Get In The Truck Scout

   Last January we received a Duluth Trading Company catalog in the mail. I was glass-struck (which is like dumbstruck but different) with the cover. What a happy dog. Wouldn't he look great in glass?
  So I did a little digging and found the artist. Rick Kollath was very gracious in giving me permission to recreate "Scout" in glass. I saved the email and got distracted by our construction project.
   Now that the house is done and we're in, I finally had time to get back into glass projects. The transom was the first priority, while "Scout" waited patiently.








   Really, once I started, it didn't take long. And sometimes the piece looks better and more clearly defined before it's foiled and soldered. But then it wouldn't hang in a window that way, would it? I'll get a frame built for it to set it off.
   This is one of those things that called to me to be made. I don't have a place for it, nor do I have a yellow labrador.  Hopefully I'll find a good home for "Scout".

The Eagle Has Landed

   Cleaning up after a project always presents a dilemma. Which scrap do I keep and what do I throw away? It kills me to throw any of it away, but what do I do with it? How small is too small? I'm thinking of getting a rock vibrator....like a rock tumbler, but different. I can throw the scrap into it to make nuggets for mosaics. I could also put sand in it with the glass and make beach glass.

 
 Last week, I finished the eagle transom. Ed cut some wood stops to set it in place, and started the installation. I have to admit it made me nervous to have him hammering brads so near to the glass surface. I should know by now that he knows what he's doing.

   We've been building this home for the last two years, and I've had this transom on my mind for longer than that. I was a little nervous that we'd get it up and then wouldn't like it, but I'm happy with it. The front door is on the north side of the house, however, and has a deep front porch. This limits the amount of sunlight that comes through these windows. My original plan was to make coordinated sidelights, but now that the transom is up, I think sidelight stained glass would cut out too much light into the foyer. I'll think about it.

The Glass Diet

   After a very long glass drought, caused by construction and moving, I am finally able to get back at it. I have a whole basket full of ideas for projects. They'll have to wait just a bit longer, because the first project is for the new house.
   I wanted to do a window for the front door transom. We have bald eagles here. No matter how many times I see them, they give me a thrill. I designed the transom and sidelights to include the Columbia River and a GST soaring eagle bevel cluster.
   Our new home has a designated craft room, which is wonderful, but during the final phase of construction it had become the receptacle for every tool, extra plumbing fittings, jars of screws, paint buckets...you get the picture.
   With a look of dread, Ed asked me what I wanted for Christmas. Shopping is not an activity he enjoys.
   "I'd like my craft room." I suggested.  He beamed! That was something he could easily do. It took almost a whole day to move out the tools and construction debris, but it's mine!

   In between errands, Thanksgiving and life in general I managed to get on one more solid day of glass cutting. Since I hadn't done any for a long time, there were a few bandaids associated with the memory curve. The glass for the gray mountains in the background and brown mountains in the foreground is Uroboros granite, which is textured. That means I have to reverse the pattern pieces, trace them with a silver magic marker, and cut them. There may be a better way to do that but I don't know what it is. Uroboros is rich, delicious glass, but it seems to me that it's also grainier, and a bit thicker than some other brands. All that makes it harder for me to cut.

   But I did have a good glass day. When I get in the glass groove, I forget about everything else. The fire dies out, the dog is ignored. I forget to eat, which for me is a big deal. It's all about cutting just one more piece before I stop for the evening. It really does feel good to be back to cutting glass. And now I have a beautiful room to do it in. Once this project is up off the board, we will order stainless steel countertops and I can get organized.

Jasmine and Ivy

 
 Trimming ivy is usually done with clippers. The ivy transom however was about 1.5 inches too long, partly because I didn't realize the window casing wasn't in and partly because I didn't measure it myself. Lessons learned. I wanted to avoid taking the completed work apart, and took a chance in using another method. Ed and I pulled out the trusty tile saw and used a test piece.    Success!
   So with bated breath, we ran the ends of the transom through with an equally satisfactory result. I probably wouldn't use this method with a larger panel, but the cut was only 8" long. By the time we had the cuts complete I was a nervous wreck.

