Last year I was honored to be asked if I could create a Coat of Arms for a lovely couple that I happen to know. It was always a dream of theirs to combine their heritage and interests into a one of a kind Family Crest.
We spent 6 months discussing ideas, looking a glass styles and glass colors and fine tuning the design. After everything was agreed on, I got to work. Since I had other commitments, it took 3 months for me to complete the piece. I faced a number of challenges. First, I discovered that my working bench wasn't big enough and Mr. B and I had to build a new, larger work surface. Second, because we had settled on an Old English diamond pane style, I had to brush up on my math to calculate all the correct angles, and lastly, I had to make sure I created a solid interior support system that would prevent the piece from sagging because it was going to be hanging from a ceiling, and not sitting in a window.
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| The finished pattern. |
Along with their name, they wanted their beloved pets included in the crest.
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| Fitting the Glass |
They also wanted their Polish and Italian heritage incorporated into the window.
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| Assembly begins. | | | | | | | | | | |
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To represent their love of travel and especially their favorite vacation destination, we added the Hawaiian hibiscus as the anchor of the crest.
The rest of the piece was diamond cut English muffle glass with a green and bevel border.
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| The happy couple on installation day. |
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| Finished piece in the Studio |
I was honored to help them make their vision a reality and to create something that will become a family heirloom.
