stained – Sherry Glaab

Adding details

Yesterday I was able to spend a little time adding some trees to the Rainbow Row panels. I haven’t glued any of the trees down yet, but I did glue the houses in place. I still want to add some doors and windows to the houses before I glue the trees in place. I think the trees will really add a lot to the panels!

Rainbow Row

Today I started a project I’ve been thinking about doing for awhile. I started with a photograph of Rainbow Row, which is a notable row of colorful homes in downtown Charleston, SC. Yesterday I cut out the clear backer glass for these panels, so today I started planning the houses themselves. I cut rectangles out of construction paper to help me determine the sizes of the glass I would need in each color.

Yesterday I set aside some glass that I thought would work well for the various colors of the houses. I don’t seem to have quite enough room to fit all of them on my rectangle bases, so I left the last two houses off for now.

Glass rectangles / roofs laid out on the clear backer glass.

Now I have to think about how much detail to add to the fronts of the houses. I’m not sure if I will paint the windows / doors / roofs or if I will leave them as is. I do plan on adding some trees, however. I’m not very good at painting, so that also factors into my decision. I might try it on the smaller panel and see how it goes.

3D Tree candle holders – reveal

I finished all three tree candle holders today – here are snapshots of the finished products. Overall, I like the tree that’s standalone (not on a rectangular base) the best. I had a hard time keeping the resin tidy looking on the rectangular glass pieces with multiple stages of pouring.

3D trees – final step

Today I was able to complete what I think is the last step in the 3D tree experiment. For the standalone tree, that was to add and decorate a base. For the two rectangular trees, it was to decorate the unfinished half. I also was able to pop the memory beads and kitty shaped mementos I made with our cat Neo’s ashes out of their molds.

The rectangular trees had quite a bit of drips on the unfinished edge, despite my efforts to prevent them. I was able to remove them with a razor blade.

Once I cleaned up the edges a bit, I laid them out on the work surface, ready to coat with a thin covering of resin.

Once the resin was in place, I sprinkled the glass chips / chunks onto it.

Next I turned my attention to the standalone tree, which needed a base of resin poured and decorated.

Resin poured and glass chunk “snow” in place inside the mold

Tomorrow we’ll see how they look! I think if I do more of these I will use colored glass for the backer that matches the tree glass instead of the clear, at least behind the tree itself. It’s hard to cover all of the possible gaps between the branches otherwise. So far I like the look of the standalone tree best, but it also has sharper edges.

Crossing fingers – 3D pour

I spent the past few days mulling over how best to pour the resin on these projects, and came to the conclusion that it would have to be in stages. Today is the first stage, which is an experiment. My plan is to coat the trees with a thin coat of resin and possibly decorate one side of each of the rectangular trees. The second stage will be (for the rectangular trees) to pour another coat on just the undecorated side and decorate. The second stage for the stand alone tree will be to pour and decorate the base that will serve as the candle stand as well as provide stability.

Projects are laid out on a silicone baking mat.

It’s cold out today and my work area is only 60 degrees F. My resin likes it to be a minimum of 70 degrees, so I used my heat gun to warm each part of the 2 part resin prior to mixing it.

I ended up elevating this one higher off the mat on top of a couple of silicone measuring containers to help me manage the drips on the edges.

After the initial coat of resin, I repositioned these two in order to decorate one side.

I continued trying to touch up bare spots and wipe off drips with my sponge on a stick. I repositioned these two and sprinkled the glass chips / chunks I am using to decorate the background and base of the tree. Above you can see the glass chips in place on the left hand piece.

Finished with one side for each rectangular tree.

I had enough resin left over to make some memory beads for our beloved cat, Neo, who passed away in November. I’m also trying some cat shaped mementos with his ashes.

In addition to scraping the drips, I periodically blew all of the above pieces with my heat gun to remove bubbles and also to warm the resin, as my working area is only 60 degrees F today!

A bit more progress

I’ve been adding a few branches / details each day to these 3D tree projects. I can only do a little at a time because the branches shift if I do more than one side at a time (3D). So one thing I am learning is that 3D is slow and you have to be patient. I’m also sort of worried that I’m adding too much – I’ll think I’m done, then I decide to add just one more branch, then I look at it some more and do the same again! Over yesterday and today I also added a glass triangle base to the two rectangular trees and planned a resin base for the triangle tree. I am planning on coating these with resin and decorating the resin with glass chips, but I’ve not quite sorted out the best order to do it in yet. Because they are 3D, I think I will need to coat the trees in stages and then pour the base last. We’ll see how it goes.

