Something Small

As I am getting started on my new glass project I realize that Christmas is coming up quick and it might be nice to make something for a few people. Just a quick and easy project. Yeah, right.

We had taken some nice pictures while on our little trip down south, so I figured picture frames would be easy and make a nice gift with one of the pictures.

First one, not so much of an easy quick project. Really not hard, but kept having issues with broken glass. Things seemed to go better with the next ones and I did finally manage to produce a few frames. Here is one of them. They are all shipped out and off to their recipients.

Big Sigh, Finally!

The wisteria panel is finally done! It's complete! Finished!

After months of work my first stained glass project is finally finished. I'm happy with how it turned out. The panel is now hanging in the front room window and we have been enjoying it each time we walk by.

Now on to the next project. lol Yes, I really have started the next one already. It will be a bit smaller and a bit of a different theme - a jungle theme with a toucan.

Apparently I am photoshop challenged today, so if you want to see the whole thing, just click on the partial image and the whole thing should open up in a different window. I hope. At least that's how it is looking from here.

All foiled up!

The foiling is complete! I think. What I am learning every time I go to the glass studio is that there are a lot of things that can happen at each step that can cause set backs. Not bad things, just little ones. A couple of pieces that were cut out of the wrong glass, scratches, broken pieces, some extra grinding to make things fit better, trimming of the copper foil so that the solder will go smoother. So far that's some of what I have come across on my own project. I know there will be more.

The nice thing about going to a studio with other people around that have varying experience is that most people have something interesting to contribute. It might just be some encouragement or it might be some constructive criticism. It really has all been helpful.

Next comes the soldering!

All unveiled now

Tonight was another milestone in my project. All of the pieces have been unveiled. The pattern pieces are all off and the glass is looking really beautiful. I do wonder though, how much of this project's success will be due to the glass chosen or the handwork. It's definitely some of both, but I'm kind of leaning towards the glass making the most impact on the final product.

A little color showing through

The missing piece was cut and put in its place. Now the washing begins. A little soak in hot water and some scrubbing to get the glass dust and glue goo off and the pieces are put back in place on the board. The glass is looking good.

No Pins!

The pins are all gone! This week I have finished cutting the glass pieces. I had all the pieces done, or so I thought. There was one lone piece that never had a pattern piece or number on it, so when I was finishing up the last set up pieces I realized there was a missing one.

Beginning the project

After the pattern and glass is chosen the cutting and pinning fun begins. Here are a few pics to show that process.

Right now the piece doesn't look too much different than the fully pinned picture except that the pins are disappearing and there are glass pieces underneath the pattern pieces. There is a little blood on the pattern pieces too, this is glass after all and there are some sharp edges and slivers to contend with. Nothing a little soap, water, bandaid and a piece of chocolate won't fix though.

So far all the background, leaves and branches have been cut and I am now trying to finish up the flower pieces. Probably 75% of the surface area is done, but maybe only 50% of the pieces are cut. There are a lot of flower pieces!!!

The glass is just beautiful by itself and if I can I will get some pictures of what I have left. It reminds me a lot of quilting and picking out fabric and then seeing how it looks after being cut into smaller pieces. But I can't see all of that yet! Soon, it will be revealed soon.

Free time? Who has free time?

As previously mentioned I started a new project. It is a stained glass project and I'm getting excited to see how it comes out.

In the beginning it is an idea and a pattern. I wanted to do some kind of flower and the wisteria seemed to fit the bill. The piece is going to be approximatemately 5' x 2'. Yes, that is five feet by 2 feet. This thing is huge! There are 640 pieces. Does that sound like a lot? It is, but someone else just started a first project that is smaller in area size with almost 200 more pieces than mine. Can you say intricate? Mine doesn't have too many tiny pieces and I'm thankful for that.

The instructor at the studio wants beginners to start with large projects. They have great success, so I trust them on this.

After the pattern has been decided on, the glass is chosen and the fun begins.

Amazing Glass Works

Last weekend we went to the deYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park and saw the Chihuly exhibit. On a previous visit we had seen a few pieces. Well the actual exhibit was quite spectacular. There have been some critical reviews and ok, maybe the pieces in the exhibit don't make you ponder the questions of life, but they sure were amazing to look at and ponder how they were made. My pictures don't do the pieces justice, but I like them.

They Ate Cake

Finally! I was able to get the picture edited to a reasonable size to put up here to share. Here is the cake from the big day.

Really There was a Party

Spring around here can be a bit like the winter holidays. There always seems to be such a rush of activities.

There is the end of the school year, planning for summer activities and most important of all is the planning of the birthday bash for the young master of the house. As I said before we were having a Pokemon theme and that we did.

