snowmen – Sherry Glaab

Flock of Triangles

The resin cured overnight on the ornaments I made yesterday, so I cleaned them and my work area up and started on some…more….ORNAMENTS!

The large snowmen are around 6″ (not including hanger), the medium snowmen are around 3.5″ and the smaller ones are around 3″. The dichro-cicles range from around 4.5″-2″. I have some additional backer glass ready for more ornaments, but I haven’t made many “parts” for the scenes, so I decided to make a stockpile of cardinals to use.

First I cut out the triangles, then grind the edges to smooth & shape them. Then I dry them off and paint the black patch on each bird’s face. Once that dries, I paint the orange beak on top. After that layer dries, I can flip them over and start again with the black and orange layers. I like the simplicity of these little red birds.

Ornaments

I needed to make some more projects before mixing the next batch of resin (don’t want to waste the resin), so I spent today cutting out parts for snowmen and cardinals and prepping them for the resin.

Cutting / grinding / laying out the glass

After I lay out all the parts, I decorate the snowmen with nail polish for their faces and coal buttons (I did this previously for the cardinals I’m using). Once the glue dries, they can be coated with resin and decorated. Sometimes I use glass for the noses on the snowmen when they are larger, but these are smaller ornaments.

Once the decorations dry, I can glue the glass pieces to the clear backer glass. After they dry overnight, they should be ready for the resin coating.

Snow and Rainbows

Continuing to try and make some new things for the small, outdoor, masks required pop-up craft fair I signed up to do at 3 Matadors for December 5th.

First I needed some more snowballs for snowmen, as I used up all the ones I had on hand. Back to the old grinder so to speak. 🙂

Making snowballs – rough cut then grind down to round

Getting the “big” snowman ready for resin

Laying out all of my small projects to work on today

Before I start mixing my resin, I lay out all of my projects and needed supplies. Today was the second layer of resin on the holly suncatcher and all five coasters, though one will be a new coaster design and the other four will be sandollars in the sand. I like to elevate the larger projects like the snowman panel so I can reach any drips that happen. I sometimes tape the underside edge, but forgot this today.

After resin and decorating – ready to cure!

I’m trying out some new colors of mica for the rainbow projects. I think they will be really pretty!

Close up of the rainbows / snowman suncatchers and coaster

Now everything just needs to sit overnight to cure.

Multitasking

Yesterday the friends who will be the recipients of the big Frank Lloyd Wright window came over and we decided to do another layer of resin. I decided that I really needed to move it to the garage for the final layer so I could access all sides of the window, despite the space being more prone to dust / humidity. Luckily it is an unseasonably warm day and the temperature in the garage was 75, which is perfect for my resin (Envirotex Lite).

This took a bit of planning as I had to mix up a lot more resin than usual and keep my family out of the garage (next to impossible today for some reason). However, after pouring, spreading and using my heat gun to clear the resin, everything looks good so far. Hopefully we can move it into the mud room later in the evening so the temperature remains a bit more consistent while it continues to cure overnight. In the meantime, I had a few smaller projects in the works I wanted to continue / start. Unfortunately this included repairs on a holly suncatcher I made yesterday. I had covered it with some wax paper to keep dust out while it cured and the paper made contact with the resin and made a giant mess. I had to carve some lumps off of the suncatcher today when it was cured enough, reinsert it into the mold and sort of “top it off” with another layer of resin. We’ll see how good it looks tomorrow (hopefully). I don’t think it will look as good as it would have had it not needed the repair, but I can likely keep it to use at home.

After chipping off the bumps and reinserting in the mold, prior to repair layer of resin

So all in all, I poured a second layer on three beachy coasters, first layer on two more beachy coasters, repair layer on the holly suncatcher / ornament and the first layers on three snowman ornaments.

Charleston Snowmen

Today I poured the second layer of resin on several small projects and then spent some time making several small snowmen. I am experimenting with some abstract red and green coasters too, though my son says his favorite is the holly leaf suncatcher. My current favorites are the little snowmen. This is as close as you can get to making snowmen here in Charleston, SC. It’s 80 degrees outside and it’s well into November!

To make the “snowballs” for their bodies, I use glass nippers to rough out a generally round shape, then I use my glass grinder to smooth the edges. My fingers are pretty sore after making so many snowmen in one day! After the “snowballs” are ready, I paint on their faces (on the tiny ones). I use glass for the detail on the faces of the larger snowmen. Since these tiny ones are destined to be in two sided ornaments, I painted both sides of their faces / buttons and the little birds that will perch on their stick arms.

I also cut some backer glass and glued the pieces of this “big” snowman in place. I will pour the resin and decorate it another day, after the mosaic adhesive has had a chance to fully cure. This piece will be table top sized as it’s slightly smaller than a standard sheet of paper.

