Project in Progress: Bird Flower Painting

I've been chugging away at my Bird Flower project and I'm finally done with the bird. This picture gives an idea, but there will be more feathery effects in the glass when it's viewed with backlighting. Note that the bird measures about a foot across.


This was the most challenging set of pieces to cut and grind, since there were many irregular and tiny shapes. I had to avoid some of the strangest curves and ruffles in the pattern by revising the lines. Very wavy lines are impractical to cut. They also may add little to the overall pattern. All things considered, I'm very satisfied with how the bird came out. This bird section alone has over 50 pieces; it is nearly as substantial as the Celtic Deer project!

The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett + Project Idea

Book 1: The Warded Man

When I read Peter V. Brett's first published novel, The Warded Man, I found it extremely difficult to put down. The premise of the underlying world was straightforward enough, but the character development, action and story line were exciting and compelling. I stayed up far past my bedtime to finish it.

Book 2: The Desert Spear

The next book in the series, The Desert Spear, will be released on April 13. I used my sci-fi/fantasy geek powers to get my hands on an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy), so I finished the book a couple weeks ago. I'd like to write a full glowing review of it but there are no such reviews online at the moment; I don't want to pre-empt whatever marketing strategy the publisher and author would like to employ as the book ramps up to its release date.

I'll say a little, though. I had very high expectations for this sequel. In the course of reading The Desert Spear, my expectations were met - and surpassed quite thoroughly. I would love to get into specifics. Like the first book, I was glued to the page far past my bedtime until I finished it. In some fantasy series, subsequent novels seem to contain filler material to fluff up the latest installment into a full length book. But none of that here! The Desert Spear has a wonderful pace and that rare "unputdownability" that I love in a good book. Great sequel!

Project Idea: Wanderer

In the very long term, I'd love to make a glass plating project based on this series of books. A combination of a few existing images might be interesting. The landscape would be a cropped version of this valley, illuminated by the setting sun. The structure on the far mountain would be changed to old ruins. The sky would meed to be more colorful, and the dark areas would be dark blues, purples, and greens rather than black.

The rider's profile would be along these lines, placed in the foreground and perhaps to the right. I'm thinking the upper half of the horse and rider would be struck by a ray of sunlight. The horse would also need some kind of metallic barding. Finally, I would need wisps of mist rising from the ground on the plain, perhaps shrouding a murky figure with red eyes. I still haven't designed a project from scratch, let alone done glass plating. At this point, I still have no idea what I'm talking about. I do have a suspicion this would be very hard to make. ;)

Glass Profile: Uroboros glass brand

My projects take long enough that a daily update isn't practical. For that reason, here is another fun tangential topic: Uroboros brand glass.

First, I have to give kudos for their company name. The uroboros is an ancient artistic motif, incorporating a serpent or dragon that circles around to bite its own tail. The motif can represent creation, the cyclical nature of time, or infinity. That's just cool.

According to Wikipedia:

"Plato described a self-eating, circular being as the first living thing in the universe—an immortal, perfectly constructed animal.

'The living being had no need of eyes when there was nothing remaining outside him to be seen; nor of ears when there was nothing to be heard; and there was no surrounding atmosphere to be breathed; nor would there have been any use of organs by the help of which he might receive his food or get rid of what he had already digested, since there was nothing which went from him or came into him: for there was nothing beside him. Of design he was created thus...'"

The uroboros symbol also appears in many modern media, including the Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan.

The second thing going for the Uroboros glass company is that many high-end patterns recommend their glass for the pieces. The glass is particularly good for organic subject matter, which is what I'm most interested in making. Look at these samples of glass for sale on the Uroboros website:

Glass Profile: Silver Staining

A Bit of Art History

Silver staining is what gave rise to the term "stained glass." According to P.E. Michelli:

"Silver stain was fired onto clear glass to produce a translucent yellow - or any colour between murky brown and deep amber. It was discovered around the beginning of the fourteenth century, apparently in France, and was used sparingly at first, and then very creatively to produce local contrasts on coloured glass."

Granted, I'm no art historian. But if you examine older stained glass, you'll see that there are relatively few colors - red, yellow, blue and green. This parallels the paintings and illuminated text of that time. In the Medieval era, the artistic emphasis of stained glass was placed on the painting and staining of relatively simple glass shapes. These were religious icons, made in glass to resemble their painted predecessors as closely as possible.


Silver staining was apparently easier to use than a yellow glass. Also, for the purposes of fine detail, staining gives more flexibility; multiple coatings and firings of the silver stain can enhance the color. In this way, different hues from beige to gold can be achieved on the same piece of glass. Silver staining was also used to turn blue glass into green glass.

Today

Modern silver staining is less common but may still be used for traditional works. There is the occasional contemporary piece, like this close-up of a window by Williams and Byrne.


I would argue that today, while styles of stained glass are much more diverse, there is generally more use of shapes, colors and textures of the glass itself. I don't know that I'd use the silver stain technique. I could simply purchase yellow glass, or plate some yellow glass behind the main layer. Still, it's a fun bit of history!

Project In Progress: Bird Flower Painting

Modifying the Pattern

I got this pattern on the right from the Glass Eye website. I liked it a lot...mostly. It may not have the distribution of glass pieces that most stained glass patterns do, but that comes with the Japanese aesthetic of simple forms in open spaces. Still, the large central piece of glass would have to be ridiculously large. In fact, it would have to be over three feet long, with lots of curves cut into the shape. That just isn't practical.

So, I used the demo software to take out some lines and then to add in new curves suggestive of mountains. This conforms to the classic style and breaks up the glass a bit. My new working pattern is on the left.

I still need to decide whether the background should all be one color or a montage of mountain colors. Right now I'm leaning toward all one color. I think without more pieces or background detail, the final window would just look stripey.

