misc

Shattered Glass Ceiling postcards

Shattered Glass Ceiling postcards are here!

Order below or read on for all of the details before ordering.

My first new project of 2017 is taking me in a slightly different direction. After the United States election result in November 2016, we are seeing a heightened level of civic engagement on every level and from every corner. It occurred to me that the concept of shattered glass and shattered glass ceilings can manifest in a variety of ways as we continue to work at removing all of those last barriers.

Shattered glass ceiling postcard - blue backgroundTo that end, I have decided to make postcards with shattered glass ceiling images that can be used to send notes to elected officials to make our feelings known.

Postcards are standard 4×6 size, with a matte backside for an easy writing surface, and a UV protected gloss coating on the front side image. I am offering four cards, and photos of them are here in this post – blue background, purple background, pink background, and black and white. Due to my own error, the purple cards do NOT have the UV coating on the front in the first printing. The back of all of the cards is a bit more slick than expected, but ball point pen works just fine on them. Gel ink smears even after a fair amount of drying time.

Depending on how these go, I may expand to add a rainbow background, and other single colors.

Shattered glass ceiling postcard - black and whitePlease use the PayPal button below to place an order going to a location in the United States, or visit my Etsy shop to order there. I’ve limited the quantity offerings here but if you would like a different quantity from what is listed, please contact me directly. Please specify in the order what color(s) you would like. Postage/handling is included with the prices by quantity below. Thank you!

Available: pink, blue, purple, black and white, or a combination of your choosing.

 

Pricing below includes postage/handling in the United States
What color(s) for the cards?




If you are outside of the United States and want cards, we can do that case by case so I can get a more accurate postage amount for your location. Thank you!

 

Shattered glass ceiling postcard - purple background pink shattered glass ceiling postcards

 

Stained Glass Home Plate – baseball theme

Baseball is American’s past time, right? Whether you play or are a fan of baseball or softball, this new stained glass home plate project is for you! But there is more to this than just an homage to these sports. Let me tell you the story.

1playballhomeplate-putnamlrEvery summer, I go to ‘Camp’ Camp, a week long summer camp for LGBT adults which takes place in Maine. It’s the base for a community of people which may have originally come together at random, but form strong friendships which are active all year round. One of our Campers, Eden, has been fighting kidney disease for many years. In June 2015, she received a kidney transplant from a living donor, and got a new chance at life.

And then in early January of 2016, health complications arose and have knocked her for a loop ever since. She’s a good friend, and I wanted to find a way to help. Eden is a passionate fan of the Red Sox, so after some thought, I came up with the idea of this home plate project. The plate itself is white, of course, and there’s a border around the piece which can be used to alternate any team’s colors, or be any color combination at all. Over the home plate itself, I can add a variety of words in hand manipulated 20 gauge wire. I’ve done ‘play ball’ on a number of home plates, as well as ‘go mets’, ‘go nats’, ‘go sox’, and more. The possibilities here are quite numerous.

Each plate costs $40 plus shipping. For each home plate sold, I am donating $15 directly to Eden to assist with her medical expenses as she continues her fight against kidney disease. I appreciate the support of everyone who has bought a home plate piece so far, and am keeping open a ‘made to order’ listing on Etsy to facilitate additional orders.

What would you like on your home plate? What team colors are your favorites?

Stained Glass Owls, and Flying Owl Stained Glass Nightlights

It is an ongoing process for me to try and develop my own owl patterns. For one thing, most of the ‘stock’ or free patterns of owls strike me as being either cartoonish or mean looking. Plus, I really want something of my own, something unique to put out there. Given that freehand drawing is not my strong suit (there’s a reason that many of my patterns start as photographs), this would be a challenge. I have spent hours searching for and looking at owl photos of various species to get some ideas, playing around in Photoshop with line drawings. Nothing was quite coming together.

stained glass owls
First owls made, first generation of eyes. trying various things to see what options work best.

