update on all those projects

here are updates on four of the projects featured in our video which I posted on Monday.

after ordering a new part for my glass grinder, a very frustrating Sunday evening (which ended with a bandage and no progress), and a dead glue stick on Tuesday... a blue border is taking shape around a future lizard


Mosaic Woman took self-control for a ride in our back seat to our client/friend, who will add a border and then grout it.


and for the unexpected phone call, Mosaic Woman is off delivering it to the client so it can be gifted tomorrow. We did it!



When Mosaic Woman gets home we plan on gluing down the last name and house number for the mosaic with the askew #7.

Wordless Wednesday: Chinatown?

Vlog: a return to the spiritual

I used to be a spiritual blogging fool, but not so much these days, but a sermon on Sunday by my friend Deborah Darlington, my grandma's quilt, a favored hymn, and several in process mosaics...

if I could have predicted...

1. if I had known that our life would be filled with commissions...
2. if I had known heat would sideline my horticulture classes: 11/12 afternoons and several mornings so far this summer.

Maybe I would have taken the summer off. I had contemplated it, but was drawn in by a desire to be in the garden with the students, after all had we not created it together this past spring.


Self-Control is the 6th of the fruits of the spirit we have taken on this summer. Tonight Mosaic Woman and I glued it down and now she will have the pleasure of creating a 36 inch mosaic as she swirls about the letters.

We will take a short break to take on a house number sign which will include a last name (first time!) which will celebrate a man, who comes from Scottish and Irish ancestors by using the colors of those flags.

Then I will take on making my first stained glass stepping stone. I got my pattern photo copied today and this weekend we will take a drive to get some needed glass for this project and the house number project.

And it appears another commission has come our way, which I will start once we finish off the fruits of the spirit. We are left with Goodness, Love, and Joy.

Wordless Wednesday: Celebrating Brian Jungen

Precious: Ellla's Dress, Ella's Duke

A year ago I took this photo of a dress worn by Ella Fitzgerald in 1977. I knew that just like the trumpet of Miles Davis, one day it would introduce a blog featuring her music. A few weeks ago I came across Ella's The Duke Ellington Songbook at a local library. Here are a few of the tunes...

enjoy!

Satin Doll



Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'



Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me

Raven Steals the Moon and Sun

on my summer vacation...

On Wednesday I went back to teaching for our six week summer program. My summer vacation was fruitful to say the least.

as I blogged about, we saw 13 jazz sets in four nights in Rochester, then stopped in Corning on the way home.

then in 15 days:

I completed 15 sun catchers including two peace mandalas and finishing this project:



This batch will be for sale this weekend at Tinicum while a nearly identical batch is going across the street to the five families in the row homes that were displaced by a fire. The last family came back after 14 months away. Their restored houses will become a rainbow!

I gave a talk about how my life inspires my stained glass.

I cut out 43 pieces of glass to spell out gentleness. The g took 9 pieces...




I designed what will become my first stepping stone. It just may make you wish you had commissioned me.

I cut out half of patience.

I made pizza. and then I made it again.

I ate Ethiopian Food in Philly where I had this view



I gardened.

I took my mom and dad to a diner where they enjoyed strawberry rhubarb pie.

I had lunch with three different Daves, the first lunch being with a Dave I had never met before.

I chose 15 essays which my English class may just read this summer.

I cut out the pieces to spell JOY for a future mosaic.

I ordered eight jazz CD's with amazon gift money we got from Christmas past.

I enjoyed the fact that Mosaic Woman was home and not working so we had lots of time together.

I dug my life.

A Verdant Vlog

expect to be calmed:

7 for the weekend: Watching, Praying, and sitting still at Longwood Gardens

As Holy Week unfolded, the sign up sheet for Holy Trinity's 24 hour prayer watch slowly filled in as I waited. When one time slot was left I filled in my name and then realized I would be at Longwood Gardens with a friend, Paul Grecian. Well, Paul had no problems filling an hour with his camera as I headed off to pray with succulents. For an hour I sat on a boulder. Here are seven images that came from the one spot:

Commission: a Butterfly

So I had this thought, "Stratoz, why did you create something that will remind people of so much pain?" and I try to shake it off.

A friend at work told me a story of her friends, who had desired life for their baby. Their story is heart breaking to imagine. My friend said, "There is this poem that has brought them some comfort. I want to give them a butterfly."

The original design was not a mandala, but eventually it became one. This is not a reminder of pain, but a reminder of love and comfort, of friendship, of a God who desires us to be loved and to experience healing. This is what I want to emerge from my studio.

Peace and Hope