Butterflies….Owls…and Bears – Oh My!

I know…it’s been way too long since my last update.  I was real busy with some fall shows upon my return to Florida.  I was trying to cram a bunch of stuff in before the holiday – hoping to clear out some Christmas decor that I had made.  The shows were great and I was very pleased with the results.  It’s all a new learning process for me so a lot of trial and error.  I will be wiser from the experience for the coming holiday season.

In the meantime, it is almost summer.   I haven’t done a show since right before Christmas in Florida.  I endured a long stretch of having no artistic stamina – probably lasted for 2 months.  It feels good to be back on track and producing new stuff almost on a daily basis.  I have moments where it’s almost business-like….I have to step away for awhile to regroup and get back in to the hobby aspect of it all.   We returned to Georgia almost 2 weeks ago to give me time to unpack all of my stuff.  We’ve resorted to renting a u-haul trailer on our trips now in order for me to bring all 25 of my boxes containing my projects, glass and kiln.

I’ applied for 5 shows and was accepted to all of them – woo hoo!  I like the energy of the GA shows .  Here is my schedule along with some of the newest stuff I’ve been working on.

 

My current show schedule – if you are in the neighborhood stop by and see us:

• June 7-8 – The Ridges Landing in Hiawassee GA.  This is an outdoor show  at a local resort on the lake.

• June 28-29 – The Mountain Fling – Blairsville Technical College – indoor show
• July 19-20 – Butternut Creek Festival Blairsville.  This is one of the top shows in the southeast – outdoor venue with lots of great music and arts/crafts
• Sept 20-21 Celebrate Autumn – Blairsville Technical College – indoor show
• October 11 – Church Street Festival Waynesville NC (outside of Asheville) – a one day show in the mountains in the middle of autumn – what more could we ask for!  One of our best friends performs at this show and recommended that I apply.  We usually drive up there just to visit him – so now we’ll have a booth.

 

Here are some of the fused glass mosaic pieces I’ve been working on.  I’m starting to get back in the rhythm of mountain topics like bears 😀    These all have hooks or pegs in the bottom so they can be hung on the wall and used to hang leashes, keys, jewelry or whatever else you can think of.

PLEASE CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO GET THE FULL PICTURE

 

Bear cubs climbing tree – mosaic background – fused bears

Bear emerging from a lake full of cat tails – mosaic background – fused glass bear and cat tails.

Two of the bird villages I like to create. Cute bird houses where or avian friends reside.

 

Here are some of the components that I piece together for wind chimes.  I have accumulated about 40 different wind chimes, sun catchers and spinners ranging from cats to bears to birds.  You can see the before picture which shows the glass as it has been cut and arranged prior to firing at temperatures up to 1500 degrees in my kiln.    Hi-temp wire hooks also need to be place appropriately in order to bead and string the chimes after they have fired.  Most of these are designs that I’ve toyed with over the past year – trying them in larger or smaller sizes – different colors and adding more whimsy.  I take the pictures as they lay on a table – it’s impossible to get good wind chime pictures when hanging.

 

Cats, Dogs, etc. BEFORE firing in the kiln

Cats, Dog, etc. AFTER kiln and stringing

Set up in the kiln and ready to fire up to 1500 degrees

Bear and Beehive – AFTER being fired in the kiln and strung into a wind chime using cut glass components and recycled bottle rings.

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I’ve also been experimenting with ways to incorporate my glass fusing projects into my stained glass work.  I already incorporate the fused pieces into all of my mosaics but the stained glass was a little more difficult.  I use these turtles in my underwater wind chime scene and I thought they would go really well with this particular art glass.  I made the middle section of this with fused glass and then I cut some glass, foiled and soldered it around the turtle scene.  This is approximately 15 inches high by 12 inches wide.

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I’ve also completed some more of my night owls series.  This full moon is keeping this poor owl family awake in “insowlmniacs”.    16 inches high by 10 inches wide.  Mosaic background – fused glass owls.

Fused glass mosaic titled INSOWLMNIACs

Small plaque featuring more night owls with a full moon and starlit night.  Approximately 10 inches wide by 3 inches high.  Mosaic background on a ceramic base with fused glass owls.

night owls plaque

I had these terra cotta pot bases that I picked up on a recent trip to Ikea.  I knew they’d make a great mosaiced bird bath….I just didn’t know what to do with them.  I’ve been playing around with this frog design for a few months – never quite happy with it..  I like him now – especially in this application.  The birdbath is approximately 14 inches across.  The bottom is glass mosaic and the frog, toadstools and dragonflies are all fused glass.

