Widdershins Glass

Last of the 2024 Christmas ornaments. Well, one more late comer who is willing to wait till the end of January for the ornament.

Etching finished. Next a brownish black application of stainer to the bull’s head, another firing and hopefully it will be ready to be added to the panel.

I love etching, I do not like cutting stencils…….. Someday I will so famous that I can afford to outsource this task.

Momentarily arrested. This glass needs to be cut for a build but I simply cannot make myself do it. Bendheim glass.

Discouraged because the stupid silicon for the mold didn’t set up properly and I live a million miles away from proper stores that sell mold supplies and now I have to call the customer and ask for more days. And there she was, all happy and orange.

A special request from a favorite 15 year old, a bowl representing the colors of albums as an homage to her favorite artist. Having a remarkable time trying to emulate the font of the album titles…….

Almost finished with the design phase for a client. Criteria: Traditional elements (font for family name, bull’s head on shield) mixed with more modern elements (bold colors, strong floral design, and clean lines. I know software programs would speed up the process, and I’ve used them, but I love applying ruler and pencil to paper. My “hands on” application gives me a tactile sense of perspective and dimension I just can’t seem to get with technology.

It’s been almost a year since the inception of this project. I said it would be my last but one never knows what is around the next corner.

Momentarily tired of glass, acrylics and non objective composition. Oil pastels and a long buried memory of my childhood.

Hooray for repairs, said no stained glass maker ever. They do keep the lights on, though.

The making of the pattern, looking for glass that will match the broken pieces, and encouraging the solder to join (I hate this part). I do like making the “cement” if only for the smell of linseed oil. I send a mental shout out to Marty and Fran for teaching me the “proper process” each and every time I make a glass repair.

A piece made in 2021 for an outdoor art installation. I have a love hate relationship with this piece, the sunflowers were a lovely yellow New German Antique till the last firing of the sunflowers and then it struck brown…. too late to make changes and it taunts me every stinking time I see it. I am going to build the design again, just to prove to myself that it’s a worthy piece.

Returned home from Pilchuck hoping to fire some glass after my bout with Covid subsided and before the weather becomes too hot. Unfortunately, a relay (or three) needed to be replaced first, luckily my best friend was willing to replace the relays in hot weather and in a room where the other kiln was in cool down phase. Thank you, Mr Larry Caswell, for helping me out!

I think this was the finest practice piece (intaglio) I created out of the three processes I studied at Pilchuck these past two weeks. I’m very pleased that my instructor, Jara, encouraged me to emboss print the glass plate even though there might be a possibility of breakage. It’s a piece of glass. I figured if I could make the sunflower once, I could do it again. Now to find a lathe and a printing press. I feel confident…..

Another smallish panel, 15”x15”. I built the design around some cast glass I tinkered with and one of a kind bits of stained glass from a company that is no longer in production. I love to poach bits and pieces of one of a kind glass and see how it all works together. I’ll sell this one.

Built this small panel almost 15 years ago and never photographed it for my portfolio. I had a chance to see it again, It is a great example of selecting glass to fit the lighting. Had I made all of the radishes translucent or transparent (brightly, mind you, this piece would have rocked 100% in its current location (north ish and moderate light). That sort of red would have offered a solid transition between the opaque blue sky, green leaves, and the mottled brown dirt. That being said, the two borders pull the composition together.

The first harbingers of spring.