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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New Piece: Dragon and Girl

Holy shards, I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted! It sure has been a while. I won't go into all of the excuses I have for not writing (*cough*health issues*cough*) but I've got some photos of the newest piece I'm working on with the mentorship of my amazing stained glass painting teacher, Brian James Waugh.

In this piece I'm working with "flashed" glass, which is a layer of coloured glass fused in a kiln onto a layer of clear glass. The way it works is, you cut vinyl "resist" for the parts where you want the colour to remain (you can also paint bitumen onto those parts, but we've been using vinyl resist). The resist is like a big sticker, which sticks to the glass and prevents the acid from reaching the part you want the colour to remain. The acid etches away the coloured layer wherever there isn't resist, which leaves you with clear glass in the areas where you'll be painting.

This is the drawing, or "cartoon" as they call it, which is in pretty battered shape. I've included it so you can see the idea of the image I'm going for. The border pieces are red flash glass which has been acid etched. I'll post more pix as I progress on the piece.

Another shot of the "cartoon."

The border pieces are red flash glass which has been acid etched. This is from before I did the line painting and firing on the leaves and vines.

The dragon and the girl are on green and blue flash glass, which has been acid etched. You can see in the green part, the acid has not yet taken all of the green flash glass away. Those pieces will go back into the acid.

This is what I did today - I finished the line painting on the leaves and vines and fired it, then did a matte wash on the background.

Another shot of the "cartoon."

Here are all of the leaf border pieces in the kiln. I've now done the line work on the dragon's face and wing, as well as the castle in the distance.

I've now done the line work on the dragon's face and wing, as well as the castle in the distance.

Here are some of the leaf border pieces in the kiln.

Here is the dragon's face in the kiln. The line has a bit of an "echo" where the lines of paint are casting a shadow on the white bottom of the kiln.

So, that's the progress so far! I've actually joined Brian's studio as a member now, which I'm very excited about. It will be good to see what all of the other studio members are doing and be inspired! Pin It Now!

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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Finished Octopus

Woo hooo! I finally finished the stained glass octopus that I've been working on since...let's see....JULY!?

I constructed the frame out of zinc came after The Scotsman very kindly bought me a hacksaw (you know it's love when he buys you a hacksaw!) and built me a perfect 45 degree angle mitre box. Because it was made to accommodate a wood saw, the woodworking mitre box that was available at B&Q had too wide a channel, which would have made for inexact cuts.

The zinc frame really makes the piece look more finished.

We've also been blessed with a rare sunny day here in Scotland, so some of the beautiful details in the antique glass are a bit more visible.

See the golden glints in the glass of the octopus' face? This antique glass is amazing.

Another angle

Sun shining through!

Those suckers on the tentacles took FOREVER.

Although of course there are many things I feel I could have done better on this piece, I do have to say that I'm happy that I've finally started to achieve edges that are more straight than I managed before. My cutting and soldering skills are getting better, but I still have a long way to go.

Nevertheless, this was a really challenging piece that took a huge amount of work, and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. The next one will be better! Pin It Now!

Abstract Schmoo Shapes

Hey, everyone! I was in The Netherlands last week to meet with some colleagues, and at one point during the meeting I was idly doodling on my pad (as I tend to do) and drew this little design of sort of Schmoo shapes in a row.

After the ridiculously intricate and time-consuming design of the octopus, I thought it would be nice to have a relatively simple design that I could finish in a weekend. To try and make the curves as smooth as possible, I laid it out in the free drafting software Solid Edge 2D.

So, here it is:

The piece is 12" x 12". Unfortunately it's not a very sunny day here in Scotland, so the colours aren't looking as bright in the pictures as they do in person. The purple bit is a deep, grape-y colour, and the orange is Spectrum wispy glass.

Here's another view:

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I made a stained glass octopus!

UPDATE: You can see the finished, framed piece here.

Hi all! Good news: today I finished soldering the stained glass octopus that I've been working on for what seems like forever.

I still need to put the lead came "frame" around the outside edges, and The Scotsman has said that he'll construct an actual wood frame for the piece. I also need to do the final cleaning to get off the fingerprints and winkle the last of the flux out of all of the little nooks & crannies. The piece is about 16.5 x 11.7 in.

I was just so happy to get it (mostly) done that I wanted to post some pictures!

The stained glass octopus with some sun coming through it. I wish you could see it in person, it looks so much cooler than photos can show.

Here's the soldering in progress. It's all full of flux.

Stained glass octopus, reverse side. He kind of looks like he's doing the Safety Dance.

A little closer up on the tentacles

Tentacle action!

So, what do you think? Would you hang it in your window? Pin It Now!