It's turkey Time Again - Happy Thanksgiving!

A time for Yummy Apple Pies - giant stuffed turkeys - football  and of course friends and family.  

This year we are visiting our family in Cincinnati for the holiday.  I always like to bring something with me but my family enjoys cooking so there are always an abundance of tasty treats.  

What to bring?  I want to paint something but I want it to be a memory as well.  I could go many directions with this - a cookie plate filled with tempting treasures - a turkey platter for the main event.  I thought for a bit and decided that everyone loves a glass of fine wine with their turkey so the decision was made.  

Now - what to put on the glasses?  A pilgrim, the Mayflower, no too cliche! 

Most of the year I live overseas but during the holidays and summers I stay in Wisconsin. Often I visit my sister - she has a gorgeous house with an inviting backyard patio.  She keeps several bird feeders cleverly placed and well stocked throughout the year.  I just love to have a cup of java while sitting outside and watch the parade of songbirds come to use the birdbath or check out the bird feeder.  

Wisconsin is home to a large variety of birds - yellow finches, cardinals an occasional oriole - but I have to say the chickadees are "cute" with their over-sized round head, tiny body, and curiosity about everything.

  What better bird to paint on my glasses than the sweet chickadee surrounded by holly.

They turned out great - and will be a fantastic keepsake with warm memories of a holiday truly enjoyed.

Enjoy your "Turkey Day".

Bridal Bouquet glasses

My close friend's daughter was getting married!

What to get her???

She was registered at all the usual places - but I wanted to give her something unique - from myself.

A remembrance.

I asked my friend for a picture of her daughters bridal bouquet or at least a picture of each flower.

Tropical Orange Amazon Rose

 Alstromeria – Napoli

 Orange Asiatic Lily

 Calla Lily and Stephanotis interspersed throughout.

As a last touch I wove a white satin ribbon through the flowers and down the stem. 

At the end of the ribbon I wrote her wedding date. 

The glasses couldn't have turned out more beautiful.

She just loved them!

The glass mosaic table that influenced a room.

 I have always liked hummingbirds - a truly unique bird. 

 Did you know that they are the only bird that can fly backwards.

I had a few extra pieces of colored glass from a leaded glass project I had just finished 

and thought to make a table for my front room.

I drew a sketch of the table to show the metal craftier.
I made sure to include a 5 mm lip around the oval top so that the glass would be level with the rim.
Then gave the metal craftier the dimensions I wanted with instructions to sand down any rough edges and paint the table a glossy black.

While the metal craftier was making the frame -
I sketched the glass pattern on a piece of paper the same size as the table top.
The flowers are day lilies and are two shades of pink glass with multi-green glass leaves.
I used a milky beige glass for the background. I wanted to keep the pieces larger on this pattern
- otherwise I thought that this might have detracted from the pattern.
I used a white groat and added color until I came up with a light beige shade.

  Now what to do with the rest of the room?

Best to start with the walls.
I painted the walls a light rose-beige.
Then sponge-painted over that with a rose.

That turned out alright but I needed something to break up the pink in the room!
I have a rather difficult space to work with:  I have a cut out on one wall and the doorway is a free standing arch.

So best to leave that until later and work with the other two walls.

First, I designed a cabinet for the corner next to the fireplace to hold the T.V. and stereo.

On one of my shopping excursions
I found this gorgeous wood carving hanging in the back of a store.
It was really hideous painted red, blue and gold.
No wonder no one claimed it!

 It was the perfect thing to add to my room.
 I repainted it using oil paints.  The birds are Great Blue Herons.

On one of my trips abroad I found this lovely copper enameled piece.

Again, Great Blue Herons.

On the other wall - next to the draperies
 I painted a picture of hummingbirds and the flowers are magnolias.

My next major project will be to finish off the free standing arch.

 I plan to make a metal room divider around it - this way the room will still be open but a bit private as well.

Just think this began with a table - I hope you like the room.

Priceless Peacocks

I have always thought that peacocks are beautiful creatures.

Whether you see a male peacock proudly displaying his gorgeous tail in the zoo or strutting in someones backyard   - the peacock always demands special attention.

