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.

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.