Dragon and Girl: Ready to Lead Up, and Metropolis Beginnings

Hi all! Long time no write. Darn this having to work for a living thing, it sure does get in the way of my glass hobby!

I've been able to get into the glass studio sporadically on weekends, and have finally finished the last layers of paint and enamel on my Dragon and Girl piece. Now it's ready to be leaded up, and then maybe someone will want to buy it (ha ha.) Anyone want to buy some stained glass? (wheedle)

Dragon and Girl: acid-etched, painted, enamelled, and fired glass. By Maria McMahon, 2014

I used amber and then ruby red enamel on the dragon, which came out a nice kind of bronze colour over the brown paint. The little girl's hair is amber enamel, and her flowers are blue, amber, and ruby red enamel.

You want some close-ups? Here you go!

Detail, Dragon and Girl: acid-etched, painted, enamelled, and fired glass. By Maria McMahon, 2014

Detail, Dragon and Girl: acid-etched, painted, enamelled, and fired glass. By Maria McMahon, 2014

Detail, leafy border, Dragon and Girl: acid-etched, painted, enamelled, and fired glass. By Maria McMahon, 2014

And now on to my new piece. It's inspired by the classic 1927 ur-science fiction film "Metropolis" and its iconic robot poster. Here's the poster:

 

I started with smooth amber Cathedral glass. The piece is 1 meter tall (a little over 3 feet) and 50 cm wide. This will be the biggest piece I've ever done, so wish me luck!

Here's the face, which I started last weekend. The stripey look in the background is the camera catching the light table's lights strobing (it happens too fast for the eye to see, but the camera catches it.) It's propped up on 3 pieces of blu-tack. Also pictured: a little bit of my badger brush!

Work in progress, "Metropolis" stained glass, painted & fired glass by Maria McMahon 2014

Then this weekend just past, I got some more work done on the face and the body, as well as the first matte layers on all of the background pieces:

Work in progress, "Metropolis" stained glass, painted & fired glass by Maria McMahon 2014

Work in progress, "Metropolis" stained glass, painted & fired glass by Maria McMahon 2014

It's not exactly true to the poster, it's kind of my own take on it. The actual glass piece is a lot taller - the top pieces (where it's going to have the "Metropolis" lettering) were all in the kiln being fired when I took these pictures. I do intend to include all of the buildings in the background as well as the lettering at the top. It will all be done in paint, and I intend to keep the piece a monochrome, sepia colour like the poster.

This is a kind of different subject for a stained glass piece, I know. I was talking with The Scotsman about it, and came to the conclusion that iconic film imagery seems to fire me up (no pun intended, ha!) a lot more than Biblical stories. No offense to the Bible, but Bible stories and characters have been done in glass for millennia now!

The Metropolis robot was so amazing and ahead of its time, and led to so many other famous film robots (C-3PO, I'm looking at you!) that I feel it has the same kind of resonance for me as images of the Archangel Gabriel might have had to people in Medieval times. Stained glass has always been about using images to tell stories, and I'm following that tradition - telling stories that I find interesting.

There's still a huge amount of work to be done on this piece, but I'm pretty pleased with the way it's coming along. I hope it turns out!

See you next time. Pin It Now!

Dragon and Girl: more WIP

The holidays were so busy and went by so fast! I had so much going on that I didn't get into the studio much to work on my Dragon and Girl piece, but I've been grinding away on it here and there.

I really think I'm close to the finish line now. Just a couplefew more paint layers on the dragon, the golden stain on the dragon and the girl's hair, coloured stains in the flowers, and finishing up various details here and there, and I'll be able to lead it up and declare this piece finished. What I'll do with it when it's done is another one to figure out. Maybe it will be the first piece I ever sell! (Wouldn't that be nice?)

Anyway, here are some photos of the progress I've made recently. These first two photos are from January 5th:

Progress as of 5 January 2014 - you can see that the body of the dragon is further along than the head and wings

Progress as of 5 January 2014

After the above, I went into the head and wings and strengthened the line, as the line work was quite a bit lighter than that on the body. There are also a couple more layers of shading in the face and wings. Here's where the piece was yesterday:

Progress as of 11 January

The round mark to the left of the dragon's face is just a screw in the light table surface underneath. You can see that the dragon's face and wing are further along, closer in colour and line to the dragon's body.

There's been more work to the girl's hair:

More shading added to the girl's hair and dress

And I've added more detail to the castle in the distance:

More detail added to the castle; more needed in the shrubbery

I need to add more detail to the shrubbery in front of the castle and darken the little pine trees I added to the castle. The shrubbery was put in because the acid had crept under the resist right there and caused the green glass to be marred. Just one of those things.

The dragon's face is coming along:

I wanted his expression to be ambiguous. What's does he think of this situation?

