Glass – Page 3 – Sherry Glaab

Holiday Market!

I will have a booth at the Holiday Market at the North Charleston Convention Center. This event was cancelled last year due to COVID-19. The hours are:
November 19, 2021 – Fri. (10am – 8pm)
November 20, 2021 – Sat. (10am – 6pm)
November 21, 2021 – Sun. (11am – 5pm)

I haven’t seen the admission price for this year on the event website yet, but in the past, tickets were around $5 for access to all three days of the event, and you can usually get a coupon for a discount at the above link a couple of weeks before the event. The new parking garage should make getting in and out a breeze!

I will have hand made items from suncatchers and ornaments up to large mosaic windows, and a special $400 “Seasons” gift set that includes a display stand. Get all of your holiday shopping done before Thanksgiving and be able to really relax for the holidays! Check out some of the items that I will have in my booth at this link. There will even be some hand made pendants / necklaces. I hope to see you there!

Pendants, made by a friend of mine in a similar fashion as my glass pieces.

Pouring resin

Yesterday I poured / decorated the resin for the winter scene and snowman, as well as added a second resin layer to four molded ornaments. Hopefully I will be able to get finished pictures of them this evening!

Winter Scene

I’m still busier than usual at work, so my weekends are my best time for crafting. Today I finished cutting out and gluing the glass for a little winter scene and a small snowman panel (not pictured), as well as laid out the “beach” for some starfish and sand dollar ornaments.

Laying out the pieces / gluing in place.

Everything glued – waiting for the glue to dry.

Gluing the sand for the “beach” on some ornaments.

Of course, I had to cut the backer glass and sand the edges for all of these before decorating could begin. Hopefully the sand will stick well and I won’t have to add another layer before I can pour the resin, but I have a feeling I’ll need a bit more sand once the glue cures. I plan to make these into mini starfish & sand dollar ornaments / suncatchers.

Trees & Birds

I’ve been busier than usual at work, but was finally able to circle back to these ornaments to pour the resin. For these molds, I first pour a thin layer of resin and then use the heat gun to reduce the amount of bubbles. I also run a craft stick around the edge of the mold for the same reason.

I also had these ornaments assembled and elevated on silicone ready for the resin coating.

I try to cover the glass in the foreground completely, then use a sponge on a stick to spread the resin to any areas that aren’t yet coated.

Spreading the resin

Once the resin is spread, I also use the heat gun on these to remove bubbles.

Decorations set into the first layer of resin

Once the resin in the molds is starting to thicken, I place the glass pieces and then the sparkly mica chips used for the snow / sky / leaves.

For this type of ornament, I sprinkle glass chips into the resin in the clear background areas for sparkle, then I spend about an hour scraping drips off the backs of the backer glass. I can clean up any leftover drips with a razor blade once the resin has cured, but this helps reduce the cleanup. On larger pieces I like to use masking tape on the back, but I don’t always remember to apply it in time. Now just to wait until the resin cures!

Birds and Trees

Today I laid out some designs and glued them in place. These will have a lot more detail once the resin is poured and decorated. I like to use “glass chunk snow” under the trees and glass chips / mica accents for sparkle.

Glued in place and propped up for drying

Dichro-cicles

So I made an attempt at creating some icicle ornaments using dichroic glass and coating them with resin the other day. Well let’s just say that my initial attempt at horizontal curing isn’t ideal and results in a lot of lumpy cleanup in the best case and disappointing results in the worst case. So I rigged up a mini clothesline of sorts to use to hold the next batch while they cure. I’m sure it will need adjustments as well, but it’s an improvement in the making!

Icicle hanging arrangement made with twine and florist wire hooks

Of course, before I can coat the glass in the resin, I have to cut the glass, grind the edges and glue the metal holder on the top that will be used to hang the icicle. Once I’ve done all of that, they are ready to coat.

I thought I might be able to do a coat of resin today, but realized that I need more projects ready in case I have extra resin. So instead I cut and ground the edges of the recycled window glass I use to make smaller ornaments with scenes, birds, leaves, snowmen, etc on them.

Corner Sun

My sister talked me out of adding the glass around the edge of the corner sun mosaic window, so I decided to pour the resin and add the blue shell background today. I prepared about 10ml of resin, which ended up being about 2-4ml too much. I poured the resin a bit too thick at the top of the window, so hopefully it won’t migrate too much while it is curing.

I also decided to experiment with some dichroic glass ornaments. I need to figure out a way to let the resin cure nicely on these, which is a challenge for me because they are small. I might need to find a way to let them cure vertically (hanging) instead of horizontally.

Dichroic glass “icicles” coated with resin

Sun in a Window

I like making sun mosaics. This one is peeking through from the top corner of a recycled window. I am planning to use the blue shell mica chips for the background, but might add some blue stained glass around the top and far left edges for definition.

Recycled window, approximately 13″ x 30″.

Background sky glass added around the top/left edges.

I cut the “sky” glass for the top and left edges around the sun, but am still deciding if I like it. The glass is beautiful, but I feel like the stripes might be too strong. Overall I like it so far, but I haven’t glued the pieces in place just in case.

8 Seasons done!

Wrapped up my “8 Seasons” set project today. I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. Eight panels (each approximately 6″ square). Two for each season (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter). These will be sold with the display stand as a set for $400.

Resin poured!

Today I was able to pour the resin on the Sunflower, Spring Flowers (Delphinium / Grape Hyacinth inspired), Acorns and Snowman panels. I forgot to use the masking tape on the undersides, so there was a lot of tending to the drips to take care of for these. Looking forward to seeing how the turn out in the next day or two!