Stained Glass Pieces Made in 2012

BAHAI' NINE POINTED STAR

I made this as a wedding present for Shamim (my daughter in law's brother) and Stecha Deghanni. Have you ever tried to divide a circle into 9 parts - not an easy feat for us non math people. I used bevels to create the main part of the star and enhanced the piece using yellow and blue spirit glass.

MUIR CRANE AND WATER TRAPEZOID WINDOWS FOR EAGLE LAKE RESORT LIVING ROOM

I am very excited about making these two windows for Muir's living room at their family resort in Haliburton. It was quite a challenge to come up with a design that worked for a trapezoid that is 82 inches long; 4 inches high on one end and 20 inches high on the other. The design needed to flow. I spent several days mulling over different ideas and designs that might tie in with the wonderful view of lake and trees outside their huge living room wall of windows.

Window One shows features a modern crane at wider side with a ribbon and glob design flowing off to the smaller end of the trapezoid. This part of the design suggests water weeds and flowing water. Window Two features bonsai type branches at the wider side and the reverse of the ribbons and globs flowing off to the smaller end. 

WINDOW ONE: CRANE DESIGN

WINDOW TWO: BONSAI TYPE BRANCH DESIGN

An irridescent baroque glass was chosen for the background of both windows, while the background for the two circles is done in an irridescent rain drop glass. The flowing ribbons are done in various textures of pastel colours. The large circles are rondels and each window has a clear faceted jewel in the large side circle. There are over 150 pastel globs representing water bubbles flowing through this piece and it took a huge amount of time to do the fitting around them.

I started with the tree design and worked to the end before choosing the blue glue chip for the border of the circle. When working the other window I found a piece of glass that had blues and the same wine colour as the tree so this worked perfectly for the bird. However there was too much blue here so I used a green gluechip for the border of the circle. It was quite a challenge choosing the various colours and textures but the finished product was lovely. The gobs and pastels worked well with the irridescent coating on the background glass.



CLOSE UP OF TREE AND BIRD DESIGN

BOTH WINDOWS INSTALLED

A VIEW FROM THE OUTSIDE

A VIEW OUT TO THE LAKE

The windows were very difficult to install due to their size and shape. The slightest twist would cause them to crack so I was very relieved when Arthur finally completed the installation and they fit and nothing cracked. It took over 150 hours to make these windows which were also hard to photograph due to the large area of differing natural light, trees in the background and window glare.

These windows have become the focal point that Pat's mom said just lights up the room!!! 

KANJI FOR LOVE

This piece is a memorial gift for my friend Dawn Cobden in memory of her parents, Lloyd and Patricia Melindy who were killed in a car accident in the summer of 2010. This Kanji symbol representing the word "love", honours the love in Dawn’s family - agape as her mom was a Christian minister, sibling love which is there in abundance and the married love of a couple devoted to each other.

The project started with the clear blue-rust background glass which was a unique find. From this evolved the bright orangEy red glass chosen for the lettering. At this stage, even though the design only used two colours of glass, the piece needed more, so I added the clear ridged border, the green faceted jewel and corner pieces, then the outside blue border in water glass. Arthur made the pine frame.


BIRD OF PARADISE
Wedding Gift for Brooke and Jason Morden

This is a very elegant piece featuring a unique green-turquoise rippled glass in the leaves and pencil bevels in the border. The fairy is tucked in behind a gorgeous orange rondel. The clear baroque background glass sets off the design nicely. The white frame was made by my husband Arthur and sprayed by my daughter Amber at  Elmira Kitchen and Baths.

LUA'S MOTHER'S DAY FAIRY

While working with Caitlin I made the fairy below, putting it into the oval as a Mother’s Day gift for Miranda for Lua’s new bedroom. Since the fairy had red hair, this unusual fractures and streamers glass works nicely for the background.

 LIFE OF "PI" FOR LUKE AND KEIR

I discovered the Tiger print at someone’s house  while playing bridge and thought it would work out in stained glass one day. Well this is the year that the animated version of “Life of Pi”came to the movie theatre and it was amazing. Jean’s daughter Cyndi had given us some baby furniture and this was the perfect way to thank her and celebrate her son’s Luke and Keir and their new home. It was quite a challenge fitting all the teeth and grinding the centre of the eyes out and working with the small black circles. Many types of orange and yellow glass were used. The green glue chip was perfect to enhance the ball the tiger is perched on and the turquoise water glass provides a perfect back drop.