So, in general, I'm pretty pleased with the way it's coming along. I'm really jumpy now, worried that I'm going to drop a piece and shatter it, or screw it up somehow in some other way! Wish me luck, I'm really seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with this one.

Also, anyone wanna buy it? (Ha ha.) :D Pin It Now!

Dragon and Girl: More WIP Photos

So, more progress this weekend on the Dragon and Girl piece. I did another firing of the border pieces, but I finally also was able to do the first matte layer on the dragon's body, head, and wings. I also did the first matte layer on the little girl.

With matte layers, you lay on a thin layer of paint, then smooth it with your badger brush. (I always end up singing "Mushroom, MUSHROOM!" at some point when I'm using the badger brush.)

After that, you use other brushes to take paint away. Glass painting is the opposite of painting on mediums like paper or canvas: instead of laying paint on to make parts darker, you lay paint on in a flat coat and then take it away to add highlights. It takes a bit of getting used to.

Each matte layer of paint you add on the glass builds up and gives the piece depth, shadows, and a more 3-D look. Every new layer that's added has to be fired. So, keep in mind: this is just the first layer.

On with the pictures!

I'm really excited that this part of the piece is finally starting to come on. I just hope I don't screw it up! Pin It Now!

Dragon and Girl progress

I went into the studio on Saturday and the green flash glass on the dragon piece FINALLY finished in the acid. Sometimes you really have to be patient!

This means that the rest of the piece, especially the leafy border, is in a much more forward state than the dragon. Hopefully by next week I'll be able to get a lot more done on the dragon portion of the piece.

Dragon body piece: finally done with the acid etching phase!

With the acid finally finished, I was able to add in the initial line work to the dragon's body. As you can see, I've also been working on the grass and the pathway the little girl is standing on. The leafy border has also gotten a few more matte washes.

The leafy borders are getting a lot more finished.

There's still a huge amount of work to be done, but it's coming along. Just have to keep on keepin' on.

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First glass painting class: fun!

My first glass painting class with Brian Waugh was last week, and I've been so busy I haven't had time to tell you about it. Well, first things first: it was really fun! Brian is an excellent teacher, and was very patient even when I was being especially thick.

Brian works out of a studio that hosts several other glass artists. The studio space also has ceramics folks, so I'm betting if I wanted to get my hand back into the ceramics game, I'd probably be able to. Which is nice to contemplate, although I have to say, what with learning this new aspect of glass art, my plate is pretty full!

So, on to the glass painting. Even though it was an all-day class, it became obvious very quickly that 8 hours only allowed us to scratch the top few snowflakes off the iceberg. I've got a lot to learn.

With glass painting, you do a firing for every different layer. It's really painstaking, kind of like painting with watercolours, only glass painting is a way more lengthy process.

First, you mix the powdered paint on a palette with water, then brush it on in a very thin layer as a base colour. You use a badger brush to smooth the paint and get an even matt finish.  After that dries, you fire it. After the first firing is done, you do the line work. This is like a line drawing, only done with a thin brush instead of a pencil or pen. Then that layer is fired.

Then you lay on successive layers of paint, glazes and enamels to create a 3-D effect. Each new layer has to be fired. Before you fire each layer, you use different types of brushes to take away dried paint on the highlighted areas, and it ends up looking kind of like really detailed etched copperplate prints.

You can see what I'm talking about in this one by Harry Clarke (a stained glass artist who I totally worship!)

"The Consecration of St. Mel, Bishop of Longford, by St. Patrick," by Harry Clarke. You can see the "etched" looking parts of the faces where a brush took dried paint away.

Fortunately Brian has a kiln that can do a firing in 1.5 - 2 hours, which I guess is unusual - most glass artists have kilns that can only do 1 firing a night, which seems bonkers to me. How does anyone get anything done??

I'm meeting up again with Brian in 2 weeks, and I have to have a design done for a larger piece by then. I'm working on drawing a concept I thought up, but so far it's only in the very early stages. If the finished piece comes out how it looks in my head, I'll be pretty happy. (But then, how often does that happen, really?)

Ah well. All you can do is your best. And it helps to have a good teacher! Pin It Now!

I've never been so excited about an all-day class in my life!

Oh my god, OH MY GOD, y'all. I am SO EXCITED!

Because he's the Best Husband in the World, The Scotsman is getting me a one-to-one, all-day stained glass painting class with the amazing stained glass artist Brian James Waugh. Here's one of his pieces. Check out the detail in the painting on her dress!

Detail, "Autumn" stained glass panel by Brian James Waugh

"Autumn" stained glass panel by Brian James Waugh

To say I'm excited would be the world's biggest understatement. My class with Mr. Waugh is in November.  I can't wait!!


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