Crafting On Thursday- DJC's commission

I was commissioned by a man at work, who has become a good friend (well his name is Dave). It was a hoot being handed inspiration and handed enthusiasm from a friend.

1. Design: He gave me a name and when I imagined the "O" being a rose the design came into being...




2. Photocopy and cut with the copper foil pattern scissors:



3. Glue those pieces to glass, cut the glass as close as I can, then use the grinder:



4. Place the pieces on a copy of the design:



5. Consider RED:



6. cut and grind, cut and grind:



7. Consider the center of the Rose:



8. wrap each piece in copper foil:



9. Pin the bugger down while the soldering iron heats up (oops no photo)

10. make it whole:



11. REPEAT! The man wanted two and of course I couldn't do it the same. Differences include: the R, S, and E are all the same red glass. The center of the O is an opalescent pink. The reds in the O were placed in groups of two.

Crafting on Thursday- North Penn Select Craft Show, where you know your Neighbors

one of the 3 mosaics in the booth, which I made.

It is nice to know who your neighbors are, especially when they are friendly and talented.

Tomorrow for the third straight Friday, I will leave work and head to set up our booth without Mosaic Woman. It just has made sense for me to go by myself. I will get the walls set up and the lighting hooked up, then we give ourselves an hour and a half the next morning to get our craft hung.

Their are many cool things about the North Penn Show: a great crowd, great organizers, great volunteers many of whom are the students it benefits, the great location by Lansdale, and friendly neighbors.

There are several that have been in our neighborhood since we started the show.

To our left: Ed Youtz and his wood turnings
Directly across: Bill Yoder and his wooden pens and pencils
On his sides: Cynthia Underhill and her photographs
and Ray Briscoe and his whimsical carvings

This consistency does not happen elsewhere and while the show is never exactly the same (a few years ago someone else had our booth 98 location).

If you get lost, and find yourself close to the food, just stop by Paul Grecian's booth of amazing photos and ask him to direct you to our neck of the woods. I have asked him to get me oriented on more than one occasion.

Here is my eating out in Lansdale guide.

see you there.


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Crafting On Thursday- Got Glass?

Having made 20+ pieces since the end of the Holiday Craft Show frenzy, I got organized on the quilt my grandma made us back in 1991. We got four shows in five weeks and it all starts tomorrow when I leave work with a Dave to get set up at Owen J Roberts High School. Mosaic Woman will be at home getting her mosaics organized and will surely join me for the show on Saturday and Sunday from 10-4. See what she had to say about the show here.

Hope to see you at a show.

Crafting On Thursday- Rising with Sophia

at etsy

which comes first:

falling into an emotional funk or staying out of the studio?

I have felt riled up this week, letting things annoy me. Students, colleagues, friends, administrators, forms, stained glass artists who sell their pieces for dirt cheap, drivers, ...

I went 130 hours away from my studio, since Saturday when I cut and then ground 21 pieces to fill in a favored design.

For the last 90 minutes of commuting I have listened to one song over and over. A Canadian, singing a song written by a Canadian.

And a phrase resonates with my bitterness: it's a cold and broken hallelujah


and I think of Sophia. In the book of Wisdom, Sophia is given 21 attributes, one of which describes great swiftness. When I first read this I imagined the human need for God to flow into us as Wisdom before we say things we wish we hadn't said. And as I imagined myself a bit cold and a bit broken this week, I thought of my need for some Wisdom.

Today went better at work, so I returned to the studio to foil those 21 pieces. And what design has been waiting for me patiently, it would be my Sophia Mandala. The most recent to be completed welcomed you when you entered this blog post. The new one that is taking form is very verdant.

and it helped to read these words by Rumi at this blog.

There is a light seed grain inside.
You fill it with yourself, or it dies....
I'm caught in this curling energy. Your hair.
Whoever's calm and sensible is insane.

and it helped to ask this friend to pray for me.

...

Crafting On Thursday- A Snow Day with Herbie Hancock (b): The Herbie Hancock Trio

The other day I blogged about listening to Herbie Hancock while spending time in my studio. I wish I could say that I entered my studio planning to not make a mosaic, but that was my plan. I wish I could say that I planned to get 30 pieces of my doodling with glass design pattern out of the Youghiogheny glass scraps sitting on my sitting board and that I would plan to get 15 warm and 15 cool color pieces. And that I would plan to make three pieces 7-3 on the warm side, 7-3 on the cool side, and a 50/50 blend. But I didn't, it all stumbled into being as I listened to Herbie Hancock.