Yesterday’s ornaments!

I finished these yesterday and they cured overnight – here’s how they turned out!

Still prepping

In preparation for this week’s Charleston Holiday Market, I’m really pushing the limits on how many individual items I can pour and decorate at the same time. If it goes well, at least I will have all year to prepare for the next one! I finished shaping the stained glass items for this batch of ornaments and was able to pour / decorate the resin this evening.

Many thanks to my husband for taking care of dinner while I tended these – I really need a solid two hours after pouring the resin to work with them, which can be hard to find between my regular work and carting my teenagers around to their various obligations. I had a few issues during the pouring (pouring too much resin, a couple of the ornament hooks came loose, etc). I think they will turn out OK, though. I’m pretty sure I will be spending a chunk of time tomorrow cleaning up cured resin drips from the back sides of these ornaments, though.

I used some different glass for the holly ornaments I made today (on the left). The glass on the right is the sparkly green I love for so many different projects. I’ve made several tree / wreath ornaments with it. It’s really great for hummingbirds, too!

I decided to try some beach themed ornaments.

I went out of my usual habit and made some new designs for beach themed ornaments – the heart is made of resin and sand that I molded a few months ago. They both have recycled clear glass bases (the squares), sand, and blue shell chips for the water effect. Great for anyone who loves the beach!

Prepping for the Charleston Holiday Market

I’ve had a lot going on the past couple of weeks and I haven’t been able to make as many new small items as I expected for the Charleston Holiday Market that is starting on Friday. It’s a pretty big event, much larger than any I’ve ever done before, so it should be a learning experience! If you click on the link, you can get advance tickets for $2 off, or a coupon for $1 off admission. I was able to finally pour the resin on several new ornaments as well as the second layer of resin on a few resin ornaments and a coaster today, though.

I was able to cut, grind and glue these yesterday.

I use stained glass for the leaves, berries and snowman and clear glass that is recycled from old windows to make these festive ornaments. I cut the glass for these ornaments and glued it down yesterday, so today it was time for the resin layer. After mixing, I pour a blob of resin on each ornament. A little goes a long way, and too much makes for more difficulty with drips, so it’s better to use too little and then add more later. I went a bit overboard with a few of these and had to wipe away a lot of drips. That also causes some of the resin to form on the underside in such a way that I have to scrape it off with a razor blade later, which is tedious and a little dangerous if you’re clumsy like I am.

After mixing, I pour some resin blobs on each ornament.

I used a sponge on a stick to spread the resin around so it covers all of the top surface of the ornaments. The resin will settle itself down and look smooth once it cures, so I don’t worry about the streaks left by the sponge. I do have to use a heat gun a few times during this stage to remove bubbles. They are worse in the deep molds for the beach themed resin ornaments and coasters than the thin layer on the stained / recycled glass ornaments, though.

Resin spread all over the tops of the ornaments.

Done decorating and now just waiting for them to cure.

After the resin is spread, I place the glass blobs, chunks and chips I like to use for decoration in the resin. I also poured a little leftover resin into three new coaster molds that I decorated for the first layer of some more coasters.

Some finished ornaments

This post is just photos of the glass ornaments I’ve finished over the past few weeks. Enjoy! I will have these at the N. Charleston Farmers Market this Thursday (Halloween!) and at the Charleston Holiday Market at the N. Charleston Convention Center November 8-10.

Little birds with green mica and a small Holly leaf.

More (adorable) ornaments

I’m on a roll with the ornaments. Yesterday I spent all day cutting and gluing these together and had every intention of pouring the resin, as well, but I got the idea to make tiny wreath ornaments and all the tiny pieces took an extremely long time to cut and place, so I gave up and poured the resin today.

Wreaths glued in place (though I did keep tinkering after this photo was taken).

I really like these tiny ornaments, I think they are between 1-2″ (have not measured yet). I am using mica chips for the first time under the little cardinals. Can’t wait to see how they turn out!

Here is everything from yesterday and today, poured and ready to cure.

I used 200 ccs of resin for this batch, which was enough to add one extra coaster to the day’s work. I might have had just enough for the first half of one more coaster, but I wasn’t confident in the amount and didn’t try for two. I will have to pour another layer of resin on both the circle and heart shaped ornaments as well as the coaster.

The wreaths took a long time, but they are cute!

I’m trying out some variations on my past designs for these resin ornaments.

Two more cute winter trees, resin poured and ready to cure.

I decided to try adding all the layers to this coaster in the first half, though there was a time lag between the heavy shells / shark teeth, then the sand and lastly the water layer of blue shell chips, which were last and the resin was pretty thick by then.