butterfly

Stained glass nightlights with butterfly, dragonfly, breaching whale, peace sign

Posted by Amy

My goodness this is starting off as a very creative and productive year. I think I am up to about 7 or 8 new patterns in just this first quarter! In today’s news, I’m talking about nightlights. I never really anticipated that nightlights would become such a significant part of my catalog, but here we are. I am delighted to offer 5 new designs.

The details.

There are now two butterfly nightlights. One is just a butterfly alone, simple and pretty and wonderfully illuminating. It measures 4″ across and 3 1/4″ long. Cost is $25 each. I also wanted to try something a little fuller, so tweaked some nightlight backdrop panels to invoke grass or leaves, and put one of my ‘regular’ size butterfly ornaments on top of the backdrop. It is around 5 1/4″ wide  and 3 3/4″ long. Since I was trying this backdrop with a small butterfly, I tried it also with my dragonfly ornament. Measurements are the same. Both of these are $35 each. Colors can vary in all respects.

bluebutterflylight pinkbutterflylight
whitebutterflylight yellowbutterflylight
yellowdragonflylight bluedragonflylight

The breaching whale light uses the same base as the whale tail nightlight I started making a couple of years ago. The back panels are split into two pieces each, to imply water and sky. I have a beautiful blue/green glass for the water which to me nicely mimics the waters of New England where I’ve been fortunate enough to see humpback and minke whales breach (it’s amazing). The nightlight has a humpback. The sky panels can be a variety of different glasses to get that effect; so far I’ve used a blue/white/purple, and a lighter blue/green, all ‘swirly’ to be a little more dramatic. The whale itself is white in the flippers and blue in the body. Measures 5 1/4″ wide by 3 1/2″ long. Price is $35 each, for both the breaching whale and whale tail nightlights. Am including photos of both for reference. The whale tail light here has a more transparent back panel than I usually tend to use, but you will be able to see some contrast and possibilities.

breachingwhalelight whaletaillight

Finally, there is the peace sign nightlight. This has been requested by a few people, and my challenge has been to make sure I have enough solder seams on which I can securely attach the nightlight clip which holds the base. I wound up doing a ring around the peace sign, keeping the sign itself simple by continuing to use the seams to make the symbol. The ring allows for a wide array of color options. The center can also be any color, really. The peace sign nightlight measures 3 1/2″ across, so it is nice and small and can fit just about anywhere. Price is $30 each. Postage is additional on all stained glass.

rainbowpeacelight bluewhitepeacelight
purplegreenpeace

Personally, I don’t like to see a nightlight bulb through the glass, so I try to find nice colorful glass which is translucent enough to glow but not so transparent as to show the bulb, or at least not show it much. I apply this translucency goal to all nightlights I make. For the peace sign, because the bulb sits entirely behind the sign itself, more transparent glass can be used around the outside, with just the provision that the clip can be seen through the bottom piece.

Note – the measurements here are all glass only. The base adds another couple of inches to each piece.

In these chaotic days out there in the world, wouldn’t you like a new little bit of light in your life? Contact me to place an order, or ask any questions. Thanks so much!

Stained Glass Butterfly Ornaments

Posted by Amy

Lots of new little butterflies awaiting construction.Up here in the northeast region of the United States, it’s been a particularly long and brutal winter. Cold has been ceaselessly relentless, and the snow depth has reached record levels in some places. After a while, cabin fever and dreams of spring become completely dominating. This year, that meant I started thinking about new, bright pieces to bring back some color. My thoughts turned to the butterfly, and I decided to make up patterns and pieces for stained glass butterfly ornaments.

I am doing a brand new event on March 21, Zing into Spring event in New London NH, created by Kearsarge Magazine, so I have been working on making some glass for that day (in addition to many glass hearts!). I started thinking about butterflies which could be a little smaller, both in terms of piece size and to have a less expensive take away item. I started fiddling around with drawing butterfly wings in photoshop, consulting the almighty Google image search to look at actual butterfly wings for comparison and inspiration. After a little trial and error, new lines and lots of erasing, I landed on a pattern.

Red/orange/yellow butterfly cut and foiled, about to be soldered together.Because I don’t do any new pattern simply, as usual it was not enough to make just one or two to start. I went through my scrap glass collection (as well as a little of the regular glass stock) and wound up with 18 new little butterflies.

The end result is a lovely stained glass butterfly ornament for any window, or even on a Christmas tree at that time of year. It measures 3.25″ across and 2.75″ high. A hanging hook is securely attached so that the butterfly hangs on an angle. They are made with the copper foil method, and the seams are finished with black patina. The color combinations are practically limitless and I think this is going to be a fun piece to make. I am offering them for $10 each, plus postage where applicable (ie not at a show). I’ve posted a gallery of the first butterfly ornaments to show some of the potential ranges. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or special color requests. After the Zing into Spring event, I expect I will be putting some of these up on Etsy as well.

And if you are free on March 21 and able to get to New London NH, please stop by Zing into Spring. There is a lot of great stuff in store with vendors, classes, demonstrations, and more!

purplewispy wispypink yellow-redamber