Today I put the last few touches on two Rainbow Rows and the Llama and geared up to get the resin poured on everything. I’m still not sure about the Llama – need to decide if I like it with or without the little bird (why am I obsessing over such a small detail?).
No bird
With bird
I also added several more palm fronds (leaves) to the palm trees on my two Rainbow Rows, and some grass on one and a little tulip type flower on the other. I think I’m ready to resin these, as well as the SC flag I made the other day.
Rainbow Rows ready for resin
I have two more blue backgrounds cut for additional SC flags, so I thought I would go ahead and cut out the trees / crescents to go on them. However, after finishing the first Palmetto tree and starting on a crescent, my saw had an orange grommet failure and that halted progress on anything that requires the saw for a few days until I can get a replacement part and (hopefully) repair it. I say hopefully because I’m hoping only the orange grommet failed and I can get away with just swapping it out – but there could be other things going on that I haven’t noticed yet. Ah, the joys of using a ring saw!
That orange grommet is supposed to be a ring, not two “C” shaped pieces, and there’s supposed to be another orange grommet next to it on the blue collar.
My saw is a Taurus 3 and is many years old. I haven’t used it regularly in recent years and I probably should just replace all the rubber parts inside. I need it for projects like the Llama and the SC flag. For most of my other projects I generally cut the glass by hand and use a grinder to shape / smooth the pieces. I was able to finish up the crescent I was working on by hand cutting and then grinding the glass.
Closeup of the unhappy grommet. The other one fell down into the water bath.
At least I can pour the resin on these projects while I wait for the replacement parts to come in the mail.
Today was a multitasking day. I have several projects going on at the moment: three rainbow rows (one just waiting for resin), two SC flags and an unexpected….llama? I’m also planning another resin/canvas project that will be a new area for me to pursue. So… today I glued down the SC flag I had cut out the other day:
SC Flag glued in place
Next I decided to try out a new stencil I got this week. I have not used stencils before, so this is a new direction. I’m going to try painting the flag design on the glass and then coating it in resin. I think it will take several coats of paint, though.
Using the stencil and pearly white acrylic paint on glass
Next, I needed to glue down the tree trunks, windows and doors on these two Rainbow Rows as well as fill in the palmetto leaves / fronds. These two have one more house than my first two because I had a longer piece of backer glass. I got all of those glued in place this afternoon:
Filling in the details on two new Rainbow Rows – trees might need some more leaves.
Finally, I had a request from a friend to make a Llama….with purple. Hmm. I have a couple of different shades of purple glass, and she chose the darker shade. In the meantime, I googled pictures of Llamas, printed one out and traced it onto some white glass. I coated the marker lines with mark stay because I needed to use the saw for this level of detail.
Llama ready for the saw
First I cut the Llama out, then I went back and made the “fluff” around the edges of the Llama with a second pass with the saw. My friend indicated that she likes lots of colors, so this Llama is going to have some spots. Tomorrow I hope to be ready to glue him / her to the purple art glass background and then I’ll have several items ready for resin.
Spotted Llama
If I ever make another Llama, I think I will make the spots fuzzy like the outer edges of the Llama. I already glued these spots in place, but I may try to pry them off tomorrow and fluff them up a bit.
Today I did some cleanup in my work area (vacuuming, organizing, etc) in preparation for a new project I’ve been thinking about doing for the past several months. I’m going to make a small (approximately 6″x6″) version of the South Carolina flag. Yesterday I went through my glass and selected some blue for the background, then cut it into squares. I also printed out some pictures of the flag I’ve used for past projects in the right size and laid things out.
Ready to cut the background pieces
I was able to cut four squares, between 5-6.5″ each, from this one sheet of glass. Then I traced the outline of the Palmetto tree and crescent onto the background piece. Next I used my mosaic nippers to cut a large selection of tiny pieces of white glass from some scrap glass I have on hand. Then I set about arranging them into the image.
