Glass – Page 21 – Sherry Glaab

Snowmen and Greenery

To make these snowman, tree and leafy ornaments, I start with white and green glass and cut it down until it is close to the shape I want. I then grind the pieces to smooth them and make them look more like the desired item (snowball, holly, mistletoe). It will be interesting to see how the texture of the green glass looks after I pour the resin. Past experience has shown me that the texture will be mostly lost once the resin is applied, but I haven’t tried it with this glass yet.

I like this green glass for evergreen leaves.

Here is a snowball in the making on my glass grinder. Yes, I do slice my fingertips while I grind the glass – I try to do a quick once around all the edges to minimize the damage to my fingers, but they still get a bit of wear and tear.

Rough Holly leaves before they have visited the grinder.

Laying out / gluing pieces for a snowman.

Once I have the larger pieces of glass ready, I glue them to the clear glass ornament bases. I glued the ornament hooks on the bases yesterday.

Glued down – tree, snowmen, holly and mistletoe.
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I will pour the resin and add the detailed accents and some more small glass pieces for red berries at the same time. I like to add crushed glass “snow” under the snowmen and trees, and clear glass flakes to the backgrounds. I might cut some red berries for the holly from glass (like I did for the mistletoe), as the red balls of glass I have might be too small in proportion to the leaves I cut. I was hoping to pour the resin for these today, but I just ran out of time.

More small things

I needed to finish the second snowman ornament I started yesterday and use up some leftover glass, so today I made some smaller ornaments with Cardinals and some greenery, plus a few resin ornaments.

Next I glued the hangers onto the base of the ornament.

Next I poured the resin, then added the glass chips and chunks for the snowy effect in the background. I always elevate the pieces on a silicone mold so I can wipe off drops while the resin cures. I have tried using painters tape around the edges of the back side, but it’s more trouble to me than doing this and I get better results.

Ornaments raised a bit off the work surface.

Close up view of the snowman ornament to show that it is raised off of the work surface.

I also poured the first layer and decorated a few more resin ornaments. I am using greenery from my yard and some store bought berries, as the ones from my yard don’t look as nice in the resin. Also some shells and beachy items.

First layer poured for two beach-y ornaments.

Making Ornaments

I’m trying to stock up on ornaments for my booth at the Charleston Holiday Market, which will be held at the North Charleston Convention Center November 8-10, 2019. I glued these winter scene glass ornaments yesterday and plan on pouring the resin and finishing the details today.

Here are a couple of snapshots after the resin was poured and decorated, but not yet cured. I have been making these with the rectangular background instead of the free shaped tree ornaments because the tree branches are pretty sharp. The rectangle keeps you from having to hold the pointy part of the tree glass. The one ornament with the blue background is an experiment – I’m trying to see if putting painters tape on the back is helpful in keeping the resin drips off the back. All of the others I have to keep wiping down the underside to keep drips from forming, and this is a very time consuming, sticky undertaking. I tried the tape once before and didn’t have much luck, but I thought I’d try again.

I also decided to make a couple of snowmen ornaments. I really love the trees, but variety is the spice of life, right?

The one on the left has its resin coating and glass chip decorations. The one on the right has to wait another day for its resin, as the glue that holds the hook in place is still drying.

Prepping for the Holidays

I haven’t been posting much, mostly because the dichroic window I’ve been working on has now been rethought as a sunset and it’s taking me some time to plan it. At the same time, I haven’t been doing much that is new and different, until this weekend. I decided to sign up for the Charleston Holiday Market at the N. Charleston Convention Center. It’s a big three day craft fair, held November 8-10. I usually do most of my holiday shopping at this event. This year, I’ll be a vendor!

When I was talking with another vendor at the N. Charleston Farmers Market about it last week, she suggested that I make some seasonal coasters for the event. So I decided to see what I can do. I haven’t used any really perishable / organic materials other than shells and beachy things, so plants are an expansion of my repertoire. I headed out into my yard and snipped some cheerful berries and greenery from my plants, then coated them with resin spray.

I then set about inserting my harvest into some coaster molds with resin. Hopefully they will turn out well – I read a few stories online of others’ experiences with plant based embedding and there were a lot of woeful tales of things turning brown. Fingers crossed that the resin spray helps deter that from happening. I even read that some folks use plain old hair spray instead of resin spray, which I may try when my supply of resin spray is depleted. I have two types of berries on hand, one from I believe a Pyracantha and some others from some Asparagus Fern in my yard.

Here are a couple of the first batch I made yesterday.

I like how the Boxwood looks, but it is very thick and difficult to keep small enough for the mold. I used some extra resin spray on the cypress greenery in the batches I did today to see if they hold their color any better.

N. Charleston Harvest Festival

I will have a booth at the North Charleston Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 19th from 4-7pm. Come check it out!

