Kiln Full Of Serenity

Another kiln full of glass and a great day to work on my Serenity!  Sunny and Michigan Warm outside which means my kayak is calling.  The day is full of events with people I have come to know and love.  Doesn't get any better than this!

Pat Deere

The Family That Prays Together

What an honor to create a family cross for this beautiful family!

The photo below shows this glass work in several shots so you can see the final piece, a close up with the background glass, and another close up showing the very textured state the crushed glass was left in.

I love working with various sizes of crushed glass, including frit to give the frayed edge seen on this piece.

For my work, lately I have been using System 96 in sheets.  I cut them to size big enough to fit into my glass crusher.  From there, I sort out the sizes so I can layer the glass in the way it will work out best for each piece.  For things like this where I want a frayed edge, I use a simple mold cut out of foam board and layer the glass until it gets no thicker than the 1/2 board I am using.  Carefully, I pull up the mold, rearrange any stray pieces, and fire it to about 1300 degrees.  The background with names and dates was fired separately.  Next, the glass is glued using KOA 300 and an ultraviolet light to set it.  This gluing method has been working very well for me on transparent glass.

What a beautiful wedding gift for somebody special in your life, don't you think?  Elizabeth, thank you for giving me the opportunity to give you a gift I know your family will enjoy for a long time to come.  Because this has to go through 2-3 firings in the kiln, advance notice for gifts of this type are necessary.

Pat Deere

LINKS:  Click HERE For more information on custom designed stained glass by Pat Deere.

New Bern, NC (Final Firing - I Think)

Sometimes the hardest thing about painting, is knowing when to quit.

Taking a look at these photos you can see where I started on the bottom left.  Mixing glass paints with water, no gum arabic this time, and grinding it with a glass muller allows me to get a fine surface to work with.

Once the glass paint is mixed to my satisfaction, I paint a thin surface on the already fired glass.  Not mixing gum arabic in with the paints allows me to easily remove paint I don't want on the finished piece.  It brushes off with a fine bristle brush, a course brush, a cloth, or whatever other tools work to get the result you want. 

This time I will heat the kiln to 1250 degrees, because I am anticipating that this will be my final firing.  Once out of the kiln, and cooled, I will make that decision.

Can't wait!

Pat Deere

Glass Painting for Church In New Bern, NC

WHAT A FUN DAY!

I love watching the process of other artists at work and thought... maybe somebody is interested in how glass painting is done.

The first photo makes it look like I am ready to take off, but I am just protecting my lungs from airborne glass paint.

The whole process is not shown here but what you will see is how I am approaching this project.  The glass has already been through one firing where I outlined what I wanted to with simple lines.  That paint was mixed with clove oil, which is a medium I love to use when I need nice long strokes.  Once the lines were painted, fired to 1200 degrees, and the glass cooled overnight, I began the process for the 2nd firing. 

On this panel I chose to use a black tracers paint, mixed in a little gum arabic powder to stiffen it a little, ground the glass with water until I got the consistency I was looking for.  Actually, it came out a little stiffer than I planned, meaning it did not come off as easy with a brush as I hoped for.  Originally, I considered washing it all off and starting again but I like the look that I ended up with. 

So, to make a long story shorter... what you see here is Top Left:  Me in my mask, the next six photos on the right show the process of brushing off unwanted glass using a variety of tools and brushes, and the final piece in the kiln on the bottom left prior to firing once again to 1200 degrees.

Next posting will be my out of the kiln photo and my 3rd, and possibly final, firing.  Make it a great day!

Pat Deere

Wedding Cross for a Deserving Friend

When my friend Elizabeth told me about wanting a cross for their upcoming wedding, I was thrilled to be able to help her with this project.

She has 3 beautiful young boys, and a husband to be I haven't yet met.

Elizabeth works at  Giovanni a'balatti Salon and Spa in Adrian and cuts my hair.  We have worked on art projects together and she is truly deserving of good things in her life.

Because she wanted something to signify their new family, she thought of this idea.

Love it and would love to do more for wedding couples.

The pattern below is the simple computerized design, the picture above shows the glass in the kiln after the cross was fired and before the painted names have been kiln fired.  It has yet to be finished and framed.

LINKS:  To find information on other crushed glass panels, click through to my web site.

Pat Deere