Working on 3D

It’s been a few hectic weeks here, but today I finally got the chance to work on these 3D tree experiments again. I’m trying two different approaches, one is a tree made with two clear glass triangles as the base, the other two will be rectangular. I think they would be good with a tealight candle behind them if they come out as I hope they will.

Two rectangular trees ready to go – held together temporarily with duct tape.

This is mainly an exercise in patience, as I have to glue individual branches in place and make sure they don’t drift while they are drying.

Triangular tree – I used silicone caulk to hold the two base pieces together.

I set the base up for adding layers of branches.

Turned over for the second side of the tree.

Adding layers of branches to each project, alternating to let the glue set.

First layer, second side of triangle tree.

Back to the fun stuff!

In the rush to prep for holiday sales, I got into “production” mode. Now I’m easing back into “creative” mode and revisiting some experiments I’ve been thinking about trying for a while. A few months ago, I was toying with the idea of making some small 3D trees that could be set in front of a candle. I cut some triangles from some of my old window glass and adhered them together, but didn’t feel like they were heading in the direction for success, so I set them aside. Today I decided to revisit that idea and also an idea of a two sided right angle tree on rectangles of recycled window glass. First, I cut the rectangles for the base / backer glass to about the same size.

Rectangles cut from recycled window glass.

I let the glass dictate the size of the project, so all of these items will be slightly different sizes. After cutting, I ground the edges of the glass so it won’t be sharp.

After I ground and dried the glass, I laid the pieces side by side to make sure they matched, as these will eventually be connected at a right angle for stability, and to make a space for a candle.

Making sure my pair of rectangles match.

Next I took some green glass that I cut into branch-y shapes and started laying it out on the two rectangles. I made two sets of these.

After I was satisfied with the layout of the first layer, I glued the pieces to the recycled backer glass with Mac glue. I apply the glue on the backs of the pieces with a small paint brush. The Mac glue can be watered down and still hold well.

There is a lot of glass dust on the glass pieces, so I will definitely need to clean them before I apply the resin layers later on in the process. While the glue dried on the first trees, I grabbed my mock up triangle tree and set it on a foam base so one side would be level / flat.

Another view so you can see the angle of the two triangles.

Next I started experimenting with layouts for the branches for the first side of the tree. I haven’t glued any of these down yet, though. I will wait for another day to do that step.

Branches laid out on one half of the triangle.

I’m not sure how it will go pouring the resin on this because I already connected the two triangles, but this is an experiment, so I will figure it out as I go. For the rectangles, I will try pouring each half, then adding the final layer of branches to cover the seam between the two pieces of recycled base / backer glass. That will likely require two layers of resin, as well.

Charleston Holiday Market!

I had a busy first day at the Charleston Holiday Market today (you can get a coupon for a dollar off admission if you visit their website). I will be there from 10am to 6pm tomorrow (Saturday) and 11am to 5pm on Sunday. I don’t think I will have a single coaster left by this time Sunday. My Beach Window went to a loving home, and several ornaments did, as well. Since this is my first time participating in such a large show, it is a great learning experience!

The best part is that I will have a whole year to prepare for next time; I will know what items resonate with people most and be able to work on similar projects. The date for this creeped up on my quickly because I signed up late in the game, but I will have plenty of time to prepare for next year. Since all of my projects (coasters, ornaments) take at a minimum 2 days to make (windows much longer), I can’t quickly make more. That is part of what makes them special, though! I still have some coasters, plenty of ornaments (both glass and resin) and several window mosaics for the rest of the weekend, though. Come on out to the Convention Center and visit – it’s a great time! Another bonus is that my booth is right next to Mountain Mist – I love their products (especially anything in Orange Blossom scent). My family thinks I will spend all of my earnings in their booth, though.

If I sell out of anything you really like, I can make more – just send me a message. My items are all one of a kind, but I can make something pretty close to what I made before (especially in glass – the coasters are more difficult to reproduce).

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.