Thursday, July 31, 2008

"Yellow Rose of Texas" and "Small Southwest Landscape"





Here are two more windows that will be shown at "Artisans" in Fredericksburg. The "Yellow Rose" has some vitreous glass tiles and large glass moonstones in it's border. The "Southwest Landscape" uses several different materials - vitreous glass tiles, vintage rhinestones, polished stones, unpolished stones, turquoise, and stained glass.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

"Summer Hummer II" and "Small Bullseye"






Two new windows that will be shown at Artisans in Fredericksburg. "Summer Hummer II" has some interesting materials. The center of the flowers are fused dichroic glass and change colors with the angle they are viewed. The border is made up of rectangle polished mother of pearl tiles and vintage glass jewels colored to resemble coral.
This small "Bullseye" piece has cats eye centers in the bullseyes and there is also fracture/streamer glass in the image area rather than the clear glass I have used in the past.

"Bluebonnet Meadow" and "Snow White Trees"





Here are two new pieces that will be shown at Artisans. The Bluebonnet piece measures approx. 11" x 14". It has a mosaic border which includes vitreous glass tiles, albalone shell tile, and glass beads. The image area is multi layered and includes stained glass, glass enamels, and vintage rhinestones. On the vase I used the usual glass beads in both black and metallic silver and the leaves on the trees were created using vintage white moonstone glass leaves and crystal navette jewels.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

The Evolution of a Commission Piece

I have never really taken photos of a piece during the process of being made and since I get questions about my methods - here are photos of the process. I begin with a vague pattern of the image area based on my discussion with the client. Once I begin to work on a piece sometimes the image changes. I really consider my process to be "painting" with glass. I use both new and vintage stained glass, vintage rhinestones and crystals, polished semi-precious stones, etc. All of the pieces of glass are attached to the background glass and once the image area is complete it is grouted. The final photo shows the completed piece although the sun was directly overhead and there is not a realistic depiction of the light coming through the glass.




"Peacock Polka Dots" and "Taking a Tumble" large vase



Here are a couple more vases that will be shown at "Artisans" in Fredericksburg.


Saturday, July 12, 2008

"Cats Eye Polka Dots" Vase


This is similar to the polka dots vase except the glass pieces in the centers are made like cats eye marbles. Also the vase is unusual - it is a narrow vase within a larger vessel and they are permanently joined together. I have half filled the center vase with gold glass marbles to support the flowers but it could just be filled with water. It is 9" tall and 8" across.

Sunday, July 06, 2008

"Yucca Meadow"


Here is a new multi layer piece. The border is made up of iridescent mosaic tiles and glass rhinestones which have been grouted and the center image is multiple layers of glass, glass enamels, glass rhinestones, glass beads, etc. It measures approx. 11"x14".

Thursday, July 03, 2008

"Tiny Red Dots" and me


Here is a new larger version of the bullseye type pieces that I have done recently. You can see how large it is in the photo with me. There are tiny red dots at some of the intersections of the small black tiles. The border is gold and black tiles and the background is various clear types and textures of stianed glass.