Artistree Gallery Delights

I guess I'm a bit behind in my posting as I took these items up to the Artistree Gallery in Land 'O Lakes with the intention of posting their availability. But they sold before I could get the job done. I guess I better get busy with the other photos I have now. The pair above is made from Muschio Verde glass with Silver Plum dots and Fine Silver spirals. The ear wires are handmade of Sterling Silver.

Fine Silver textured rectangles with spiral disks and Champagne Freshwater Pearls

Silver glass twist bead encased in clear with one "wing" perched on a Sterling holder and suspended on a rubber cord.

Wine Stoppers for Brigadoon.....

Just yesterday I delivered a small batch of Wine Stoppers to my friends, Linda and David, owners of Brigadoon Winery.    http://www.brigadoonwinery.com/index.php   They're salt ot the earth people and I always enjoy visiting with them . They own a small winery in Tripoli, which sells some household favorites of ours like Highland Red and their delicious Merlot. So beautifully labeled bottles always need a little something special to go on top. I hope these can fit the bill. This one is made with 2 Hollow lampwork beads with clear and white stringer and bubble dots.

This pieice uses a twist design which is encaseed in clear and  has clear "wings"added with a single bubble dot.

Silver leaf and glass frit in deep purples and greens, cover this tab shaped bead.

Transparent Ink Blue covers a white base, with strands of silver dots. White flowers , side mounted clear bubble dots, and a single clear wing make the finish.And last is a bead made with several colors on it's base. Several different blues and silver leaf wrap around the body with a single Murrini at the base. It sits on a glass disk of silver based glass. Enjoy.

Something New at Turn of the Century Shop ........

My friend Kari recently placed a custom order for some dainty little earrings for her retail shop at Holiday Acres. These are just a sampling of the order, there are more with patina's of varying shades of gold. Some are suspended on Sterling French ear wires, some on Sterling hoops. Several also have tiny gem stones, such as Serpentine, Tourmaline, Lapis and Freshwater pearls. If you're looking for some very wearable, artist made, delights stop in at The Turn of the Century Shop. Better yet make an evening of it (you'll want to make sure you have plenty of time for browsing all the wonderful and unique items Kari has in the shop) and sample some of Chef Tom's delectable eats!

Some Northern Lights....

I recently received a photo from all the way up in Alaska of a stained glass window they made modeled after the photo at the top of my blog. It seems they were searching for a pattern of the Northern Lights in stained glass  and my blog came up in the search. So I thought I should post some large sidelights that I did awhile ago that also had the Northern Lights in them. Please excuse the photos as they were taken about 2 cameras ago. The sidelights are on both sides of a center clear glass door in an entry way of a house here in town. The glass in the background is called Baroque and had to be cut from one large piece of glass. All the swirls had to match up, so they flowed together in the 9 individual panels that make up the piece. Needless to say if a piece didn't cut correctly , I would have had to start over from the beginning with a new piece of glass. Luckily the glass gods were with me and both pieces were completed without any disasters. Enjoy.

Salad Sets

 I had a few more things to take up to Chocolates & More today. A couple of Salad Sets that make nice gifts, perhaps you have a wedding shower to go to this summer?? I also know a potter who can make a salad bowl to match. Enjoy.

Something New at Chocolates & More....

I have a little something new this season to go with the coffee they sell at Chocolates & More, in Minocqua. Here are two of the glass beaded coffee spoons, that are now at the store. Shouldn't your special coffee have a special vehicle to make it to your coffee maker?

An a matching canape' set to boot. The colors are ivory and a nice warm brick red with silver purple decoration and raku glass frit.

Another canape' set in cobalt, beige, and green also with silver plum decoartion and silver leaf.

A new batch of cheese knives, as well, decorated with raised stringer, murrini, and glass shards.

ETCHED METALS CLASS

 Recently I took a class in Etching Metals from the very talented Artist and Teacher, Kay Rashka. She lives in the Madison area and taught this particular course at the annual Art Glass and Bead Show. Here she demonstrates smoothing the edges of a copper rectangle in preparation for the design. She's using a pistol grip dremel tool that I admit I had a bit of tool lust for.

There were several ways to lay a design on the metal , but here she is using a hot plate and iron to heat up a special kind of paper to make a more intricate design. (Yes, I know the least I could have done was to get a shot without her magnifiers. My bad)

This photo shows the results and it is ready to be etched.