As Village Life played I glued what ended up being 30 pieces of paper onto the glass and began to grind out the pieces, which I finished grinding as I listened to Maiden Voyage. As Maiden Voyage closed out I realized the warm to cool possibilities and divided the glass into three sets of ten.

I grabbed the warm blend as Gershwin's World started and began to foil. I played with the pieces and soldered as the CD played on and created the piece that greeted you up above.

The sun was down, dinner gone, a snow day coming to an end, when I grabbed the cool 10 and put The Imagine Project on the stereo... again I foiled, played, and soldered:


I went to bed and awoke to a day of teaching. I entered my classroom, got a pot of tea brewing and listened to River: the joni letters (blogged about here). I threw the CD in my bag at the end of the day and the next morning, with no snow to shovel and no school to teach I entered my studio and listened to Herbie Hancock's amazing tribute to Joni Mitchell:

Oh, yes! The Herbie Hancock Trio:

Crafting On Thursday--- using Youghiogheny Glass

Last week I blogged about my trip to the Youghiogheny glass factory in western Pennsylvania. At that time I showed what looked liked a sea of sea glass but which in reality was broken bits of glass thrown out into the elements (including shoes and tires) outside of the factory. At that time I promised to show how I have used some of that glass. The cool thing about the glass is the variation within one sheet. So when I decided to do a doodling with glass (no design, just cut pieces then make something up) with one type, I got this --->

Wayne Stratz doodles with glass

Much simpler were two patchwork designs that I made and sold (the one above has sold too!) using a variety of Youghiogheny glass --->

Wayne Stratz a patchwork of youghiogheny glass

My two highly favored mandala designs both have a large place where I love to highlight a piece of fancy glass:

a close up of a Dr. Ed Mandala I just finished --->

a Dr Ed mandala by Wayne Stratz, with blue youghiogheny glass

My Sophia Mandala ---->

A Sophia Spiral Mandala by Wayne Stratz

Yesterday my wordless Wednesday featured one sheet of Youghiogheny glass. Since I took that photo, I have cut out 8 pieces which are now sitting paptiently in a work in progress. So look at that sheet, then you can imagine a bit of what this will look like when it is finished and lifted into the light.

Crafting On Thursday--- The Discerning Glass Speaketh

I came across this glass while in the process of searching for blue glass to use in my first Peace Mandala:

Peace Mandala in stained glass by Wayne Stratz

The glass is sitting on my lightbox in the midst of my darkened studio. For the most part it is glass that is not at all receptive to the passage of light. But it is glass that does not need the passage of light to catch one's eye. So I piled it up and moved on with the Peace mandala. Then I cut out and ground 42 pieces and played with them:




With more background space than I wanted, I consulted with Mosaic Woman and chose a light green glass to make a final trip around the expanding doodle of glass, which led to this:

Doodling with glass mosaic mandala by Wayne Stratz

I do believe it is a good thing that I am beginning to hear the glass.

Crafting on Thursdays--- a growing collaboration

Today I drove to Ambler where I met a man who proved to be a happy client. No photo of that collaboration, because his wife will open it on Christmas Day. I designed the lettering then cut out 42 pieces of glass to spell out what the client wrote down on a slip of paper. Mosaic Woman took those pieces and creates a mosaic. This is the collaboration that produced a JOY, HOPE, JAZZ, GARDEN, and House Numbers.



The photo above is an example of one style of picture frame made by Mosaic Woman. A couple of years ago one was bought at a craft show. Several weeks ago the client e-mailed us to ask for 25 frames. At that point we were in the midst of Holiday craft show delirium, but as I did with the above mentioned project, I encouraged her to take on the commission. I said I would help, and help I did. I painted the wooden frames. I was given several types of glass of one color (she did red, green, blue, and earth tone frames) and I nipped and nipped and nipped to produce tiny pieces. Then I cut out 4x6 pieces of clear glass for each frame and helped to put them all together.

We did it while creating new projects to take to shows. The shows are made so much easier because we are in this together. When the show ends we both have our jobs to do to get the booth torn down into the pieces that will fill the Fit. We do this slowly and mindfully. And so far peacefully.