And then one day, in a flash from some mysterious muse, I got an idea for a simple but recognizable owl face. I managed to create/draw a pattern in Photoshop for it. It’s not perfectly symmetrical but I actually like that about it. That adds a little bit of a sense of whimsy and uniqueness. I did the pattern in two sizes, a small and large, thinking the smaller size would be good as an ornament, especially. These faces, I made back in December and just realized I had not posted about them yet. The larger owl measure 4.5″ wide by 3.5″ tall. The smaller owl is 3.5″ wide by 2.5″ tall.

I’ve been experimenting with eyes, somewhat, securely gluing various materials and pieces into place because adding eyes *in* glass results in a lot more pieces, seams, and work, where the idea here was to be simple and recognizable. So I am using googly eyes on some, and flat washers with the pupils of googly eyes that I have cut free on others, and some small globs for the smaller owls. I think the washers combination will be the predominant way I will do eyes going forward but I may still use googly eyes when I am in a silly mood or they are requested.

The owl on the left has brass washers for eyes, and the one on the right has zinc washers.
The owl on the left has brass washers for eyes, and the one on the right has zinc washers.

From the creation of this owl face pattern, I recently had an idea to grow it into a unique nightlight pattern. Searches for glass owl nightlights turned up nothing along these lines so I was off and running. The goal was to create wings for the sides of the nightlight, creating the sense of flight. The small owl face from the previous design round was a good size to fit on the base. I modified the center piece of a standard night light backs patterns to allow for a better attachment of the face to the back and keep it securely joined. And then I developed a wing pattern to go on each side. The first two samples I made are a snowy/white owl and a brown owl. I am really pleased at how these turned out! I’ve since made a red and pink one by request and am looking forward to seeing what other color combinations I can try out. The glass on the nightlight is 6.25″ wide by 3.75″ tall (height does not include the night light base. With that, height is 5.75″).

Prices as of this posting (subject to change in the future – current prices will always be listed with photos in the gallery): small owl face, $10. Larger owl face, $15. Flying owl stained glass nightlight is $40. Shipping additional in all cases.

Perhaps more and different owls will also come along someday!

First two flying owl stained glass night lights, for a white/snowy owl and a brown owl.
First two flying owl stained glass night lights, for a white/snowy owl and a brown owl.

Dancing Star Suncatchers/Ornaments

Who doesn’t enjoy colorful, joyful little suncatchers in their window?

I save a lot of the scrap glass that is left over from most stained glass projects. Some pieces are much to small for any additional use and so are discarded (into recycling, not trash). But then there are the bigger bits… Those are ideal for making into these little dancing stars. I keep a small oaktag pattern piece at my cutting table so I can check right on the spot to see if a leftover bit of glass is big enough. And then those pieces of scrap are stashed to be reused for making these dancing stars. The finished suncatchers are about 2″ by 2″, and can be made with any glass, with any (complementary) color center. I’ll be making lots of red stars soon, from scrap leftover from making a big pile of cardinals last December. What other color combinations would you like to see? Most are all one color glass, but I also make rainbow versions. At $10 each, these are terrific gifts, lovely handmade Christmas tree ornaments (I can put ribbons on those for easy hanging), or just a little colorful suncatcher to hang in your window.

I’ve got several small bins getting full with scrap glass so I think I will making a lot of these little dancing stars as I go. They are nice, quick little projects to do in between bigger ones.

Dancing Star ornaments and suncatchers

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting my stained glass website. I’ll use this page to post about works in progress, new pieces, things like that. Please make sure to visit the gallery page to see an array of pieces I have made since the fall of 2005. And let me know if there is a piece you would like for yourself!

Currently, I am working on a couple of different patterns for hummingbirds, and also ornament size cardinals/red birds. I had a request for the latter during the past holiday season but just did not have time to do it then. Now, I am already trying to be ready for the next holiday season!

More will be coming soon! Please check back.