Its been kinda froggy for the past few days

I've been wanting to redo this frog/dragonfly suncatcher for the longest time. I designed it last year and built just one of them, but there were things about the pattern that I wanted to make changes to before I'd build another. Finally, I sat down and figured out what was bothering me and got things straightened out.
A few days ago, I got started on the process. I made my carbon copy of the original and started picking out glass. Right about this time, my neighbor came over to drop off a loaf of bread his wife had made. He saw what I was working on and bought it for her as a surprise Christmas gift. Wonderful for me, I won't have to take a million and one photos to get five right like I would if I posted this suncatcher to my Etsy site.

These are most all of the glass pieces that are going into the suncatcher. I've glued down the paper pattern pieces to the glass. I'll save the pieces that are cut off and sort them by color. One of these days I'm going to give mosaics a try.

The pieces have been thinned down a bit--here's how they look after I've cut them by hand with a glass cutter. Some of the angles of these pieces are a bit tight and the type of glass is not all that easy to cut by hand~I'll leave these for the glass saw. Since I don't have any extra of some of this glass I don't want to take the chance of trying to cut it by hand and having it break in the wrong place.

Here are the glass pieces cleaned up a bit more with the glass saw. Its a wonderful tool~I use it quite often. A must have in my shop.

I started grinding the pieces for the frog first. The eye is a black glass glob that I've grinded down on both sides and also the bottom to make it a bit shorter so it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. I like the idea of using a glob--or glass gem, since its round it has a certain amount of reflectivity in that it catched the light and reflects it. This spotted glass is wonderful for frogs. I'm so glad I came across a piece of it years ago in the scrap bin of the stained glass shop that I took my one and only class at.

Here's the detail of the dragonfly. I've used a light green glass glob for its head. This one I couldn't grind the bottom of since it will show--it will look all scratched up and dull. So, this will stick up above the rest of the glass pieces a bit. The wings are an iridescent textured glass with the textured side up and the body is 7 individual pieces in light green.

Here's how things look as of this afternoon. Next, I'll wrap all of the pieces with copper foil, solder the front and the back and wrap lead came around the entire piece. I'll solder two loops near the top of the piece for a chain to be attached and I'll darken all of the solder lines and lead with black patina.
I'm always excited to get a project like this done. I'll post photos again as the process continues.

Cobalt Blue Window Panel with Bevels~~on sale now!

I need to make room for some new items!

On sale now is this cobalt blue stained glass window panel with bevels. It measures nearly 13" tall by 13" wide, actually 12 7/8" (33cm). Regularly priced at $85.00, I've dropped it down to $60.00

The center is a clear glass bevel surrounded by beautiful cobalt blue glue chip glass and two shades of blue Waterglass. The background is a pale textured blue surrounded by a 1 1/2" border using 4" and 1 1/2" clear glass bevels. Bevels are very prismatic and they add a shimmering touch to this panel.

This panel has loops soldered to the frame and chain included for hanging. Check out my Etsy store for more information on this eye catching stained glass panel.

I've gone rainbow crazy!! New items for January

There's something fun and happy about rainbows.

Here are a couple of new items completed recently.

The rainbow stained glass peace sign measures 9 1/2" diameter, approximately 24 centimeters. The glass I used for this one is called Waterglass, its manufactured by Spectrum. The glass itself is very bright and clear and ts got a light wavy texture to it like water on a lake's surface.

The stained glass hot air balloon is also made with the same type of glass. In this piece I've assembled the glass pieces in such a way that it appears that the balloon is full of hot air.

Both of these items are now available in my Etsy shop. Receive 10% off the cost of either of these items by mentioning that you saw them on my blog. Simply key in "blog" in the message to seller field and I will send you are revised invoice before you pay OR if you check out and pay I will refund the 10% to you. Cost of shipping not included in the discount.

New items in my shop inspired by spring

This year winter came on hard and fast, it got cold quick and it stayed cold. I've been spoiled for the past 10 years in Tennessee where winters are usually mild. We don't get snow much on this side of the state but usually get some good ice storms. Even with the colder then usual temperatures our daffodils are starting to sprout all over the yard.

I get inspired a lot of the time by what is happening outside my window and figured it was time to create another daffodil. I've never done a white and orange daffodil and thought the color combination with the aqua blue might be interesting. It is definitely bold and bright.

Another piece I recently added to my shop is a single purple tulip. The glass I choose for the flower is a combination of violet and pale purple and the two leaves are a sea green and olive green mix. I'm still working on trying to get better pictures of the tulip.

New projects in the works

Welcome 2009. Yes, I'm a bit late but better late then never.

Lots of new projects are on the way for this new year. I've recently completed a fun rainbow colored stained glass butterfly. This is a shrunk down version of a much larger more complex panel that I'm hoping I can start in a few months. In this smaller version I've used various colors of Waterglass. Its a transparent glass manufactured by Spectrum Glass with a slight texture to it. Its one of my favorite types of glass to use since I love the sharp bright colors and the texture can be placed in such a way to give a good deal of 'movement' to a project.

The next item I hope to have done in a few days is a stained glass daffodil. I'm using white and orange wispy glass for the bloom along with light green for the stem and aqua blue for the background. Another piece that is nearly complete is a single tulip in streaky violet purple. Other projects that have been started include a large yellow orange daffodil suncatcher, a rainbow hot air balloon, a piece sign and three new cat face ornaments.

Wow, this blog has a layer of dust on it an inch thick...

All I can say is that I'm really quite embarrassed that I've let this blog fall to the wayside. The time has come to pick it back up and blow the dust off of it.

Let's see, where did we leave off? Oh, the stained glass quilt panel. There's a few more steps involved in order to get it done. It really turned out to be one of my favorite pieces, the colors are really gentle and compliment each other nicely.

I'll dig up the pictures and get the rest of the steps listed soon.