What's in a Name

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.  

The finished pattern.

 Along with their name, they wanted their beloved pets included in the crest.

Fitting the Glass

They also wanted their Polish and Italian heritage incorporated into the window.

Assembly begins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 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. 

 

The happy couple on installation day.

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.

      


 

Business Bling

Being in business doesn't mean you have to be boring. I thought that a sparkly, bright, business card holder would be a fun accent for a desk, counter or anywhere you would like to display 
 your cards.

                                                       , 

 
It's all about having fun.

Serving up Some Sparkle

Vintage plates. 

They have such a wonderful sparkle and charm. With beautiful patterns and designs, they just lend themselves to being incorporated into hanging window panels that will catch the sun light and shower a room with twinkles of color and light.

Vintage Flower Tea Plate with Red Glass & Beads

Medium Cut Glass Server with Yellow Glass & Bevels

Vintage Green Dessert Plate with Bevels and Green Glass

I am always looking for way to up-cycle or re-use items in my work. And I think these plates are a perfect fit.

The sounds of the past

I am a huge advocate of re-cycling or what I like to call "up-cycling", especially when creating new projects. My newest addition to the pane in the Glass inventory are Wind  Chimes made from vintage silver plated flatware. They sparkle in the sun and send musical notes floating on the breeze. It's like giving new life and a voice to the past as they gently twist in the wind.

Made with soup spoons and forks, 

they ring against a dinner knife 

for a lovely light sound.

 

Made with serving pieces, these 
chimes not only look 
spectacular, but they
sound heavenly

















Pickle forks and sugar spoons
dangle from dinner forks for
a whimsical set of Chimes that
sound like they were made for
the Fairies.

And as always, nothing leaves the 
Pane in the Glass studios without being
throughly inspected buy one of our 
highly  trained Quality Inspectors. 
Here, our specialist in cute, Amber, 
gives the finished Wind Chimes her
seal of approval.

Pane in the Panel

Besides sun catchers, I also like to experiment with hanging panels.  Not the big full window type panels, but smaller panels, averaging 7 to 10 inches square, that can be hung in front of any size window.

Here are some of my latest designs.

Found a Geode slice and thought it might make an interesting focal point for this bevel and rust colored copper panel.

A pretty little Angle is at the center of this sunny yellow and orange panel with copper accents.

 

Pink and green striped glass bring this lovely butterfly to life in a delicate pink and mauve panel. Perfect for a patio or garden window.

One of my favorite combinations is green and blue, which is reflected in the diagonal bevel panel. I was delighted that this was one of the first panels that sold at my last show.

 

 

 

 

This bevel and blue glass panel caught the eye of a woman who wants to commission a window for the bathroom of the house she is having built. She loved the clean, clear look with just a touch of blue and wants something bigger to fit the new window. 

I may be a small studio, but I do have a very strict Quality Control system. His name is Arthur, my studio cat. It's his job to make sure each piece is finished, cleaned and polished and that all packaging is suitable for shipping.  As you can see, he approves of  this new box.

 

Crazy Custom's

At least once during every Art Show, someone will ask me if I can do a custom piece. The answer is usually a cautious "YES", depending on what they have in mind. I have discovered that there are some pretty, shall we say, creative, people out there! The first thing I do is make sure I understand what the client has in mind. Things like color, size and theme. Then I have to make sure they understand what can and can not be done in glass. And lastly, and this is the fun part, create a design that will give vision to their ideas. 

Here are a few of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed creating them.


For a lady that sells Premier Jewelry. She wanted a card holder that would showcase her display.

                                                                 

 
For a Baby shower.  The theme of the baby's room was the Jungle. I went with a Mommy and Baby Giraffe.














This is a custom piece for a group of Heart Attack survivors who now have pacemakers, or what they call "Wired Hearts".

 



A couple had a friend that was taking his vows to become a priest. They wanted something special to commemorate this very sacred event.

  

A friend of mind wanted to have something special made for her Pharmacist, who has been a huge help and a good friend during some very serious health issues she has had to deal with.  












A client asked me for a special Baby Gift. Apparently the parents are decorating the nursery with the alphabet and everyone was assigned a letter. Her's was the letter "J". She told me that the Father to be was a fisherman and could I incorporate fishing in the letter. This is what I came up with and she loved it. 



It's fun to think outside of the box.  And I get some of my best ideas from my customers and clients. I hope to be able to bring you more of my custom pieces as the year continues. 

Thanks for stopping by.  

And make sure to check out fellow artists, Marge Paul's of Ardath Studios at www.ardathstudios.blogspot.com and Denise Donaldson of Sticks and Glitter at www.sticksandglitter.com

If it's Broke, Fix it.

 A couple of months ago I got a call from a women in the neighborhood who had two leaded glass sidelights (long windows on each side of a front door) that had been damaged. She wanted to know if I could fix them for her. After visiting her house and looking over the damage, I agreed to repair them and add a layer of clear Plexiglass to the outside of the sidelights to help prevent further damage. The home owner was restoring the exterior of her home and wanted to include as many of the original architectural details as possible.

Front of broken Sidelight.

     Damage at the top of the Sidelight

The hard part about this repair was that the glass that was broken was in the middle of the entire panel. That meant an almost total deconstruction. I started by having a wood working friend help me remove the panel from the wood frame. While I was busy fixing the glass, he sanded, re-stained (the inside), painted (the outside) and sealed the beautiful oak wood work.

 

    Damage at the bottom of the Sidelight

 

De-construction of panel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 New glass added and re-construction completed

                   Cementing the glass and lead, then cleaning with Whiting and the panel is ready to be installed into its wood frame.

Installed Sidelight with protective Plexiglass layer for protection.

As the homeowner continues to renovate her home, she wants to have several of the leaded glass windows in the downstairs rooms repaired. I'm proud to be able to help restore and bring some of the original integrity back to the lovely old homes in my area. It's an honor to help preserve the past.