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Showing posts with label Follow the Dream. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Follow the Dream. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
St. Teresa
From this picture of St. Teresa, the "Little Flower", the Dreamweavers at McMow Art Glass draw inspiration to create a "rose window" centerpiece.
Following client approval, a full size sketch is drawn and stained glass is selected.
A full size pattern is prepared for the next step - glass cutting.
After all the pieces are cut, they are relaid to insure accuracy before the painting and assembly are begun.
This shows a close-up of the pieces to be painted.
And after.
At this point, a decision was made to change the color of the glass in the border from red and dark blue to . . .
. . . to gold and red.
The pieces have all been camed in lead and is now ready for cementing.
When the piece is fully completed, the last step is always a close inspection before delivery to our client.
Following client approval, a full size sketch is drawn and stained glass is selected.
A full size pattern is prepared for the next step - glass cutting.
After all the pieces are cut, they are relaid to insure accuracy before the painting and assembly are begun.
This shows a close-up of the pieces to be painted.
And after.
At this point, a decision was made to change the color of the glass in the border from red and dark blue to . . .
. . . to gold and red.
The pieces have all been camed in lead and is now ready for cementing.
When the piece is fully completed, the last step is always a close inspection before delivery to our client.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Sarasota Yacht Club
When the Sarasota Yacht Club decided it was time for a new building, they turned to Interior Designer, Susan Barton, from the firm of Peacock and Lewis to capture the essence of the Members love of the sea in the furnishings and decor. This magnificent window serves not only to bring an artful expression of the sea to the interiors, but also helps to bridge the space between a hallway and a conference room with light.
Follow along from first sketch to final installation. Here is "The Sea" at the new Sarasota Yacht Club.
Follow along from first sketch to final installation. Here is "The Sea" at the new Sarasota Yacht Club.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
St. John the Evangelist Chancel Windows
From first sketch through installation, follow along as the Dreamweavers from McMow Art Glass create The Holy Spirit Chancel windows for St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in West Boca Raton. Church leaders requested an uplifting image to evoke the presence of God as Life. The Church is under construction and is expected to be completed this Summer.
Special thanks to Ruben Rodriguez and Jurgen Grauer for capturing the installation images from the fifty feet high scaffolding.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Dreamweaver Elizabeth Berryman
It's always a pleasure when Dreamweavers come by the McMow Art Glass Studios to show their latest work. Dreamweaver Elizabeth Berryman graduated from the Beginners Class last Fall and recently completed this gorgeous piece. Wow, is that pretty!
"Indy" Dreamweavers at McMow
Making the McMow Art Glass studios available to independent Dreamweavers is another way the Dreamweavers at McMow support and encourage local glass artists. For a nominal fee, artists can come and work on independent projects utilizing the well equipped McMow studios. The McMow professionals are always on hand with admiration and advice. Here are a few of the independent Dreamweavers who came to work this morning on their own beautiful projects. We will catch up with Nancy, Jim, Sonia, Linda, Magda & Joe again when their beautiful work is completed.
Nancy
Nancy
Jim
Sonia
Linda
Magda
Joe
Beginners Class of Dreamweavers
We are privileged to follow the newest Beginners Class of Dreamweavers from beginning to end. Over the course of five weeks, each of these new Dreamweavers learn the secrets of transforming light and color in the art of stained glass. Special Thanks to Dreamweaver Instructor Natalie Goff and to Dreamweavers Michel, Ann Marie, Rich, Carolyn, Denise, Norma and Leah for allowing us to accompany them on the amazing journey they have begun.
In Week Four,The Beginners Class of Dreamweavers has moved their projects onto the big light tables at McMow. Here they will complete all the foiling and soldering. Next week we will get to see each and every one of these finished and beautiful pieces.
Week Four
Now in Week Three of the Beginners Class, the Dreamweavers advance their individual projects. Most of the cutting and grinding has been completed and some have begun the foiling application. Next week, soldering.
Week Three
The latest Beginners Class at McMow began on Saturday, January 9th. In that class, all the Dreamweavers created their own Butterfly and in the process learned the fundamental techniques of cutting, grinding, foiling, assembling and soldering stained glass. Each is now ready in Week Two to pursue more advanced expression that will allow their new skills to be refined and perfected in a project of their own choosing.
Week Two
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Dreamweaver Barbara Wolfe
Meet Dreamweaver Barbara Wolfe, an artist who found and follows her own dream of bringing light to life through the art glass medium. Barbara is a Dreamweaver who began to develop her skill in Art Glass five years ago in a Beginners Art Class at McMow. For the last year, she has been working in her spare time to build a stained glass lamp from the famous Tiffany "Peony" pattern.
The Peony pattern was created originally by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The pattern below represents one third of the lamp. Notice the dark blue areas. Those represent the spaces that will come together to form the "turban shape" for the finished shade, much like flattening out a globe to see a flat map. Each of the three repeats requires 274 individual cut pieces for a total of 822 precision cuts.
Applying color to the pattern allows Barbara to determine how the colors she has chosen will work together in the overall design.
Primary colors of rich blue, yellow and crimson are framed with vibrant tones of green. The softer pink and lavender tones add just the right balance and sophistication to the pallette. Here are all the pieces for this section cut and fit together on the pattern.
The next step is to take each of the cut pieces and form the "turban" shape. The pattern has been transferred to the mold and the pieces will be applied with "tacky wax" to hold the pieces in shape. This is a necessary step to transform 822 individual pieces of flat glass into one beautiful and complex contoured shape.
