Latest Finished Project ~ TailGate Sign

I recently finished a panel for a local business that was a copy of their logo. The sign is TailGate, which is a restaurant/pub located not far from my shop. It was going to be hung in a fairly dark environment so I felt it would be best to make it into a lit shadowbox. The shadowbox would better display the stained glass.

The box is made of 3"x 1" pine, with supports just inside the front to hold the glass in place. The glass is held in place in the front with clear plastic cabinet clips placed at or very near the solder joints. There is an 31" LED light installed in the top of the shadowbox to illuminate the panel. It's always a good idea when building a panel that is intended to be placed in a shadowbox to use an opal type glass around the outside edges of the glass at least. In this case the entire project was made with opal glass. This way you will not be able to easily view the light source.

I made a hinged back to go on this box so that the owner would easily be able to access the interior of the shadowbox to change the light source out. I also painted the interior of the box white to further diffuse the light.

I hope you enjoy seeing this latest project! Denise

Tree Frog Panel Finished

This is a design I posted about a while ago. I finally got around to creating the panel. I think it turned out quite well. The diameter of the piece is 13" x 18", I used Youghiogheny glass in it primarily, maybe a little Spectrum and other scraps of other manufacturers I had hanging around. It's framed in a fairly wide leaf lead, and the hangers are actually a sling that goes from the left hook around the bottom of the piece and attached at the point that the right side hook is attached. The leaf of the lead is then burnished to fold in on itself. It's a safer alternative for hanging a round or oval panel that has a lead frame, as lead stretches.

Here are a couple of new designs

One is a sight frequently seen in the Maine woods, Mr. Moose. I call this one "My Maine Man".

The second pattern is none other than Portland Head Light, which is located in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It is one of the, if not the, most photographed lighthouse in the U.S. I took many pictures the day I visited Fort Williams Park, which is where the lighthouse is located. The light was commissioned by President George Washington and is still free to visit at beautiful Fort Williams Park.

More Plating images

Just a few more...

Plating ~ How to

I'll post a few pics here of the process of plating a piece of stained glass. Mind you that my plating involved reflection of mountains in water and the sun, and leaves on the birch tree. And also I'll qualify this by telling you that I don't do plating all that often, in fact, this is probably the first, but definitely not the last panel I'll plate.

I will give you this tip, when plating finish your panel completely, apply patina, clean and polish PRIOR to adding your plating. You will not be able to clean between the pieces of plating and the panel after it's put together. And many artists that use plating frequently will tell you that all edges of the plating need to be soldered so that nothing can creep under the plating..dust, etc. This I did not do on this panel as there was nothing to solder to the 3/4ths of the sun and also a portion of the water was not solderable.

I'll let the photo's speak for themselves, but am always open to questions.

Artisan's of Glass "Spring Forward" Art Contest

Artisan's of Glass, a stained glass forum, which I am proud to be a member and moderator of is currently holding a contest for cold and hot glassers that are members with a required number of posts. There is certain criteria that needs to be met for both categories of glass art. I submitted my photo of my contest project today, the judging will be held after April 30th and wonderful prizes are to be awarded to the first two places of both categories I believe.

My entry was entitled "Katahdin Spring". Mt. Katahdin is well known as the Northern most end of the Apalachian Trail (which begins in Georgia) and is located in North Central Maine, in a state park by the name of Baxter State Park. One of the Governors of Maine, Percival Baxter, purchased 6,000 acres there at first and gave it to the people of our state with one stipulation, that it always be left forever wild. Katahdin is 5,268 feet high, not huge as mountain ranges go, but is the tallest mountain in our state. There are 200 trails located in Baxter State Park, and they are maintained each year by volunteers and 3 state park employees.

Some of the criteria I used in this project involves plating (which is applying separate pieces of glass to either the front or back (or both) sides of a panel) Plating is used frequently in stained glass to achieve color change or the folds of drapery (clothing)or shading in different portions of a window. The mountain reflection, sun and leaves of the birch are all plated areas. I also added a Non-glass feature, by using polished stones around the pond in the panel. There is some decorative soldering there, as well as the use of 14 ga copper wire for the birch tree branches.

I hope that you enjoy viewing it, as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Etching Glass

This is a fairly new venture for me..I've done a few pieces on occasion..a small etching of a motorcycle and horses running, but finally sat down to play with it again recently.
As everyone who knows me well is aware, I am a Pit Bull lover..I was dragged into it somewhat by my children, but now have four of them and love them all dearly. Beware of what the media tries to smear them all with. Dogs,in my humble opinion, are individuals with the same issues that people may have, both mental and emotional. Some are good, some are not. But none deserve to be painted by the Breed Specific Legislation brush.
That rant being said, here is my latest etching..it's not great, it isn't even very good, but I promise to learn more about this art and do a better job the next time.
Actually, I found a very good site that may be used as a resource for glass etching and it may be seen at: http://www.lesleypyke.com/page/Glass%20Engraving%20-%20The%20Drill%20Technique.htm Lesley is an incredible artist, and I hope that you enjoy her site as much as I have.