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.

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

Forest Through The Trees

What a fun project this has been. I got the opportunity to go up to northern Michigan this past October. My husband and I were married for 26 years - yep! While driving, my camera was working overtime and we were constantly pulling over to the side of the road to get the magnificent beauty that you can only find there.

This glass is a result of the inspiration from that trip. I am working on putting it into a stained glass panel framed in bevels and probably copper tubing. I'll update this once the piece is done.

People often ask where my inspiration comes from... well, it comes from every day life. This time from the beauty of fall. This photo is actually taken of this piece while it is still in the kiln prior to firing. I used System 96 Cathedral glass and crushed it into various sizes and shapes. It is even more beautiful now that it is fired but it is so fun to see the before and after. So, keep watching. When I get it all done, I'll post the finished picture here as well.

Where does your inspiration come from?

Class Idea: As usual, I like to let my students know of class opportunities. This Saturday, if you would like to learn how to fuse or work on a fusing project that you have already started, I will be open for classes from 10am-2pm after my free mosaic class at 9.

Enjoy your surroundings and remember how they make you feel. You may want to put it into glass one day!