posts – Page 15 – Sherry Glaab

Thinking of possible adjustments

I’ve been looking at the bottom two pieces of the pattern and thinking of a way that I might handle them a bit differently than I did the long pieces on each far side. The situation is the pattern calls for a piece of glass that is longer than my glass sheets. For the sides, I am just abutting the cut pieces to make them appear longer, but for the bottom two edge pieces, I might do something else.

Thinking of making adjustments to the pattern — Pattern is longer than my sheets of glass

I think it might be nice to make two square pieces, either orange or the darkest gray, to fill the gap between the two light / medium gray strips. The squares would be inserted into the middle for symmetry.

So far I’ve been able to cut everything by hand and then make adjustments using my glass grinder.

Grinding glass pieces — Grinding the piece

However, some pieces really require a glass saw. There is a tool I could use to try to cut this by hand, but I’m not that great with it. I’ll have to fill the saw with water over the weekend to cut this piece.

Cutting glass pieces — This piece is going to require a saw because the angle is too sharp.

Progress on the panel from today — Today’s progress

Today’s progress

Things move a little faster when you’re working with larger pieces of glass. Still, after the second band-aid, I decided to take a break. I also need to buy a new grinder bit. Nothing is glued down yet – need to do a lot more adjusting and be able to see both sides of the project at the same time when I start gluing. So far all of this has been done with my hand cutter and glass grinder, though I’ve been tempted to get my saw ready for action a few times.

A bit of progress

I finished cutting the glass for the first two stripes at the far edge of the piece. What I am learning is that my plan to work from the far edge back to the closer edge isn’t going to work. At some point I’m going to have to pivot the entire piece so I can see well enough to position each individual piece of glass when I am applying the mosaic adhesive. A few quick snapshots:

Puzzle pieces

Today I unwrapped the backer glass, put it in place over the pattern on my work table, and started cutting pieces of glass from the far right side of the pattern.

The backer glass is thick and you can see the layer of laminate

The medium gray glass and some of the pattern for it

I don’t have a piece of medium gray glass that is long enough to make some of the pieces of the pattern. I will likely deal with that by abutting two pieces of the glass as closely as possible.

It would take three pieces from this glass sheet to make it long enough for the pattern piece

Medium gray on the left, light gray on the right

I will be cutting the glass from only the white parts of the pattern (the orange cutting lines will be removed) so there will be a slight space between the pieces.

A few of the light gray pieces cut and set in place

Something I didn’t anticipate and have yet to encounter before today is that some of my art glass really is not flat. That will likely cause bubbles in the resin underneath the pieces even if I glue them in place. A thicker layer of glue really isn’t good (to fill in the gap) because it can be visible from the back side of the piece, so I will have to think about this issue.

This piece of glass is seriously NOT flat

The Glass Detective

Today I picked up the clear backer glass for the project from Charleston Glass and Mirror. It’s heavy, but not unmanageable. The interesting development is that I sent photos of the darkest gray glass piece to the owner of Blue Heron Glass here in Charleston and he thinks he recognizes it and ordered me a sheet! That is great news as I don’t have a large enough sheet of it for all the dark gray pieces. He is the Glass Detective.

Ready to start cutting glass

This week I finished marking all the pieces of the pattern with their intended color codes and ordered the 31″ x 48.25″ backer glass from Charleston Glass and Mirror. They recommended laminate which is apparently stronger than tempered. Hopefully I will have it early this week. In the meantime, I can start cutting out the pieces of the paper pattern I will use to guide myself on each piece of glass as I cut it. I think I will also visit Mike at Blue Heron Glass because I don’t think I have enough of the darkest glass. Hopefully he will have something on hand that is similar enough to fit the bill.

On the left is the darkest glass I’m using in the project. It looks like it is black with white swirls when viewed in ambient light. However, when the light is shining through it (as on the light tray on the photo on the right, above), it is a beautiful shade of gray.

Both copies of the pattern – color coded

I think I will work from the right side of the pattern over to the left, since it is the furthest from where I can reach on my work table. That means I will cut the pattern pieces on the right side first, then work my way to the other edge.

Pattern Prep

Marking the pattern pieces with their planned colors

Before I start working with the glass, I lay out the pattern and mark each piece with the planned color to be used. In this case, white is unmarked, dark gray is colored in with a dark pencil, orange is colored orange, medium gray is marked with an “M” and light gray is marked with an “L”. I had to take my time doing this because the pattern is not symmetrical and the colors have quirky variations that are important to the overall look.

Overall view of the glass chosen, the pattern and the colored guide image.

Overview of the various shades / types of glass to be used: orange, medium gray, white, dark gray, light gray.

Now I’m working on coloring in a second copy of the pattern. One copy will be used to lay out the glass on top of as I progress through cutting the pieces while the other one will be cut up to use as guides for the individual pieces as I cut them.

It’s a BIG one!

So I had to clear off most of my work table for the pattern for this next window project. This will be going into a large window (31″ x 48″) for privacy in a powder room. We discussed the glass to be used over the weekend and settled for art glass in shades of gray, white and orange (no clear). I have to special order the clear backer glass that I will use to mount the individual pieces in place. I had considered making this with lead or copper foil, but after researching issues of strength with a window this size and discussing with my friends who will take this home, this will be a resin pour! The size will bring some challenges along with it because I will need to be able to reach all sides of it when I pour the resin, but I think it will be a fun project.

A New Project

Some friends are doing some home renovation and have asked me to make a glass panel to decorate and provide privacy in a 31″ x 48.25″ window in what is to become a new powder room. I was planning to do it with resin, but when they shared the design they chose with me, I started having second thoughts.

Waterlilies Pattern — Frank Lloyd Wright – Waterlilies

It’s actually just the top half of the pattern (in order to fit their window). When I saw all that clear glass area, I realized that it would be difficult to achieve the level of privacy they would likely desire for a big window by a toilet! I might have to dust off my soldering iron and see if I can do it with copper foil.

I’ve never made such a large panel without a solid background, and I’m pretty sure a piece this size would require some significant reinforcement. I’m also not the best at fitting pieces for a copper foil project that has to fit an exact opening, so my confidence is a bit low that I wouldn’t end up with a disaster on my hands if I did it with copper foil.

Perhaps I could use a light blue background instead of clear. Even still, the large rectangles at the bottom won’t provide a lot of privacy. I would have to use opaque glass, which I don’t believe I have on hand. I will have to think about it for awhile.

Palm Fronds

Added some greenery to the tree trunks today – might add a few more palm fronds before I pour the resin.