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!