Peace Be With You

Across Silicon Valley, freeways, expressways and roadways criss-cross like a giant piece of chicken wire. With a thousand things pressing on their minds, people drive to work in an angry harried haze. Go ahead, take the Great America Parkway ramp off Hy 101, just north of Hy 880. And there, on a road that leads to an amusement park, overlooking those freeways, stands a beacon of serene compassion.

At 32', the Our Lady of Peace statue can easily be seen from the freeway. Whether or not you are a believer that Mary is the mother of God, surely you can believe that a mother's love for her child holds a mighty power in of itself.

I decided to try to draw a pattern of this statue for glass. In order to get the detail that I want, I've had to make it a sizable panel, 30.5"x20.5". It's not huge, but it's a decorative panel, not a church window. My biggest concern is her face and hands. I think I will paint detail on those, but I've not done that before. Do I use oven-cured paint or kiln-fired? Can I make it look like I envision? Can I find a kiln to use, since I don't own one?

The pattern I drew shows cut lines for glass pieces for her face. I will probably ignore those, cut the glass for the face as one piece and paint it. The detail will make or break (a little glass joke) the integrity of the panel.
I've never done this before, so I'm a little nervous.

I went to a glass store last week, Inspirations Glass, to see what was available. She carries a beautiful selection of glass, primarily Uroboros. After reading various descriptions of Marian visions, one hit the mark for me. It described Mary as standing on the moon, clothed in the sun. So, the colors I chose for this piece will not be the traditional blue and white.

The Sisterhood

There were two incidents that inspired this piece. One was being present as my daughter gave birth to my granddaughter. The attending doctor and nurses were all women. There was a time-stood-still moment as the baby emerged where I was very much aware of the fabric of time, of all the women in my family before me, and all those to come.

The other was when my dad was terminally ill. Four generations of women were there to make sure he was as comfortable as we could make him.

The women in my family are all different, but each a thread in the fabric. I love them all.

Rantin' and Raven

The raven is all done. I'm pretty happy with it, although as I stand back, I can see that it might benefit from some glass framing. Maybe next time.

I tried dipping my solder into flux as I went this time. It made the soldering go much faster, and smoother too.

Soldering is still a skill-in-progress and practice makes perfect, so I guess I'd better choose the next project.

The Raven Has Hatched

The train to Arkansas took off yesterday in the mail. My brother should get it just in time for his birthday.

Since the snow is still everywhere, the kids are gone, and Ed won't be home until tonight, I started the Raven Steals The Sun. The pattern was already set on the board and traced on the fasson paper, so I started cutting glass yesterday. Six hours yesterday and five hours today..my eyes are a little buggy, and my hip is barking at me, but I'm really happy with the results so far. The center of the sun and the inside of the raven's beak is a deep garnet red..almost a black. I'm going to use a hematite bead for his eye. Most of the colors don't show true when the piece is flat..those that look kind of orange will be much brighter red with the sun through them.

This of course, is prior to foiling. I should get that done by Monday, and soldered on Tuesday. I'm really looking forward to putting it in the light. The raven will be more transparent, and the seeded streaky Weissmach should be spectacular. I'm hoping the garnet will make his beak look like it's glowing with the heat of the sun.

This piece will probably be my first consignment piece to go in the local craft store, Made In Wahkiakum, I'll probably take in the MacKintosh Roses, and an abstract piece with a geode in the center.

Right On Track

After fighting the snow for two weeks, things are going back their their rainy normalness. Thank goodness!

I managed to get the train soldered before Christmas company.I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'll get it in the mail this week. The photo is up against a window, with lots of snow outside, so the white wispy for that first plume of smoke and the clear globs for the lights show up white. My guess is, I'll make this one again and put it in the local craft store.

Next is the Raven Steals the Sun. I'm pretty excited about that one!

Yule Never Know Until You Try

At the last minute, I heard about a local craft show. I thought..well why not. I may not sell a thing, but I'll be participating. It's a very small community and if folks don't participate, it doesn't happen. There were about 9 vendors. The economy here has been worse than many areas. Lumber prices are down, and the local logging firm just shut down for several months. Salmon fishing has been restricted. That pretty much puts a chokehold on the local economy. Many folks come out just for something to do. The weather was predicted to be awful and it was that in full force. Did I mention there was no heat in the hall where we were? It was a bit nippy.

I quickly made a bunch of little stained glass Christmas Tree ornaments, two painted candles, a few painted glass ball ornaments. I also took three of my medium sized stained glass panels. I didn't expect to sell any, but it was interesting to watch folks as they looked at the stuff. Never having done a craft show, it was all a new experience. The experienced crafters there were very encouraging. I don't know that I'd do it all that often, but it was fun to try. I sold three stained glass ornaments, which is about as good as anyone else did.

I'll be starting the stained glass train next week. It's been snowing here all week, and I've been doing the Christmas baking and jam making. 10 pts of strawberry and 10 pts of raspberry. Yum. Next is pecan brittle and cookies!

On The Right Track

I've been looking at a gazillion train pictures. Steam trains, skunk trains, narrow guage trains, diesel trains, bullet trains. I even found some very cool stained glass trains. I contacted Steph Harper from Harper stained glass http://www.harperstainedglass.com/ to see if she sells her patterns because I really really liked her trains. But at this point, they're not available. Rats! If they become available and I can afford them, I'd still buy them in a heartbeat.
I went back to the photos and narrowed it down to two, and tried to make patterns from both. One is much more complicated and would have over 200 pieces, and the second would have about 85. Guess which one I picked.

Yeah...I'm a wimp. I'll go with the train on the trestle. I'm not sure what glass I'll use. Straight black won't let any light through. I go to the glass store tomorrow and I'll see what my options are.