We are in this together. We are Nutmeg Designs and we break glass.

Crafting on Thursdays--- friends invite us into new frontiers

After venturing into outside shows this summer and into September, we are taking October off from setting up booths because as soon as November hits we are off and running (show schedule).

With Mosaic Woman being laid off, I wondered how wise it was to take October off, but we have learned something. We need to venture into new frontiers.

Today we drove to Lancaster and back to find out that 6 weeks in a store which was only selling crafts led to no sales. Fortunately we had lunch with a new friend and did not mope about the lack of sales. We took a scenic route home and thought about what else had happened this month.

The night at the Ambler Theater was great. No booth fee. Free movie tickets. In half an hour before and a half an hour after the movie, Mosaic Woman sold many a mosaic. This all happened because of one of Mosaic Woman's best friends organized the event, inspired Mosaic Woman, and then invited her to bring mosaics.

Last weekend I went on a spiritual retreat. Last October when I was at the same retreat center I was coming off an 8 day retreat where I was fueled to create art. I spoke of this with a dear friend, who told the other retreatants that unless they asked to be opted out, she was giving me permission to put them on our mailing list. Since then several of these folk, who I have spent many an October weekends with, have come to shows and bought our craft. My dear friend invited me to bring stained glass and on the huge windows that form a wall at the Kline Center at Mensch Mill; my art never looked so good.


In 24 hours I sold ten pieces. But what really made my day was two very special pieces which I was beginning to give up on, headed into the homes of folk who I know. One my very dear friend.

I have never sold so much stained glass before in one weekend.

We need to explore new opportunities and celebrate the friends who invite us into them.

By the way, our ETSY shop is open and Mosaic Woman has been very busy.

Crafting on Thursdays- Stratozpheric suncatcher from scraps

There are folk, who work with stained glass, who make mosaics from their scraps. Well in a way, I just made this:



from scraps of a mosaic project.

I decided to make a second Stratozpheric mosaic mandala (first one). So I cut out nearly 100 pieces of glass:


Then I designed a border and cut out some Youghiogheny glass and started the mosaic:


The mosaic is nearly finished. I grouted it over the weekend and it is flawed. Not ugly, but flawed to the point that I would feel uncomfortable selling it. So I will eventually hang it in our house and I will make another one to sell. But when the grouting was over, I still had a pile of "scraps" so I just took them and made a starflower much as I would doodle a design; knowing what I wanted to make, but a bit unsure of where exactly I was headed. I then soldered it into a whole and this afternoon I placed it into our ETSY shop.

What do you think? I hope to make more scrappy starflowers.

Crafting on Thursdays- On night at the movies, film noir inspired mosaics

The Ambler Theater will be providing the movie.
Joanne Leva is behind the poetry.
And Margaret Almon (Mosaic Woman) has been inspired to explore black and white and silver and gray glass.

Tuesday night October 12th at 7:00 pm what a night! Details here.

Crafting on Thursdays- commissions don't need to be huge and can be blue

In a recent post, a friend speaks of how she would hire me to design a rose window if she ever gets that hermitage she desires. She knows that I do smaller commissions, because she has commissioned a piece that could fly to Rome inside a suitcase--- (Mosaic Woman blogged about that).

At one point in my life I would love to design a huge installation project, but I also find joy in folk asking me to create something to their liking. At Lansdale's Art festival, a friend saw a simple 4 piece design of mine done in green. She asked MW if I could do it in blue. Last night I did it from start to finish, and in the midst of starting a school year, I needed a small task. See a design you like, I can do it in any color you want, though I may be a bit low in mauve glass these days.

I used a blue glass, which is rather opaque, so it will look cool no matter which way the light is shining...





and from behind...




....

Crafting On Thursday--- my vine design

at our etsy shop

It started this way, green. I saw it as a vine after all. It was one of my first designs and has been returned to in many ways. Maybe I love it so much because it captures my doodling style as did my mosaic mandala.

So green it is.

Someone saw a bird, in the design, so I thought... Bird-of Paradise flowers and did one in orange and blue.

Then I realized that the green vine would have to change colors, well, maybe if it was genetically crossed with a variety of maple trees, so I started making my Vine in Autumn colors ...

at Etsy

But the vine called out for some revision, so out came my favorite tools: a pencil and a high quality erasure. It grew a few inches and went from 14 to 18 pieces. I chose colors more centered around what I wanted for this piece (but added some dark green for after all it is a vine).