Here are the pieces that I did in class, the two smaller ones are done free hand and the larger is from a stamp. I'm excited about putting them into some of my jewelry pieces.

The earrings pictured were a Mother's Day gift to me and are done by Kay. To see more of her work check out her website

http://www.kayrashka.com/ and Facebook site https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Kay-Rashka-Jewelry/136063103077849

I'm Back....

My apologies if you were anxiously awaiting chapter 2 of the glass tutorial, but I guess my goals were bigger than my stomach ...or something like that. I just thought I could get more done before I left on vacation than I actually did. I should probably reassess more realistic goals in the future. It's always something! There will be a chapter 2, but I might have a few posts in between. I did attend a class in Madison that I want to post a few photos of, so I'll probably throw that in first. In the meantime I'm back, we had 2 snowstorms and I can hardly believe I was in Spring less than a week ago. I think the ice may go out today though as the sun is shinning and the temperature is rising. At last! I was taking a lot of photos lately so I thought I'd post this one. It's a necklace made with multiple hollow glass beads as well as disks, with a Fine Silver handmade round bead in the center. It also has 3 strands of peacock Freshwater Pearls, and 2 shades of Serpentine. The best part of this necklace is that it also turns into a bracelet. Until next time, which I promise will be sooner than last.

Anatomy of a Stained Glass Window....Chapter 1

So lately I've been working on  what I like to refer to as Flat Glass. Instead of hunching over the torch making mostly round three dimensional beads, I've been looking over my inventory of sheet glass, to make some small free-hanging glass windows. I thought it might be a good time to take some photographs and let you see how it comes together.The photos are not the best as the Fluorescent light is great for me to see, but not so much for taking pictures. A couple things happen first.....I get out my supply of stones, glass cabs, roundels, sun/moon faces, glass nuggets, and basically anything that can lay flat and be wrapped with copper foiling tape. Then it's off to the Drawing Table, where I take a good look at all my treasures and decide which one or combination of items will go into this design. For this window, I chose two Agates which had some beautiful designs within them. (You'll get to see better views with light coming through, later on in the project.)Sketching out a design also needs some thought as to what kind of glass you will use. I've chosen some streaky versions where more than one color and clear are used in one piece of glass, as well as some mottled Chicago Art glass in some beautiful tones of amber, and some clear and smokey Baroque glass. The Baroques have a wonderful wavy texture in them, and I enjoy using them frequently. So once the pattern is complete I need to make 3 copies with carbon paper. One is used as a master drawing with the glass choice written on each piece. Another is used to as the guide for placing the glass pieces,  and the third is used to actually cut the pattern pieces apart. Once cut, I attach the pattern piece to the glass with spray adhesive. Stay tuned, next up cutting and grinding. 

My Heart Belongs to........

Valentines Day is right around the corner, and to celebrate I made a few glass hearts as well as some Fine Silver heart charms. Clockwise to the right, an ivory and silver glass heart with a leaf spray, the silver glass has a metallic mirror finish. Center, a clear pink spiral stripe heart with wings and golden dots. Right, a different Silver Glass  enrobed in clear with center swirl.

 This red heart has silver glass scrollwork in creamy blues and greens.The Fine Silver charm has a raised smooth heart on a spiral background. And yet another kind of Silver glass, which has tones of red and blues with silver dots.

On the right is a clear glass heart with a silver glass twistie design. Another raised heart,on a swirled leafy background of Fine Silver. The last heart is a deep wine color with silver glass scrollwork in those creamy blues and greens.

Here are two Fine Silver hearts with a stamped design and my personal favorite, a silver glass heart, with fine silver mesh and wings. This is my favorite silver glass, it just behaves so well.

The last group has a clear heart with violet fire glass frit and silver leaf. The stamped heart silver charm also has 2 genuine ruby beads. The bottom heart in cobalt has silver leaf and glass shards with a green spiral Murrini. And the last heart has a base of clear with matte finish white glass shards and copper ruby glass frit. All the hearts and charms were made so you can add your own cord, chain or ribbon. They are all currently residing at Bassett Jewelers in Minocqua. Stop in and take a closer look . And by all means have a Happy Valentines Day!

Remember you can click on any photo for a larger image.