Our house is based on the open concept plan.  When we built our house we left several areas open cut-outs  for later contemplation.  I had thought to put an aquarium into one and possibly a leaded glass picture in another - there are so many possibilities  thought.    

Since the trend has been everything peacocks for the last few years - when I designed the railing for the stairs I added the birds into the design.   

Then a few months ago, I decided to paint a peacock on glass instead of creating a leaded glass picture for the 4' x 5' hole. I takes considerably less time to paint on glass than to cut, edge and solder a piece.  Also it is less expensive - so if you get sick of it after a while you don't feel sad about taking it down and putting up something different.  

One of the few problems that I had was that our walls are made of the sandstone block.  I had to design a metal frame to hold the glass and to brace the picture to the wall.  

In the end it turned out really nice - and is now a good selling point of the house.

My Knight in Shining Armor - Happy Halloween to All

This knights suit was tailor made for my son, Adam.

What is better than a knight of the realm!  So, I went to the local material store and checked out the pattern books - nothing exciting.   What to do?  This is what I came up with...

I began with a black Hanes T-shirt and a pair of black jeans.  

I bought a shiny thin silver metallic material for the chain mail and coif. I cut the short sleeves off the T-shirt, then cut two long sleeves from the material and sewed them onto the black T-shirt.  I used the same metallic material to make the coif - a piece of headgear that is worn under the helm.  I put one of Adams old sweatshirt hoods onto the remaining fabric and cut it out a bit bigger and several inches longer. The nice thing about the material was that it didn't fray - so I didn't have to make large seams - I just edged it with a zig-zag stitch since no one would see them anyway.

I found a piece of black leather upholstery material with a diamond print sewn throughout for the Surcoat - a sleeveless garment that was worn over armor . I needed less than a 1/2 yard -then I took the long rectangular piece of fabric - divided it in half - cut out a hole the size of my sons head on the fold and added a small slit so he could get it over his head. It was open on the sides so I used a hole punch and made 2 sets of holes on each side which I later laced together with black shoe strings. 

My daughter is very handy with a computer so she had the job of creating the coat of arms and family motto for Adam.  Every knight had to have his own coat of arms so that his friends or enemies could recognize him from a distance.  My daughter asked Adam his favorite beasts (animals), colors and what he wanted on the 4 fields of his shield.  The motto went over the coat of arms.  She printed out two family crests using iron-on paper for one and regular paper for the other.  I centered it and ironed it onto the front of his Surcoat.

Adams helm was a bit trickier!  I bought 3 black sheets of thin black art foam.  I took one piece and placed it around Adams head and measured and cut it to fit an inch larger, then I used a hot glue gun to attach it together along the seam.  I turned it upside down and traced the circle on the other piece of foam.  I cut the circle out a bit bigger and attached it as the top of the helm.  As it is now it would be very hard to keep this on your head - so I shaped it to fit over his shoulders by cutting it triangular in the front and back.  Well the boys gotta see - right?  I put the helm on Adams head and judged where his eyes would be, marked it and cut a rectangular hole. I then cut 4 slits below the eyes for air holes.  I had a bit of extra foam left over.  I cut a few circles and thin strips and used these to define the helmet and face plate.

Instead of purchasing boots, I decided to let him wear his regular tennis shoes and since I had bought an extra piece of black foam - I cut it in half, wound each half around each leg.  I found extra long boot laces at Walmart and used these as the cross garters to keep the foam in place.

I used two pieces of heavy corrugated cardboard for the shield.  With the 2 pieces of cardboard together I cut them into the shape that I wanted and glued them together.  Next I spray painted the shape front and back with a shiny silver color to match the chain mail.  I matched up the sides and taped them together using black duct tape.  I took the other coat of arms and glued it onto the shield.

Adam used black gloves for gauntlets and we found a fantastic sword to finish off his costume.  Behold Adam the Medieval Knight!

Enjoy the fun - Mardi Gras Glasses

Marvelous Mermaids

I have been painting on glass for years - this summer I wanted to do something unique - so the mermaids were born.  Each has a different color hair and body so one never forgets their glass!  Great fun for that special party.