So, let's go with a color that evokes aged parchment rather than a stripey mountain range. I think it will still look nice.


Starting the Project

I've cut the pieces for the flowers and leaves, which encompassed more cutting (and grinding) than all my prior experience combined. My skills are already improved. In particular, the flower pieces were a challenge. Not only were the shapes more irregular, but the stripes of each petal had to orient and curve appropriately.

Here are the pieces of the main flower. Note that I'm done grinding the petal pieces, so the edges of each piece should be about a millimeter away from its neighbors.



Finally, here is a view of the the entire pattern. It's about 4 feet long and 2 feet wide. That's much bigger than my next largest project, the Celtic Deer. In fact, I'll need to put in a support brace to keep the glass from crushing itself with its own weight. That will be a new technique to learn!

Project Complete: Celtic Deer

This deer was my second project ever, and I'm very proud of it. The pattern has a nice balance and interesting lines. (Click to enlarge.)

The most enjoyable aspect of making the Celtic Deer was picking out the glass panes and choosing which areas of the glass to cut out for the individual pieces. I like the dappled effect of the forest background, and the colors and textures of the deer. I also like how I incorporated natural variations in the glass for effects like the dark areas of the deer's nose, ears and legs. The tail starts out with the white plume of a normal deer, but then transitions directly into the knot motif. Also, I cut around a natural whorl in the glass to create the iris of the deer eye.

Moving My Workspace

While taking my class and working on my Celtic Deer project, I worked upstairs in the area my yarn-obsessed wife calls the "Fiber Room." It got fairly crowded, and my wife got fairly grumpy. I didn't have room for any big projects, either.



So I went down to the basement by our central air unit, to a little nook that I'd never really used before. It's an interesting area. It has a work table, some shelves, about 15 power outlets, and a lovely freestanding toilet. I put a rug down so the floor wasn't too cold, but I had more work to do.



I got a neat new table from Ikea. I also took a random extra door standing against the wall and put it on some boxes so it could support the big pattern I'm working on. I didn't do anything with the toilet and I think that's for the best.



I got some bamboo file holders and put my larger glass scraps inside, organized by color. Hopefully, I won't have to buy a whole new piece of glass for some colors in future projects. I'm finding I can be picky with my glass, though, so we'll see.


The table is interesting. It has a large glass surface that rests a few inches above a wooden layer. A funny lamp (also from Ikea) can slide under the working area and illuminate glass panes from below, so I can see exactly how it will look when lit up. This helps to plan my cutting much better. It's also a lot safer than holding a chunk of glass over my face and up to a lightbulb or window. I covered most of the tabletop with a plastic sheet. This gives the traction I need for my cutting board.

This work area should be great, especially with a space heater and a radio thrown in!

Project Complete: Iris

This iris is the simple piece I made in my first stained glass class. I still haven't washed off the numbers, but you get the idea.

I learned all the techniques while making this project - pattern preparation, cutting, grinding, foiling, soldering, and applying the patina. The solder lines are thicker than they could be because I cut the glass too small, and there are other minor issues, but overall I'm happy with it. Still, I don't intend to make anything this simple again. I really like the look of larger, more complex patterns.

Glass Profile: Tiffany @ the Smith Museum

I visited the Smith Museum in Chigaco several years ago. It was a fascinating experience even then, and I would certainly appreciate the museum a lot more now. Fortunately, much of the collection can be viewed online. The museum has a particularly large collection of Tiffany glass. Certain pieces evoke the peaceful contentment that I look for in all art, like this landscape window:


However, many pieces seem over the top, like this, um...transgender rainbow angel?

Project Ideas

I have several ideas for stained glass projects. I would not necessarily make them in this order. Most would be gifts, although eventually I should start selling my projects to recoup some expenses.

1. A large Japanese bird-flower painting - this is my current project
2. A fantasy unicorn of some kind - this would be a gift for my sister
3. The Keeper - A glass plating pattern I purchased recently
4. Tenement Window - Another glass plating pattern I purchased
5. Bamboo - A pattern by Robert Oddy and another journeyman piece for glass plating
6. A Dungeons & Dragons themed panel, using glass plating - this would be a gift for my awesome DM, Josh
7. A large and silly panel to illustrate a running joke between me and my wife - it would incorporate a dragon, a bear and a sheep
   

In the long term, I'd like to get into extensive glass plating. This involves layering two or more panels of stained glass to create effects like shadows, distance fading, borderless shapes, and much more. Glass plating creates a rich visual impression similar to a traditional a painting.

In the Tenement Window pattern, for example, you can see shadow and distance effects:

How it all started.

I like making things with my hands.

Not the self-consciously macho stuff, like custom car engines or potato guns. I mean things like origami, plastic models, wooden ships, pottery and pop-up books. I've always gravitated toward crafts that require precise measurements and small, finely-aligned elements. For a long time, stained glass seemed appealing but out of reach. I was intimidated by the time and money I assumed it would require.

Then two things happened. First, I found myself with some free time. Second, I realized how much my wife spends on her yarn-related hobbies.

So I took beginner class in stained glass, over at Glass Endeavors.

(As an aside, let me say that Glass Endeavors is a great store and studio. The people there are extremely friendly and helpful. They are always ready to offer more advice and tips, even outside of class time.)

The class was $75. Wow, I thought. That's not so bad! Then I happily bought the glass. And then I needed the grozing pliers, and the running pliers, and the cutter, and oil for the cutter, and the cutting surface, and the solder, and foil, soldering iron, patina, wire, hanging rings, zinc came, borders and tacks, glass grinder, padded ruler, and...

Well, my wife has still spent more on yarn. ;)