Frog with toadstools bird bath

I am also starting from scratch with my tent and display this week.  We have the tent erected in the driveway right now – strapped to the fence with 40 lb. weights holding it down.   Why?  It’s going to be there for at least 5 days while I fiddle around with my new mesh wall for display and my new table set ups.   We’ve had a fair amount of wind in the afternoons and some thunderstorms rolling through – better safe than sorry.  I don’t want to have to chase my tent down the street as it flies away in one of the gusts.  It also gives me an opportunity to test out the new weights that my handy-dandy husband made for me.    He put the tent up this morning and attached the new stabilizer bars to the bottom in addition to adding the new mesh wall on one side for a hanging display.  It’s coming along – i’ll be sure to take some pictures next weekend at the show once i’ve tweaked it a million times.  We will head to HIawassee this Friday afternoon to set the tent up – we’ll roll the sidewalls down overnight and return early Saturday morning for show time.  We decided to drive back and forth each day – so that means 3 round trips to Hiawassee next weekend – 45 miles each way.

Until next time…..

Mosaic Bench – Titled “Watching Over You”

Not long after I started experimenting with mosaic work – i decided that i wanted to make a bench for the deck at our mountain house.   I can’t figure out why i always go ‘big’…versus just trying something small.  After all, this was only my third or fourth mosaic piece.  I saw plans for this beautiful wooden bench in a lowe’s magazine…that was the beginning of the end 😀  I showed it to jay and said ‘we have to make this’…so i can mosaic something on top of it.  A few trips to lowe’s and we had all of the supplies necessary.  It took us a few days to complete the wood-working part.  The whole time we are playing with power tools, I’m trying to figure out what design i can come up with to put on the top.  I knew i had to start with bears….i ♥♥♥ bears. 

Bears….  a momma bear and her two cubs – she’s trying to coax them from the tree.  That’s where i started.  I worked with no design plan whatsoever…just whatever popped in to my head when i woke up in the morning.  I knew i wanted to incorporate the whole animal spirit theme with native american’s so i finally found some direction.  Fox, eagle, deer, bears – they all play a relevant role in the native american tradition.   Our summer house is situated in the middle of what was once Cherokee land.    I’ve read a lot about the history here, there is so much to know.   Also, the house has a lot of artwork that I’ve acquired over the years from the Cherokee’s in NC.

The mosaic work was done using stained glass that i already had on hand.  I don’t follow any type of mosaic design  – just a random glass pieces – large and small.  I suppose i’d need to take a class to learn how to do real mosaic work.  I honestly have no desire to do that….  I would draw a small section at a time – ie: the bears.  I’d cut the glass from what i had on hand and apply it to the cement board.  It took the entire summer for me to complete this bench.  I never thought i’d finish!  I probably learned my lesson too….no more projects without patterns or a plan!  okay….forget that…i didn’t learn any lesson because i have continued down the same path –  of starting with nothing…i’ll have to show you my pelican mosaic one of these days. 

oh, did i mention that the damn thing weighs 100 lbs?  it’s sooooo heavy!

This is the finished bench – just getting started on the mosaic.

here is the bench – mosaic work completed but not yet grouted

here is the finished bench – do you see everything?  the eagle…the fox….the deer….the bear….bear momma and cubs….purple mountains majesty….the teepee’s on the far side of the lake?

Biting the bullet and entering the world of blogging!

I never thought I would be here….  doing this, you know?  Entering a post in my own blog.  It’s a case of “the world is so big” and i’m completely lost!  I realized a few weeks ago that I needed to put myself out there for more exposure with my glass work.  I’ve been going back and forth mentally – do I want to have a web presence?  Do I want to just put up booths in craft shows?  So many questions…so many alternatives….so many choices and I’m overwhelmed. 

A bit more history about me …I’m originally from Pennsylvania.  I moved to Florida in the late 1980’s and have had no regrets.  I don’t like to write…which is why this blog seemed so weird to me!  You’ll notice that most of my interaction is more of a stream of consciousness type conversation.  I apologize if this offends you… just bear with me and don’t call on the punctuation police.  

About 3 years ago, i signed up to take a beginners course in stained glass.  This was held for 6 weeks at a local high school – night classes.   I found that i really liked playing with the glass…even though i cut myself a lot.  I finished my class project early and picked the “professors” brain a bit and got some needed insight.  Words of advice – expand the boundaries.  Try things a different way – see the results.  In my first year after taking the class, I found myself doing all sorts of projects.  I did some small panels with simple flowers and i did a few larger panels with a gazillion pieces.  Over time I found the foiling method tedious…i got tired of having to wrap each piece of glass with copper foil – burnishing it – and then soldering.  Ugh, i absolutely hated this.   This led to a mild case of ennui….I’d find myself looking at patterns and wondering if I could do something with it other than stained glass….but still use the glass.  I had my AHA moment when i discovered i could use the glass in mosaic work.

Not to be deterred, i started off big!  That’s right…my first mosaic work was going to be a rather large scarlet macaw with various tropical greenery that i was going to hang on the wall outside the side door.  It measures approximately 3 feet wide by 4 feet high.

Here she is….