture. The bowl is 17" in diameter and is 1.75" deep. Given to Rev. Steve Petty.

Fused bowls

15.5" diameter emerald green dichroic glass bowl with clear dichroic frit and red and blue frit.  Depth is 1.75".  Food safe.

Emerald green dichroic bowl showing depth.

Hand painted Celtic tree of life on teal/emerald dichroic glass, capped with clear.  Food safe.  17.5", 1.75" deep.  Here you see the emerald color.

Here you see the teal color!

 9.5" fish dish for a child's room.  Fish are made from different color frit, fused in a hand cut mold, then tack fired onto a fused Bullseye streamer piece backed with clear.   Food safe.

17.5" reptillian pattern dichroic bowl fused with glass beads and capped with clear glass.  Depth is 1.75".  Food safe.

My favorite contemporary piece!  17" squiggle bowl with "voltage" dichroic glass offset in the center.  The "squiggles" are glass rods slumped over forms in the kiln, then tack fused onto the fused voltage on clear base.  Not food safe.

Odd shaped 18.5" x 14" x 1.75" bowl.  Not food safe, more like a sculpture.  You can see the brilliant turquoise reflections in the dichroic glass. This glass is on a clear background, so light reflected through the bowl shines onto the surface below.