Before party time we get the backyard cleaned up. This year we did even more yard work, planting lots of flowers and other plants. Sadly many of them haven't made it through the heat. It's looking like the sprinklers need a little adjusting too. But the furniture was cleaned up and plants planted. This is always good timing as it gets the backyard ready for the summer so we can enjoy sitting out by the firepit roasting marshmallows and hotdogs.

More pictures will be coming as soon as they can be fixed up and stored in the appropriate place.

This spring I have also started a new project. Stained Glass. There is a studio nearby that offers classes. It is a great program. This was a very wonderful and thoughtful gift from my husband. It's all working at your own pace and the hours that you can go to the studio are quite flexible, www.bayareastainedglass.com is their site. The owners are just great and the other students are always encouraging, ready to lend a hand, give advice or just admire everyone else's works in progress. When I can I will put some pictures of my progress. My project doesn't look all that different than when I first started but really I have gotten a good amount of work done. I'm excited to be able to start seeing it come together.

Pokemon, Pokemon Everywhere!

It's that time of year and we are deep in the midst of party planning. I'm not entirely sure where the love of Pokemon comes from, but it has descended on my son in a big way.

At first he wanted a Bionicle themed party. I was truly at a loss with this one. Then he decided that Pokemon would be a better theme. I had to agree.

Again we pulled out the Cricut machine for making the invitations. This year my son was able to help even more. He pushed all the buttons and helped to load and unload the paper. It's not a terribly complicated design, but it was fun to create. The middle circle kind of pops up a bit from the big one so it looks a little more 3-dimensional.

I'm hoping the party will be a success like last year. We have a magician planned and a fun cake design in the works.

Every clay cloud has a silver lining...

Or sometimes the clay is embedded with silver. This is my first attempt at working with Precious Metal Clay. It starts out with a small ball of clay and can be molded or shaped just like any other clay. It is dried out a bit and then either fired with a torch or in a kiln and the clay burns off leaving pure silver. After firing it can be sanded and buffed some to bring out the shine of the silver.

The Maker Faire was here in town a few weeks ago and one of the exhibits was a school that teaches jewelry making. They were giving mini classes so it was a great opportunity to work with PMC for the first time. I have lots of supplies to do my own thing but sometimes a new material or technique is intimidating for me. This gave me a little taste of what working with PMC is like. It was a great introduction. I'm looking forward to making some more things on my own.

Are all your eggs in one basket? Or just on a platter?

It's been a while, so time to update here. The Easter Bunny has come and gone. This is our platter of eggs we decorated. New technique this year was blowing the insides of the eggs out and just decorating empty shells. It made for a bit more fragile product, but it was nice not to have to worry about having the eggs out for any length of time. We were also able to enjoy the decorated eggs for a lot longer.

Decorating with a kidlet is always fun and you never know what combinations he'll come up with. Martha has nothing on him.

Rainy Sunday

It was a rainy day today, so definitely a nice day to be inside and be a little creative. I was able to put away a lot of things in the workshop and sort things a bit. Also I wanted to try out some of the small molds I had recently acquired. Each piece is about 1/2" across. I made 6 squares and 6 circles. Apparently I didn't put enough frit in the square molds and the glass didn't fill in to the corners, but made round pieces. The finished pieces were attached to a bracelet form.

The other piece with the branch was done with etching cream on the dichroic piece before firing. Once the image was etched on the glass I fused it to a piece of green glass about the same size. I really like the way the gold on the dichroic crackles. Necklace bale attached and I have a necklace!

Let There Be Light

Some glass pieces have found their life as nightlights. Unfortunately my photography skills don't quite capture the best view. It really is neat the way the light changes the way some the pieces look. These pieces also show how eclectic my style really is. I know I would become very frustrated if I had specific designs in mind at the beginning. It seems with glass fusing the end product can come out completely different than what was intended, if anything, at the start.

Workspace

I enjoy seeing others' creative spaces so I thought I'd share mine. It's not the most spectacular workspace, but it works out pretty well. The wood workbench is actually an old divingboard. It came with the house and once all the debris was cleaned off we figured out what it had been in its previous life.

My workspace is located in the basement. It's a bit cold and damp down there right now. The basement is not completely water tight so I get to hear a bit of running water when it is rainy weather. The water drains into the basement, to a sump pump and then is pumped outside to the front of the house. We put down a raised rubber floor and I got to test it first hand today. I could see a bit of water underneath, but I was not standing in water at all.

Bounty of Craft Opportunities

So this Christmas and Birthday I received not just a few craft things but a total plethora of new crafts to try and more supplies for my current crafting endeavors.

I know I won't remember everything now, but there are now supplies for precious metal clay, stained glass, etched glass, polymer clay, metal embossing and of course more glass fusing supplies. I'll add the others as I remember them.

Now I just need some time to pour over the books and dvds and then dig in. I think there will be some experimenting before all the books and dvds have been digested. Doing seems to be the best way to learn.

Hopefully there will be more crafty updates sooner rather than later.