Back to Geometry-Oy Vey!

For the final two I chose to go back to the straight cuts because they make the piece sturdier overall. So there are two 12x18 pieces shown in this entry. I wanted to go with some color theory with these two. Above I went with a complementary color scheme. If you don't know what that is, no problem! QUICK ART LESSON! Complementary Colors are just colors that are on opposite side of the color wheel from each other. So red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and violet. I chose to go with red and green with this particular one and I am very happy with the way that it turned out! For the next piece I chose to go with a monochromatic color scheme. Again-QUICK ART/LATIN LESSON! Monochromatic means a color scheme that consists of one color and the darks and lights of that color. Mono means one, and chroma means color. One+Color=MonoChromatic! As you can see from this "in-progress" photo, I chose to go with blue and I am very happy with the way it turned out!

The Copper Foil Conundrum

In an effort to make my blog a little more "multi-medial", I looked for a video that could give a visual of how exactly the process of making something like this goes. And bless her heart, I found this video[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6NcEHSYVC4]of a seasoned stained glass artist that is showing us how to copper foil. This video VERY accurately depicts the coffer foil conundrum while giving some insight to the steps needed to get the foil to stick to the glass. This fancy wooden tool she talks about is a pencil. I'm not sure if you noticed that, but-she isn't fooling anyone with her #2 from the dollar store. Lastly, I have no idea what she is talking about when she says that she wraps the copper foil around her wrists. -Some ornate/terribly tacky statement about the wear-ability of raw art materials maybe? Overall, when it is all said and done, she is excited and informative about making such a fun project and that is what it is all about!

ENTHUSIASM!!!

The Curse of Curves

After making a piece consisting only of straight cuts, I thought I should experiment with some other ways of cutting the glass to see what I could come up with. Let me tell you what, making a circle out of glass is NOT easy! Even with a circle cutter, which took about a day and a half to get right, the glass just doesn't want to break in a circular fashion. BUT-persistence was key, and I FINALLY after about 3 broken circles got it right! This is my second completed piece and it has a little more pizazz I think. I really enjoyed using the glass that I made the large circle out of. On one side it is mirror like, and on the other it is a deep green that you can see through. It is almost like a 2-Way Mirror, which is somewhat unnerving, but it makes for an exciting change of opacity for the overall piece.

You Like Me! You Really Like Me!

After my little song and dance about the wonders of Stained Glass, a couple of interested classmates stuck around and asked some questions. Left, I am showing Emily Faber how to cut the glass using the Pistol Grip glass cutter. She ended up making a small piece of her own that she can now hang wherever she likes. Above right, Bethaney Wells is dealing with the tangled mess that is copper foil. After the catastrophe of the roll of foil falling off the table and unrolling all over the floor, I thought she would kick the idea of continuing to make stained glass to the curb. BUT-she actually stayed with me during Ms. Miller's 4th Period Art Class and assisted with my demonstration! Kudos for Bethaney!

Sometimes You Just Want To Rip Your Hair Out; Then You Get a New Soldering Iron

WOOHOO! My first piece of stained glass is complete with hanging apparatus and all! This being the first geometric pattern that I cooked up myself, it was somewhat difficult getting all of the squares the same size so that they fit together and the triangles and the diamonds so that they weren't too caddywhompus. Then, after using a soldering iron that was 35+ years old, I decided it might be time to upgrade to a newer model. That was a good idea. After having to deal with that built up metal boogery mess that was a 37 year old soldering iron, I got sleek and clean lines of molten metal with a newer one. This made life significantly easier and much more aesthetically pleasing!

If you will direct your attention to the picture in the top left corner of this entry ^&<, you see me desperately trying to construct a piece of stained glass with that ancient piece of prehistoric paraphernalia. At this point I am demonstrating, to my AP Art class, the process of making a piece of stained glass using the copper foil method.

At the top right, you can see the finished piece which was only possible because of the new and improved 900 degree soldering iron.