Tag Archives: hobby

Findings and Inspiration

A few…. holy cow…. almost a year ago now, I bought two small curio cabinets with the intention of doing something creative. And then something shiny happened and forgot completely about them. I left them in their bag and placed them under the desk for future use, only something always came up for me to do instead.

That’s the curio cabinet in it’s natural state. It has possibilities!! All the little boxes got me thinking about all the little findings I have to fit inside them, each box telling a little story of its own. I kept thinking of what tableaux I could make in each section, the Steampunk screaming at me to go in that direction, but the romantic in me also prodding me to do something a bit more feminine. So far, this is what I have.

Yes, the bottle of poison has charms that say “4” and “Life”. I’m a sick person, I admit it!! But the juxtaposition was too delish to pass up. I keep lightbulbs, washers, nuts and bolts, any keys I find, wire, even screen mesh for use in my altered stuff. I can’t really call it art, though it is artistic. I do know one thing, though. I won’t end up owning it. I seldom keep the stuff I make. I can count on one hand what I have kept for myself!! But the joy is in making it, and in the giving. I just hope it finds a loving home.

But for now, I have to go scour the local hardware store for more findings. You can never have enough copper fittings 😀


Through a Glass Lightly

Heh, I love coming up with titles based on other titles. It tickles my punny bone.

I was over at Bad Bad Juju and happened to see the Juju Woman’s latest work of art. She does some beautiful stained glass work, and Anjin/ Yabu isn’t shy about posting photos, thank goodness. I get a nice fix of purdy when he does.

Anyway, it got me to thinking on getting back into my stained glass hobby. Yes, I used to do stained glass, mostly by copper foil method, but did some lead came work, too. Copper foil is easier, but not as forgiving as came. Still, it is so cool to cut and grind glass into shapes that fit together to form a beautiful glass painting. Most of the works I did I gave away as gifts. I remember doing a bunch of angels using bevels and flat glass marbles (like the ones people put in vases or fish tanks for decor) for one of my mother’s many Christmas trees. And not to mention a ton of little flowers using said marbles. Biggest one I ever did was the Texas flag in the shape of Texas. My brother-in-law got that one for his birthday one year. This one, however, I kept as a reminder of my many stained glass work mistakes:

As Yabu says, it’s a pain to capture the beauty of a stained glass panel. I think I took 15 pics with my phone and this one was the best one. Even with all the rookie mistakes I made, it is still one of my favorite pieces and a very nice pattern to boot. I think in my heyday I must have made about 20 of these, in different colors and backgrounds. And now as I begin to reorganize and purge stuff in the garage, I may get back into it, if only to make gifts for friends and family.

But first, I’m going to make an Aggie panel for my home! 😉