More to see at The Northwoods Art Tour...

Starting this Friday it's Northwoods Art Tour weekend. I'll be in Lake Tomahawk at The Rodd Umlauf Gallery on Friday and Saturday and here's a few things you might see there. This Fine Silver pendant with a silver glass bead encased in clear suspended on a rubber cord. 

Tear drop faceted Labradorite with handmade Fine Silver piece and Labradorite dangle.

Softly etched clear disks with a steel green rim and Fine silver disk center on handmade sterling wires.

Fine Silver twistie bail with a cobalt tabular bead with glass shards and a Murrini on a fine silver headpin.

NORTHWOODS ART TOUR coming up....

The annual Northwoods Art Tour will be starting on Friday, July 29th of this week and will run through Sunday July 31st. As usual , I'll be up in Lake Tomahawk at the Rodd Umlauf Gallery  on Friday and Saturday helping Rodd out. Here are a couple of stained glass windows that are currently there and I'll be posting more things all this week. You can click on the link on the right to get more info on the tour as well as a map to plan all your stops.

This free hanging window has 2 Brazilian Agates and a Lampwork glass bead. The other window has a Kokomo Glass Roundel that was hand blown and which I picked out right at the factory. All their glass is made right on the premises, where they have a 12 pot furnace and make both sheet glass as well as Blown Glass . This has been going on for the last 122 years.        

  http://www.kog.com/the-factory.html 

I had the pleasure of touring the factory a couple years ago so was able to pick up a few choice pieces. One of which is the glass Roundel in the second window. It 's clear with glass frit in  light teal and amber colors, this makes the spiral design. The roundels are often blown and then spun swiftly to flatten them. Most are very beautiful and I found I couldn't live without this one below. There's also a Lampwork bead in amber with Fine silver dots and a ring of silver plum glass.  

A little something new this year is the Stained Glass frame. I thought I would try this idea out and see where it took me. I added a large Lampwork Flower bead suspended from heavy gauge copper wire. The frame fits a standard 4x6 photo.

A few offerings at the Rodd Umlauf Gallery...

After closing for the winter this year, the Rodd Umlauf Gallery reopened on Memorial Day weekend. These pieces are just a few that are available in  the Gallery. The piece above has a Fine Silver block with images of oak leaves and acorns with a suspended Lampwork bead with Fine Silver dots and a Green Murrini.Bronze chain and peacock Freshwater pearls pull it all together.

Fine Silver earrings with handmade ear wires and Garnet dangles.

Etched champagne lentils with Silvered Ivory stringer are suspended from Sterling wires.

A cobalt heart with Silvered Ivory glass shards and "wings" hangs from a Fused Fine Silver three ring bail on a Sterling ball chain.

Church Window you say.......

Yes! This is in fact a window that was a custom order as a memorial. It's located in a Catholic church in the Green Bay area. The church had been rebuilt and wanted to stick with a more contemporary nature and so required that there were no images. It was so much fun to work on. There are actually 2 windows that are about 5' x 18"  and are mirror images of each other. There are some amber squares made by Chicago Art Glass called turtle backs and some glass nuggets as well as some wonderfully textured glasses in greens, ambers and clears. Remember  you can click on the close up views for a larger image. Enjoy! 



A Well Spent Afternoon.....

When we recall the times  in our lives that have made us smile, we usually think of special birthdays, weddings or once in a lifetime vacations, but last Saturday I had the pleasure of remembering old times with my high school Art teacher Mr. Ron Hahlen. He was the featured artist for this particular Saturday at Outside The Lines Gallery in Dubuque, Iowa, my home town. The smile I had when we greeted stayed with me all day. Remembering all those times, made me realize once again, how my creative side of life has been shaped by this teacher. How different my  life might have been had I took typing in summer school with all my friends rather than taking the Art class that I was much more interested in. After that as much time as was possible, including study halls, was spent in the Art Department, soaking up possibilities. It wasn't until later that I realized how well equipped the Art Dept. at Dubuque Senior High was, not only with pottery wheels, kilns, wood lathes, etc. but with a teacher who would help expand our minds in just about every area from metalsmithing to pottery, to drawing, woodcuts, and photo silkscreens. It only left me wanting more. And now it remains a large part of my life. Thank you Mr. Hahlen.

 Here, for my potter friends, he uses a torch(something we now apparently have in common) to quick dry thrown parts to connect with slab built parts. I wish I could have had a photo of the finished piece. You can find more info on Ron Hahlen at  http://www.otlag.com/  You can also find out more about this wonderful Gallery there as well. Below is a small glimpse inside the Gallery, a well appointed space with lots of great art.

 

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.