Art in the making.

Today I am starting on a new piece, using the same techniques I used on, "The Forest Through the Trees". I love working on pieces like these because they are so spontaneous.

The photo you see in the center is my inspiration. This came from a stop I made on a bike trip last year with my son, Matthew, my sister Stacy, and her daughter Shelby. Matthew and I were riding together at this point, and I am embarrassed to say, we almost caused a collision because I wanted to stop and get this photo. If you have ever had the opportunity to view the great lakes, you will know why I was so excited. If you have never had that opportunity, you really need to come and visit us. The blues and turquoise, and greens... are awesome. So, my job is to capture it in glass.

The technique I am using for this piece is to take an assortment of glass colors, using Spectrum System 96, cutting and hammering it into a variety of sizes. I will begin to layer it on a kiln shelf thick enough to be sure it all adheres well when I take it out of the kiln. What it gives is a beautiful palet of color and texture that can't be duplicated any other way.

I have some work in a show being hosted by the Hidden Lake Gardens and the Lenawee Council for the visual arts. The photo in a previous blog post, of my "Forest Through The Trees" shows you what it looks like prior to going through the kiln ( I couldn't get the photo to show up here - sorry). To see the finished piece, you can visit the Hidden Lake Gardens in the Irish Hills, Michigan through the middle of May. This new piece I am working on can be seen by visiting the show going on at the Tecumseh Center For The Arts during Art Glass Month. This show features three glass artists: Myself - Pat Deere, Stained Glass; Lorenzo Cristaudo, Blown Glass; and Linda Jacobs, Glass Mosaic.

Once I place all of the glass in the kiln the way I would like it to look, I close the kiln and slowly heat it to about 1400 degrees. I really pay more attention to the way it looks than the temperature it is at. I want the glass to be melted enough to hold together when picked up, but not so melted that I lose the wonderful texture that I am going after.

Once the process of fusing, annealing, and cooling is done... I will incorporate the fused panel into a finished stained glass panel. Come to the shows to take a peak, or I'll try to put photos up on my blog when I'm done.

Classes: Right now I am still offering individual, one-on-one learning opportunities. Fusing is a fun technique to learn for stand alone pieces, or to incorporate into a finished piece like I am doing here.

Custom Stained Glass: I have another custom project I am quoting. It is for a customer north of me and their logo is rustic in nature, including deer and evergreens. This technique will be one of the options I will offer to them in order to give them a design they won't find anywhere else.

Pat Deere