Maybe this is a summer vine?

At ETSY shop

A friend, who Walks With God and me most Octobers, came to a recent show and bought one of my autumn vines. She has me thinking about a winter vine. You know, a vine crossed with our marvelous Oaks that laugh at winter and keep their earth tone leaves longer than those Maples.

Apparently my vine unfolds along with me. What do you see my vine evolving into?

Crafting on Thursdays- doodling with glass... done

It was a spiritual time with Mosaic Woman this past weekend as we both finished Mandalas...

A previous crafting on Thursday post announced that I was doodling with glass and I can say it is true, a stratozpheric mandala has unfolded into this world. Friends were over for dinner and when I showed it to them they saw my doodling within the mosaic.

This is how it looks in sunlight...


at our etsy shop


Mosaic Woman was a ton of help with giving me guidance for the technical skills I needed to complete. And while I was grouting this, she was grouting right next to me...






I have plans to do another, and maybe a third and ....

Crafting on Thursdays- greeting the day, a testimonial

Mosaic Woman and I just had a business meeting at the local diner. She had spent some time today consulting with Tara Gentile to help us in thinking big about our growing craft business. And thus inspired to move on something we had previously chatted about, we made a list of folk who we would be honored to have write a testimonial to add to our websites.

But I was thinking, that if we expect others to believe in us then we better believe in us to, so here is my testimonial.

The other night I blogged about how a day ended and night came. However, I said nothing about how I was awed by how the previous night had ended that very morning. I don't sleep in well at home, or on retreats. Or I guess I am an early riser, so when I arose that morning, what greeted me was a dark circle and a cross hanging in the window. They could have been made out of black glass for all that it mattered. Something moved inside of me to not roll over or to hop out of bed. Instead I watched my glass come into being. The cross became full fast. Light colors that were more than willing to let light reach my eyes (photos were taken at another time, but during my retreat at the Jesuit Center in Wernersville, PA) ...







But the mandala had other plans. And at one point 4/21 exposed itself to my eyes. Then the light green came alive as the blue slowly emerged. The dark violet came next and finally the light violet came to view. How long did it take? I can't tell you, but I knew I was witnessing a new day coming into existence and coming to me through the piece of stained glass I had made to be with me on retreat. The day was unfolding and I was being aware.






However, the 21st piece remained dark. And I knew from observing the mandala for a few days that I would have to lay still for quite a while if I wanted the day to be complete. Later that day it was full...







and that night I watched as the light that had emerged in the morning left so that soon another day could come into being. So, yes indeedy... I dig my stained glass.


...

A Week of Wordless: Wernersville Cross for Craft Thursday

Crafting on Thursdays- doodling with glass

Mosaic Woman recently posted about our wedding day and handmade gifts. The question she posed was, "What is your favorite handmade gift?" Two of my favorites are a quilt given to me from my grandmother and a mosaic cross. If you twist the question to what is the favorite handmade gift you gave someone else... it may be what is hanging at the top of the stairs...


which simply says... "A Wedding Doodle" and was given to Mosaic Woman back in 1992 (colors in photo are awful)



So what I have desired from the beginning is to transform my doodles into stained glass, but I have struggled to do this. Then I had an idea and it stayed in my head for many months. But with some help from Mosaic Woman, I took this ...

and I cut out all those shapes, glued them to glass, cut and gound, cut and grouns and with a pile to work with, I started gluing down a mosaic, which is now waiting for grout. Here is how it started. That center piece was Mosaic Woman's idea...

UPDATED HERE

choosing colors, trends now, trends then... Crafting on Thursday

a six pointed star flower in greens and violets is all about being inspired by seeing the combo at recent quilt shows a great place to go to see what is happening, though I guess I could sit and watch folk by too.










But my wordless Wednesday post of five of Mosaic Woman's pendants featured one that came from learning some history.


Green, White, Violet... Give Women the Vote... colors of the suffrage movement... a quick Google search found claims the colors stood for these three words and claims that it is a myth, but no matter, those three colors were the colors used to represent the movement in England and were used in jewelry at the time for that reason. And so this pendant came to be in 2010...


at Our SHOP