Laid out the tiny pieces
Somehow this didn’t look the way I had envisioned. In the past, I’ve used my glass saw to make the Palmetto and crescent for other mosaics. Looking around my work area, I wondered why I haven’t been using my saw for the past few years. I basically have been using it as a surface on which to store my measuring cups and mix my resin. So I decided to move all of that aside and clean up my old saw. At one point I was using it so often that I became pretty much an expert at repairing things when parts broke or wore out on the saw. I was a bit concerned that there was something broken because I haven’t used it in so long.
My trusty old Taurus ring saw
I cleaned it out and put some water in the basin and flipped the switch – hurrah! It worked! I then traced the pattern onto some scrap glass, cut it down a bit manually and added some mark stay over the lines I drew. Mark stay is basically a chapstick like substance that helps the lines stay in place while sawing (it is very wet and the marker lines wash away otherwise).
Ready to cut the tree and crescentAfter the first pass with the saw
I cut out the basic outline and cleaned up the glass, then went for another pass to add some detail.
After the second pass with the sawAfter the final pass with the saw
Then it was time to see how it looked on the blue background. I think I could make the crescent a bit skinnier.
Not perfect, but I like it!Side by side comparison.
Which one do you like better? I still have to glue the pieces in place, then pour and embellish the resin coating. That will happen another day.
A note on the SC Flag – many who don’t know the history of the flag think that the crescent is a moon. It’s not. Here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia:
In 1775, Colonel William Moultrie was asked by the Revolutionary Council of Safety to design a flag for the South Carolina troops to use during the American Revolutionary War. Moultrie’s design had the blue of the militia’s uniforms and the crescent. It was first flown at Fort Johnson.[1] This flag was flown in the defense of a new fortress on Sullivan’s Island, when Moultrie faced off against a British fleet that had not lost a battle in a century.
However, there is much debate about the significance of the crescent. In his memoirs, Colonel William Moultrie tells us: “A little time after we were in possession of Fort Johnson, it was thought necessary to have a flag for the purpose of signals: (as there was no national or state flag at that time) I was desired by the council of safety to have one made, upon which, as the state troops were clothed in blue, and the fort was garrisoned by the first and second regiments, who wore a silver crescent on the front of their caps; I had a large blue flag made with a crescent in the dexter corner, to be in uniform with the troops …” In the 16-hour battle on June 28, 1776, the flag was shot down, but Sergeant William Jasper ran out into the open, raising it and rallying the troops until it could be mounted again”. This gesture was so heroic, saving Charleston, South Carolina, from conquest for four years, that the flag came to be the symbol of the Revolution, and liberty, in the state and the new nation.
Soon popularly known as either the Liberty Flag or Moultrie Flag, it became the standard of the South Carolinian militia, and was presented in Charleston, by Major General Nathanael Greene, when that city was liberated at the end of the war. Greene described it as having been the first American flag to fly over the South.
Today I tried adding windows and doors to a couple of the houses on these Rainbow Row pieces. I just wasn’t feeling the love for them. I’m not good with painting / drawing at all and they didn’t look the way I had hoped, so I removed them and decided to focus on the Palmetto trees today. Maybe I can add enough visual interest with plants. I glued the trees and greenery in place, but I haven’t glued the red glass flowers in the shrubs yet. Still thinking about that.
Both Rainbow Row panels with the trees glued in place.
I tried adding some flowering shrubs for visual interest.
Maybe if I make them a bit smaller next time I will like the look a little better. I still feel like these need more decoration. I have considered making windows and doors out of glass, but they would really stick out. I decided to try that and see how it looks.
Windows and doors added to lower panel
I decided to commit to the windows and doors. 🙂
In the mean time, the little trees inspired me to try designing some smaller pieces (larger than ornaments, but about a third of the size of the above pieces) with the Palmetto and Crescent for the South Carolina flag. I often have people ask about pieces with the SC flag (I’ve made large window mosaics as well as stepping stones with it in the past).
Palmetto and Crescent mock up.
I’ll need backer glass that’s about twice this size. I’ll also likely use white and blue glass for the Palmetto and the Crescent, but this is just for brainstorming.