The City of North Charleston announces the 7th Annual Harvest Festival featuring live musical performances, an artist market, costume contests, trick-or-treat on the street, a pop-up pumpkin patch, children’s activities, and more. The fall festivities will take place in the Olde Village of North Charleston, located on East Montague Avenue near Park Circle, on Saturday, October 19, 2019, from 4:00-7:00pm. Admission and parking are free. East Montague Avenue will close to vehicular traffic from Jenkins Avenue to Virginia Avenue at 2:00pm and remain closed for the duration of the event.

The celebration includes live music by the delightfully eclectic V-Tones of Charleston and singer-songwriter Rene Russell. The Kid’s Zone offers a craft activity led by the City’s artist-in-residence Katherine Hester, carnival games, face painting, drumming with RBM African Drum and Dance, and a variety of inflatables. An artist market featuring local artists, crafters, and makers will line two blocks of East Montague Avenue, along with a few festive treat vendors. In addition, many of the restaurants in the Olde Village will offer food and drink specials.

Other highlights include trick-or-treating on the street with free treat bags for kids age 12 and under (4:00-6:00pm, while supplies last); a pop-up pumpkin patch with on-site decorating stations (cash only – prices of pumpkins vary); a mechanical bull, photo booths, and costume contests with categories for youth, groups, and pets. The contests are free to enter and prizes will be furnished by the City of North Charleston Recreation Department, merchants of the North Charleston Olde Village, and Park Pets. Participants for all contests should be prepared to line up for judging at 5:45pm for the contests to begin at 6:00pm.

The annual Harvest Festival is a rain or shine event produced by the City of North Charleston in collaboration with the North Charleston Olde Village merchants. For information on additional programs and events, visit the Arts & Culture section of the City’s website at www.northcharleston.org.

Evergreen trees, part II

Today I poured the resin and decorated it for the evergreen tree suncatcher I started the other day. While I was at it, I made a small winter forest scene that has a similar feel. I wish I was better at taking pictures, but it is what it is. They both look much better in person. I will have them at my booth at the N. Charleston Farmers Market in Park Circle this Thursday from 3-7 pm.

Winter scene, approximately 11″ wide x 5″ tall.

Evergreen trees

I just started a dichroic window project, but yesterday my eldest child suggested that I make some evergreen trees, so I set that aside for a few days. I decided to start with just a small suncatcher and then see if I could expand it a bit in future projects. First I looked at some photos of trees online to decide what “look” I liked, then I grabbed a Sharpie marker and made a rough sketch. After that, I cut some clear background glass. Then I pulled out some green glass and cut it into strips. The strips were cut with mosaic nippers into pieces that would become the branches.

Now it was time to start laying out the branches. I liked the way the first layer looked, so I went ahead and glued it down using Mac glue.

I might make some later on with just one layer, but for this tree I decided to fill in the gaps with a second layer, giving the tree more dimension. I also added a whimsical little cardinal bird to it. I have to wait for the glue to dry before I pour the resin layer, but for now, this is how it looks.

I also added a hanger that will be held in place by the resin. I won’t use hangers if I make a larger version of this later on.

Tomorrow I can pour the resin and decorate it with some glass chips for snow and sparkle.

Sorting the dichro

My light tray (small, inexpensive one) arrived today, so I decided to try it out. I wanted to be able to see the colors of the square pieces of dichroic glass I cut from a larger sheet when I lay them out on the window. The light tray is a huge help with this, but it is still a bit of a challenge, as the color perception changes based on the viewing angle. When I am directly over the window (perpendicular to it), this is how the colors look:

However, at a slight angle, the colors change significantly:

Short video of the angle changing.

With the light tray off, the glass is metallic. This is due to the dichroic coating, and in very dim light the colors disappear and are replaced with a metallic shine. This photo doesn’t really capture it, but it’s the best I could do at the moment.

This Art Deco Sun / Moon mosaic is a good example of this type of glass:

N. Charleston Farmers Market

I’ll be at the Farmers Market in Park Circle again tomorrow, Thursday September 19th from 3-7 pm. Come by and visit me! Mention the code “VisitTen” to receive 10% off any in stock window!

A new dichroic project

I prepped two more half windows and am trying to figure out what to put in the first one. I have a lot of beach / sea themed mosaics on hand, so I think I will do something different with this one. I love this dichroic glass, so I think I will start with it and see where it takes me – sort of a Ribbon of Light.

Cutting the large sheet of dichroic glass into strips.

I like the idea of having all uniform square pieces for the “ribbon” part of the mosaic, but when I lay them out, I have the urge to make a lot of them trapezoidal so the curves are smoother. We’ll see if the urge wins out or not. I also broke down and ordered a light box, as I can’t tell what color the dichro pieces will be without one (well, not without holding each individual piece up to the light source, which is too tedious with a 30″ window).

This is just the first, very rough draft for this project. Still lots of adjustments to make and planning to do before any glue is involved!