 
 Finally came the moment of truth. We went over to George and Carol's for the installation and a glass or two of wine. Glass first, then wine.
  Carol and I stood down and chewed our fingernails while George and Ed set the window and shot nails into the trim pieces. I have to say...having a nail gun that close to the stained glass window was a scary moment.

 The window fit, the nails missed the glass, so let the celebration begin. Thank you George and Carol for my first commissioned piece.

     Last year while visiting friends in Montana, their little chihuahua, Jasmine, was injured. Sadly, she didn't survive.

    I promised to make a memorial panel for them, but only just finished it recently.  I used black glass nuggets for her eyes and nose, and I made little foil overlays for the toes.  I know Jasmine waits for Dave and Sharon at the gates of heaven.

   We're still working on completing our new home, so I'm not sure what my next glass project will be.

I Heard It Through The Grapevine

    I've been unable to work on glass for some time. I interrupted Ed's work on the house to get him to build my glass storage shelves, set up shop in the garage, then for a million reasons not listed here, haven't done much with it.
   But fate has a way of taking you where you need to go. I received a request from a friend for an interior transom in their home. It feels good to be back doing what I love.
   Carol is a Master Gardener and George makes his own wines, so they decided on grape leaves. I went out into my back yard, hacked off a branch of an old, unproductive vine, and dragged it inside for a model. After staring at it for some time and combing the internet for botanical input, I came up with a pattern .
I thought about adding wire embellishment tendrils, but since this is a transom and up high, we decided they would become dustcatchers and left them out.
    The measurements were a little tricky because their house is 100 years old, and the transom isn't plumb or square. I tried to be pretty careful with the measurements, but I forgot one little thing. I didn't ask if they had finished trimming out the interior of the transom, so I made the glass 3" too long. Lesson learned for the next window!
   This weekend, I'll adjust the size, and hopefully next week I'll get it installed.
  

Mother S'kaana

    The Friends of Skamokawa have a wine tasting and auction every September. They maintain the Riverlife Interpretive Center http://redmenhall.blogspot.com/ . It's a spirited (sorry about the pun) event each year.
   The last several years I've donated stained glass and decided to try something new this year. I've been playing around with polymer clay, which is like playdough only more permanent.
    I wanted something to reflect the Northwest but with a shift. The first piece started out well, but began to lose definition as it progressed, and by the time it was done it resembled a badly done kindergarten project. I did like the little tiny whale embryo piece in her belly, but the rest looked like a bad night in San Francisco.

  So I started over, decided to tone it down a little and make it more three dimensional. Finally, after one or two false starts, I had my piece. I incorporated some glass waves, just because it felt right, and mounted it in a beautiful driftwood burl.

Mother S'kaana in the Northwest Tradition

A Little Side Trip On The Glass Road

  My granddaughter and I took a trip up to the Tacoma Museum of Glass. This is a museum that highlights hot glass. They have a huge hot shop with a gallery. The gallery affords a close up view of the entire process.

 

 It was difficult to get clear photos because the crew
and the glass were in constant motion.
   This piece was designed by Marvin Oliver, right in blue print shirt, and facilitated by Richard Royal, left in plaid shirt. They had a crew of about five assistants, all working like crazy.

    

   This is a similar piece by Marvin Oliver. It shows the petroglyphs applied in frit in the inside layer of glass, and raven appliqués on the outside layer of glass. It was an amazing process.   

 

 From the inside to the outside of the museum, we went across the David Chihuly Bridge of Glass.

 

A picture is worth..well you know..

  

 This is the ceiling. No, really...

 

 The open air atrium at the Tacoma Art Museum allows shadow to constantly alter this Chihuly piece.

   It is my fondest hope that Elicia saw something, anything, on this trip that sparked an urge to explore.  That she will allow the beauty in her soul to flourish and flow.
   Or, maybe she just had a fun trip with Nana. That's ok too.