All the cut pieces have been assembled on the Peony mold. The next step is to take each piece, one by one, off the mold and apply copper foil to the edges.
After foiling, each piece is re-tacked to the mold. At this point, any of the flat edges that don't perfectly meet the adjoining glass are adjusted with wax filler to make the surface completely smooth before the solder is applied.
Barbara shows us here where this tiny piece was raised with a bit of wax to make it meet up precisely with the larger pieces around it. This is a critical process especially at points like this where the outer curve of the top of the lamp curves inward to meet the bottom band.
All the pieces have been foiled and re-tacked and are now ready for soldering.
This photo best illustrates why it's necessary to "tacky-wax" the pieces on the form and why the form is fixed to a tilt table.
Soldering is the process whereby solid lead is liqufied with heat and applied to the edges of the glass that have been foiled. The foil accepts the molten lead to seal the edges together on the top and in between the pieces.
As each portion is completed, Barbara shifts the mold on the tilt table so she can work on the most horizontal surface a little at a time. The bottom three rows that form the border will not be soldered to the upper lamp at this time because with the inner curve of the bottom border, it would be impossible to remove the shade from the turban shaped mold.
Here the lower edge has been removed and set aside.
This is the outside of the lower portion after it was removed. Notice the unsoldered edge around the perimeter.
The inside of the lower edge will be soldered next and reattached to the upper portion later on.
The "tacky-wax" holding the upper lamp to the mold is softened with heat to loosen the lamp from the mold.
Phil Materio and Tricia Beasley from McMow lend a hand with this delicate process.
A piece this large and complex requires heat to be applied inside the mold as well as outside so the mold will slip out easily and not damage the glass that has only been soldered on the outside.
Ahhhh! Success!
Phil holds the unfinished lamp up to the light to give a hint of how wonderful the final shade will be. The entire interior of the lamp still has to be soldered and bottom rows attached.
Barbara has joined the top and bottom sections and soldered them together on the outside. Now it's time to solder the interior.
Like all great Dreamweavers, Barbara patiently applies the same precision and careful attention to detail when she solders the interior of the lamp.
This beautiful lamp will be hung as a chandelier in Barbara's home when she returns later this Spring. To give us a picture of how lovely this finished lamp will look above her dining room table, Barbara installed the piece on a lamp base. It's just beautiful. Congratulations Barbara and Thank You for sharing this magnificent work in progress.
The Peony pattern was created originally by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The pattern below represents one third of the lamp. Notice the dark blue areas. Those represent the spaces that will come together to form the "turban shape" for the finished shade, much like flattening out a globe to see a flat map. Each of the three repeats requires 274 individual cut pieces for a total of 822 precision cuts.
Applying color to the pattern allows Barbara to determine how the colors she has chosen will work together in the overall design.
Primary colors of rich blue, yellow and crimson are framed with vibrant tones of green. The softer pink and lavender tones add just the right balance and sophistication to the pallette. Here are all the pieces for this section cut and fit together on the pattern.
The next step is to take each of the cut pieces and form the "turban" shape. The pattern has been transferred to the mold and the pieces will be applied with "tacky wax" to hold the pieces in shape. This is a necessary step to transform 822 individual pieces of flat glass into one beautiful and complex contoured shape.
All the cut pieces have been assembled on the Peony mold. The next step is to take each piece, one by one, off the mold and apply copper foil to the edges.
After foiling, each piece is re-tacked to the mold. At this point, any of the flat edges that don't perfectly meet the adjoining glass are adjusted with wax filler to make the surface completely smooth before the solder is applied.
Barbara shows us here where this tiny piece was raised with a bit of wax to make it meet up precisely with the larger pieces around it. This is a critical process especially at points like this where the outer curve of the top of the lamp curves inward to meet the bottom band.
All the pieces have been foiled and re-tacked and are now ready for soldering.
This photo best illustrates why it's necessary to "tacky-wax" the pieces on the form and why the form is fixed to a tilt table.
Soldering is the process whereby solid lead is liqufied with heat and applied to the edges of the glass that have been foiled. The foil accepts the molten lead to seal the edges together on the top and in between the pieces.
As each portion is completed, Barbara shifts the mold on the tilt table so she can work on the most horizontal surface a little at a time. The bottom three rows that form the border will not be soldered to the upper lamp at this time because with the inner curve of the bottom border, it would be impossible to remove the shade from the turban shaped mold.
Here the lower edge has been removed and set aside.
This is the outside of the lower portion after it was removed. Notice the unsoldered edge around the perimeter.
The inside of the lower edge will be soldered next and reattached to the upper portion later on.
The "tacky-wax" holding the upper lamp to the mold is softened with heat to loosen the lamp from the mold.
Phil Materio and Tricia Beasley from McMow lend a hand with this delicate process.
A piece this large and complex requires heat to be applied inside the mold as well as outside so the mold will slip out easily and not damage the glass that has only been soldered on the outside.
Ahhhh! Success!
Phil holds the unfinished lamp up to the light to give a hint of how wonderful the final shade will be. The entire interior of the lamp still has to be soldered and bottom rows attached.
Barbara has joined the top and bottom sections and soldered them together on the outside. Now it's time to solder the interior.
Like all great Dreamweavers, Barbara patiently applies the same precision and careful attention to detail when she solders the interior of the lamp.
This beautiful lamp will be hung as a chandelier in Barbara's home when she returns later this Spring. To give us a picture of how lovely this finished lamp will look above her dining room table, Barbara installed the piece on a lamp base. It's just beautiful. Congratulations Barbara and Thank You for sharing this magnificent work in progress.
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