My heart bleeds for you...

Earlier this year, I asked my daughter if she had any requests for stained glass.  At the time, she was taking Human Anatomy which probably inspired her answer:  an anatomically-correct human heart.  I took the challenge and created this from one piece of art glass.

A Man With An Idea

For the last year and a bit, my glass time has been dedicated to a grand experiment.  I have created a sculpture of a man's head!  He is not quite done yet - there are little places to fuss with, the polishing, the patinas, and the final assembly (his head is in two parts).  I am going to have a lamp base made for him in the shape of shoulders.  Then he can finally have his idea when I turn on his light bulb!

Christmas 2011 Glass Projects

Last fall my mother-in-law, Fran, challenged me to make a glass panel that she could use for a Christmas card.  I know that she likes the window I made (Blue Crab at Home), so I chose to go with flowing lines.  I also scored inexpensive glass prism pieces at an antique store.  And I thought winter -> snow.  I call it Snow at Sunset.

Upholstery

Last fall I had an abrupt lifesyle change - Abigail went to college.  Stained glass was not going to fill that void!  So I also picked up an upholstery class at Upholstery on Broadway.  I first tackled a complete restoration of a Victorian ladies parlor chair. 
I bought/saved this chair from an antique store in town years ago.  It was labled as suitable for maybe holding a flower pot!  I love its lines and the grape carving at top.  I think it is made of black walnut for which I have a fondness.  I can't seem to find a before picture :( 

I learned how to strip off the old shellac, applied a finish of Tried &True Original Wood Finish, reinstalled the springs, tied them, replaced the horsehair (washed!) and tied it down, added cotton padding and covered it all in a silk fabric that I just love.  I won't let anyone sit on it yet.

Traveling Pieces

I meant to post this last summer.  My daughter Abigail had the opportunity to travel to Romania.  The trip included a stay with a local family and of course we needed to send gifts.  She asked me to make them a glass box.  I did not have a lot of time, so I chose to make the lid one piece of glass from the edge of a sheet.  The glass I chose was a favorite from the Youghiogheny glass factory which Abigail and I had visited during the summer of 2010.  Here is a picture of my daughter's new friends holding the box in Romania.  Those are Boston fruit slices and "baked bean" candies in the box.

The Hot Seat

Here is the transformed chair for the HGRM auction.  It consists of 5 panels. Two are pictured below. I tried to identify glass that looked either like flames or smoke and cut it to amplify it's effect. I mounted 3 candlabra light fixtures on the cross bar underneath with flicker bulbs on the cross rail underneath, so it is pretty cool when plugged in.

HGRM Chair auction

Household Goods Recycling of Massachusetts hgrm.org is an independent not-for-profit organization based in Acton, MA that provides household goods, free of charge, to people in need.  They are having a fund-raiser auctioning off chairs modified by artists.  I like chairs.  I like to mess around.  It was a match.  I went to HGRM and looked over their selection of chairs that were not suitable to pass on to their clients.  I choose this oak chair for the chair rails and the attractiveness of the wood.