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Stained Glass & Mosaics

Next project: an obelisk . . . inspired by a recent post

14 years ago

This is a very heavy glass vase that a friend broke. It belonged to her grandmother and was passsed down to her, so she was devastated. I found the top half at a thrift shop; I think it may have held a candle and hung in a metal bracket. I turned it upside down and glued onto the top of the vase (after gluing the vase together). I will post more pics later; I just started gluing it today.

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Comments (23)

cathyscache
14 years ago
It's very pretty!!! What a gorgeous vase. i bet she's just sick. Oh well you'll make it beautiful again!!!
taigen_gw
14 years ago
Oh how perfect they are together!! It will look fantastic in the garden. I am so anxious to start mine :(
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Comments (7)
LOL!!! Those stones were the easy part! I hope your broken ribs heal quickly. Fortunately this is the slow, just-keep-them-alive time of the year. I don't lift and carry those stones. (anymore) I lift a bit with a sharp shooter to get my fingers under them, then lift the rest of the way to stand on edge and kinda roll them in place. Hubby had to help with a few to get the cardboard tucked under them. I was so hot and tuckered out by that point. I plan to move 2 of them a few more inches over to make walking easier. I had placed them there a few years ago--so that much of the labor had already been done. :) We got the Mel's mix all done and in the beds this morning. It was pretty easy and went fast. We used a big tub and a special blending attachment to our drill. :) I just got it all soupy wet, it is draining now. I'll go back later when its shaded there and re wet some areas that need it and we'll see in the morning if we need to add more mix or not. This evening we'll go through the seed stash and plan what seeds go directly in the beds and which ones to start in trays for our fall vegetable garden. I'll start seeds over the next week or so. We're so excited. This is the fastest I've ever gone from weedy mess to able to plant! And its the best looking planting area I've ever done too. Bonus was getting all those pots off the porch! It makes our patio seem bigger, airier, and cleaner too. Unless you garden, you have no idea the labor involved. Just getting the bags of stuff from the car to where you want them is enough to make most people decide they don't want to do it. I have another longer bed on the other side of the house that is also very over grown and wild. It is full of grass and weeds too. Towards the end of Aug beginning of Sept I plan to round up most of it, protecting the plants I plan to move and get ready to do the same thing in that bed. More raised beds and tons of mulch. It will be ready for fall-winter/early spring food crops. I want to make those raised beds much deeper for bigger rooted plants and more root crops. The ones by the back porch I plan to grow mostly greens, and this year some fall tomatoes that I suspect (and hope) won't get as huge as the ones we grow from spring up to last frost. We eat greens everyday so having those beds there will make it much easier to harvest and use. Here's another view.
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Comments (2)
Very good craftmanship,Dave. Your puller really caught my eye because I think by next winter I'm going to have to pull the engine on my lawn trac and pull it down to make the decision to rebuild or buy a new engine.I'll need to build a puller like yours to get the double pulley off the crank. It's starting to burn a little oil and I can hear the piston slapping. Not bad mileage tho. It's an '81 B&S 11 HP vertical shaft. My latest project is making an outboard motor for my canoe from a straight shaft Stihl weedeater. I took weedeater and prop to my local machinist the other day to make the adapter for the prop. If it works well I'll try to post some pics. Again, good work, Mike
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Comments (23)
If DH DOES notice, NT, I'll bet he'll love them, even though it'll take him awhile to admit it. Go for it. OK, Ms. Smarthy Boots FLAGTRUCK. It's only been a week, and I DID make one wall hanging using one item I brought back - it's in "Gifts" "Dance Wendy Dance". The butterfly is a nicho - one of several I brought back. Speaking for myself, I went to get inspiration, and work w/my forum buds in the most art-filled city I've been to since I retired. I love the place, w/evening sunsets (you can see a pic. in my album labeled Puerto Vallarta Trip"), sitting under a thatched umbrella on the beach just a flight of steps down from the hotel, eating nachos and drinkin' 'ritas, listening to live music from 2:00-5:00 every day, combing the beach in Bucerias for shells/glass to bring back to add to my work, (eating shellfish soup and drinking 'ritas in Bucerias), watching the sun sink into the sea every evening from my terrace, mosaicing on the terrace w/my buds, combing the city for raw materials to put into my work, eating at wonderful restaurants where the food is spectacular, and well, I could go on, but THAT's what I enjoyed most in P.V. I'm working on another PV inspired piece, using one of the nichos. The five of us made several things on the terrace, but unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the things I made and left to the hotel owner and a lady who lives in an apt. next door to my room who took us bead shopping, and CALAM failed to take a pic. of her gift to the hotel owner. So, my future projects w/be PV-inspired. There was no workshop this time, but I hope to attend one next winter.
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What's your next project going to be?
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Comments (39)
Jynja, you're here!!! Oh man, you do such amazing work! Linlee, that project you've got going looks great-- so many little pieces! Thanks for the welcome back, Slowme-- I've missed this place. The inherent trouble with tutorials for mold making, as I am finding out, is that my hands are always goopy when a photo should be taken. This stuff is messy for sure. If I get to a place where something I am doing actually works, then I'll write out the steps. For now, if people are interested, there are about a gazillion tutorials over in the Hypertufa forum here and some incredible information over at the Garden Art Forum site. Check out this guy's site: http://www.concrete-art.com/. If you click on the "Direct Concrete Technique" and the "Works in Progress" links on his front page, you will find some awesome information, with loads and loads of photos to go along with it. Blows me away at how much he shares. Andree Le Blanc's "light-weight" cement could be because of a mesh armature of some sort, or it could be that she's used some kind of light weight material in place of some of the sand. Who knows? Styrofoam is what I'd talked about using awhile back-- you were afraid it would rot, remember? In any case, I'm still saving chunks I scrounge for maybe-someday. The wire mesh idea has been around for a long time, as far as I can tell. They called it ferrocement or something like that. If you google this, you can find articles about houses that were built using this method. In researching cement work, I've found tons of artists using variations of this idea. I think Jynja uses the lath (please correct me if I'm wrong about this), which I think is a great idea-- it makes a lot of sense, all those little "pockets." I also like her idea of using the spray foam insulation on the inside. Oh oh! I keep forgetting to mention one HUGE inspiration for me was Klinger's hollow sphere in a thread over on the Hypertufa forum (linked below). Oh man, what a wonderous thing it is! Nancy Here is a link that might be useful: Klinger's Hollow Sphere Thread
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katishooked
14 years ago
I am stunned. Jaw dropping beautiful.