ART DECO TREE BRANCH IN TEXTURED CLEARS

This piece was a gift for Susan Giesler’s 60h birthday- a gift from the Tuesday Discussion Bridge ladies. We sweated over a pattern for months as Susan wanted something simple and classy. I adapted the original pattern to incorporate rondels, globs and outside borders. It was a big decision to use the pastel wine and turquoise glass in the globs, rondels and borders rather than leave the piece all textured clears as in the pattern on the left.

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Stained Glass Pieces Made in 2011

BLUE HERON for JEANETTE KLING

This piece was made for Jeanette's bathroom at their new cottage in Haliburton. She was very concerned to get just the right colours and was pleased with my poetic licence. Faceted jewels provide rainbows and strength to the design.

MERMAID REPAIR for BARBARA ARTHUR



This window was almost a total remake as there were over 25 pieces broken. Barbara's daughter had accidentaly slammed the door on her room mates mermaid glass. Before deconstructing I had to develop a pattern from the original glass. Background glass, border and hair are mostly new and it was a challenge to try and match the existing glass. The lovely baroque irridescent glass brought new life into the piece which had just plain window glass in the background. Arthur made up a new frame. Conincidentally this was the same pattern I made for our sauna window many years ago.

STATION MEXICAN SUN LOGO for BEV CHRIS

My friend Bev Chris provided a condo in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico for myself and 4 bridge friends this winter. We deicded to present here with some stained glass as a thankyou present. Bev used to own a hotel in Waterloo called The Station. When the hotel burned down in a fire Bev was able to save a few pieces of green glass in a U shape from one of the stained glass windows. It was quite a creative challenge to figure out how to make this one piece of dull glass into something with life and meaning. I had picked up the sun piece in the Walmart garden area and knew I could find a place to use it. Thus it became the focal point and of course, represents our "fun in the sun" in Mexico. Using this sun, I then had to widen the U shape border. Also, Bev had two new grand children last year and a closer look shows that this sun looks like Thomas the Train... which of course ties in nicely with the lost train station as well. I added the S for Station and the colourful border for life and a third colour - a basic design element.

FUCHIA IN CIRCLE for JENNFER and KYLE

This pattern came from a photo I took at Liz Krompcamp's cottage when we had a 60th party there two years ago. I purchased some new sizing softward which allows one to take a photo and turn it into a B&W pattern. This is such a unique design with a touch of art deco and interesting curves. I loved making this piece which was a wedding present for my good friend Cathie's daughter Jennifer. The turquoise pastel glass sets off the piece nicely.

 
FUNKY ART DECO FLOWERS for LARISSA and FEMI 

I picked up the lollipop like burgundy pink glass in a shop in New Hamburg a few years ago.... waiting for a home. It was fun to go back to a Sibbett pattern and I loved choosing the colours for this design because I was making it as a wedding present for Larissa who is very funky and flamboyant. The apricot glass in the centre of the flowers is a one of a kind piece I just discovered.... a very unusual shade. It was tricky to work around all the green blobs and  also a challenge to keep the background lines flowing rhythmically.

EMILY CARR'S SKIDEGATE TOTEM

It is always exciting to get a challenging commission and this was one of my most interesting. Sue Pottery wanted to give here daughter a gift of stained glass as a wedding present in memory of her father who used to do stained glass. She wanted it to be taken from one of Emily Carr's paintings as both Heather and her father were big Carr fans. I poured over her painting's trying to find one that could be transferred into glass. Her work is dark, twisted and pointy - not very good for glasswork. I chose this totem pole painting because it had lots of blended colours and bold curvy lines. It was difficult to find glass that suggested the many paint tones but in the end I was thrilled with the glass I found and how the design grew as I worked from the top of the pole down. One of the things Carr did with her later works was blend the subject and background in a kind of universal togetherness. I was also thrilled that this piece made it safely by bus to Vancouver in a wooden box my husband constructed.

SNOOPY NIGHT LIGHT for ELIZABETH

Elizabeth Siddorn ordered a Snoopy night light for her new son. It was hard to find a pattern that could be converted into stained glass without having too many small pieces as this is just a wee night light.

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