Kat
texaswild
14 years ago
LOVE assemblages, and this one is perfect.
silvamae
Original Author
14 years ago
Here's an update; click on the link, and then click on the image. The sun glared on the prettiest glass, which is amethyst, and you can still see bare spots, like the top of the point. This is opening up a whole new world for me, ladies. I can see combining the totem and obelisk for the garden! Oh I wish I was about 20 to 30 years younger!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Silva's blog
cathyscache
14 years ago
SILVA: This is lookin good girl. I'm lovin it!!!! WOW
silvamae
Original Author
14 years ago
Slowmedown, my new favorite word is now: Assemblage. Love it; thank you.
texasfern
14 years ago
Very nice.
How tall is it?
silvamae
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks, y'all. It is small, only about 14 inches tall. Next I want to do one much taller, maybe 5 feet, and use thinset and put it in the garden.
silvamae
Original Author
14 years ago
Check it out - finished glueing, now will grout hopefully tomorrow, then I will be done and put it in the mail.

Here is a link that might be useful: Silva's blog - progress on obelisk
texaswild
14 years ago
OHMYGOODNESS. This is gorgeous. She is gonna LOVE it. Do you have pieces to "assemble" for your next one, or w/you use the mesh/concrete technique? I so love the pointy top idea for a column/obelisk. Anxious to see your WIP start. Hurrrrrrry.
silvamae
Original Author
14 years ago
Okay guys. I am a leeetle freaked out right now. My heart is pitter-patter-ing and I have a few light chills. I just finished grouting the "obelisk" or "assemblage" as I now choose to call it, and Well, I can't really talk about it or I will start bawling. Anyway, please come in and see it, grouted. After sealing, I will paint the grout in a metallic color, probably black, and ship it to my cyber friend in California.

Here is a link that might be useful: Silva's blog
cathyscache
14 years ago
Oh it turned out just GORGEOUS!!!! What a wonderful gift!!!! Great job girl!! Wow yur light is shining through!!!!!!!
texaswild
14 years ago
Oh you l'il heifer!!!!!!!!! Too beautiful for words, and doncha just love it when something so simple turns out so beautiful? Unbelieveable that no light surrounds it except a cloudy daylight, and you get such wonderful effects. But, of course, you anticipated that when you put those fabulous pieces of glass in it. Re your crying, I cried most of the way through making Suzie's shrine to her life and profession. She cried so much she loaded it in her Jeep and took off for home. It was divinely inspired. I'm so happy for you that you've discovered a new road to explore in your art. Chase that rabbit - we'll be behind you craving pictures.
silvamae
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks to all of you for your encouragement. I finished it today and it will be shipped tomorrow. I am so happy with it and I'm ready to do another one, a BIG one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Silva's blog
katishooked
14 years ago
Gorgeous Silva. It turned out better than I could even picture it would. Your friend will be very surprised and pleased I am sure.
Calamity_J
14 years ago
WOW!!! I'm glad I came back to this as I thought you were done with just glueing it together, I didn't catch on that you were mosaicing it! duh! It has turned out so nice!!!!
texaswild
14 years ago
Absolutely beautiful, and look how neat your grouting is!!!!!
wackyweeder
14 years ago
Oh wow, this is beautiful. In a partly sunny spot in the garden an absolute eyecatcher. good job!
nanatricia
14 years ago
Yes that did turn out GREAT!!!!!!~
silvamae
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks, Katishooked, Wackyweeder, Nanatricia . . . Nanatricia, you may be interested in visiting this wonderful sculpture gallery I discovered this weekend; it's right outside of Johnson City. Here's a photo of a perpetual motion metal and glass sculpture. See my blog for more info.

Here is a link that might be useful: Silva's blog
texaswild
14 years ago
Wonderful pictures, SILVA. Dang it, SILVA, you're making me VERY homesick for the Austin area. I loved living there.
silvamae
Original Author
14 years ago
Aww Slow, I know what you mean; Austin just can't be beat. The ONLY thing I would change about this area, if I could, would be the long hot summers. Maybe throw in a few days of under 100 degree weather during the month of August.

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