Blowing in the wind..

Some more of my little window- sitting glass and stone pieces,just right for Christmas gifts!They are mostly flashed glass,sandblasted,painted and silver-stained.they stand about 100mm tall.The glass is stuck into the stone with a slightly flexible glue anything adhesive. See more stuff at Lustrousglass.com

Mushroom Crowd

These are some of the little pieces im working on for various outlets for the so im told festive season,though if you were to read the news about Ireland you wouldnt think so. We may yet be surviving on wild mushrooms before long! they are mostly made from flased glass of different types,sandblasted and fired.And set into interesting stones , slots cut with a diamond disc on the grinder .. just right to put on your windowsill ..There will be a series of them i think , with trees, flowers , cactus, houses and anything else that sprouts up along the way. Check out my other work on Lustrousglass.com

Djinn

This is a smallish panel (380mmx280mm) that I've just completed as a wedding gift for my sister.Mostly in flashed blue on clear and flashed red on clear,silver-stained for detail. There's also some Lamberts blue and yellow.Additionally the amber hair affair is some reclaimed Victorian silver-stained glass that's been sandblasted and painted and fired to good effect. have a look at some of my older posts if you will. And feel free to comment.. www.lustrousglass.com

Painted Lady

This is a smallish (150x120mm) very pale yellow piece of glass that's been painted and silver-stained.More practice,more needed probably! See more colour at Lustrousglass.com

Red heads..

These are a couple more pieces of glass,small(100x75mm) that ive just done. they are both done from single pieces of St Just red flashed glass that have masked with a film,cut with a scalpel,sandblasted,painted with Reusche Tracing Black,fired in the kiln to 673C,painted with Reusche Amber silver-stain,and fired to 543C,in that order. with inspiration provided by Harry Clarke! Take a look at Lustrousglass.com for more glass. And please leave a comment!

Creative Glass

A post about this nice book i was asked to be in by Danijela Kracun and published by Schiffer,who publish a lot of books about art ,craft and the like. I was very pleased to be asked to be in it as it also contains a lot of my glass heroes,too numerous to mention. I was especially pleased to find one of my pieces on the front cover(thats me in the midddle of the top row) . Here is a link to the blogpost about it. You also have a picture here too of my double page spread inside.Its available on Amazon. Please leave a comment !

More Practice

Ive been doing a bit more practice on my heads with some small piecesof glass apprx 120x90mm.The top and bottom are a red flashed glass with blasting,painting and silver-stain. The middle one a piece of reclaimed glass from an old fanlight which had been siver stained originally.I sandblasted and painted it and expected it to metal when i fired it at the higher temperature needed for the black but it didnt thankfully. Normally you fire the black first and then the silver stain at a lower temperature.The silver stain can go a milky colour if its fired too high. Based on Harry Clarkes doe-eyed heads.You can see more at Lustrousglass.com

Alas poor Yorick !

This is a small panel that ive just completed,similar to the last post's one.Its done mostly in red flashed french glass with sandblasting,painting and silver-staining.Theres also a bit of blue on green flashed and blue on clear flashed for the head.Its about the same size 300x200mm.The reference is to Hamlet,who when given the skull of of his pal Yorick by the gravediggers,holds it up and says "Alas poor Yorick,I knew him well" or some such speel.i know its not much like a skull but thats why im not doing technical drawing. Feel free to comment and check out my website Lustrousglass.com

Glow

This is a small panel,300x200mm that i did a while back to practice doing figures which i dont find very easy.All the glass is Lamberts handmade multi- coloured,im not sure of the exact type,very expensive and very nice. Its sandblasted in places and painted and fired in the kiln. Theres more to see at www.Lustrousglass.com Feel free to comment and be sure to check out the older posts..

French Horn

This is a panel Ive been working on for a friend who runs a wine shop in south county Dublin. He wanted something curvy with a wine theme.he also has a liking for Mouton Rothschild wines.This winery has a habit of getting a different artist to design each years label,going back to 1946.Everybody from Dali to Bacon to Picasso and others not as well known.The artists are paid no money for their work, but given instead a certain number of cases of wine of two different years, obviously including the year they provided the label for. Often theres some kind of horned sheep reference going on,mouton as you know being the french for sheep.My interpretation of the 1999 label which was by Raymond Savignac is shown above.It was probably one of the easier ones to interpret!Have a look at the other years labels Here . The size is about 760 x380mm .The glass is Purple waterglass for the grapes,green Kokomo for the leaves,red St Just sandblasted for the wine glass and a nice dark blue flashed on green for the wine bottle.The label is a pale yellow semi- antique with some painting and a bit of silver-stain.The background is a semi-antique clear,painted with scrolls to represent the sheeps horns.Im hoping to do the partner of this for the other side of the door,white wine,possibly Champagne. The bubbles appeal to me.See more colour at Lustrousglass.com

Dundrum Blooms

These are a few of my brass ring panels,for sale in a flower shop in Windy Arbour,Dundrum called appropriately Dundrum Blooms ,run by Eva,a friend of mine.We just did a re-arrangement of them from a side window to a front window where they catch the light better. A blooming great idea. Eva's flower arrangements are amazing.She is a medal winner at Bloom ,Irelands answer to the Chelsea Flower Show...See more Glass at Lustrousglass.com

Strangest Genius Harry Clarke

Have a look at the new Harry Clarke book launched last week in the Harry Clarke room in Bewelys Oriental Cafe in Dublin by Sunniva Clarke Sheridan,Harry's grandaughter and the authors Lucy Costigan and Michael Cullen.Published by The History Press Ireland. A real gem..Get your own copy!! Also check out www.harryclarke.net , going live at the end of the month

Wallflower..

This is a leaded glass panel that i did this week for a lady in Terenure who has quite a few panels hanging on her back garden wall. It was done in semi-obscure Baroque glass which shows the colour regardless of whether there's light shining through it,perfect for hanging on a wall.The background is a very pale blue waterglass which shows up as quite a deep blue against the white background..Feel free to comment... Theres more to see at Lustrousglass.com

Restoration saga..

This is a commission that i have just completed for an educational establishment in Marino,former city estate of Lord Charlemont on Dublins northside.The window as i found it had been vandalised by a would-be burglar using a tree support as a battering ram. The bottom three panels had been replaced about twenty years earlier possibly as a result of a previous break- in. The blue and yellow colours were not in keeping with the original colours which were of a very pale blue and green shade,semi obscure.To compound things further,the whole original window came from a bigger opening in a different building elsewhere on the grounds and was cut down in places and had some of the the edge leads left out completely to fit in the smaller openings.Great fun taking them out with nothing holding them together! Some of the painted and silver stained pieces were missing,notably in the six rectangular pieces which form the bottom of the lower shield.
So in total what i did was,take out the four long narrow panels on the sides of the window,disassemble,re-align symmetrically and re-lead whilst replacing any broken pieces,maybe 30% of it. I took out the shield panel,disassembled it, replaced some of the broken painted panes with new painted sections, re-leaded it and then replaced it one panel down which gives it more balance and echoes the placement in similar windows nearby.The two narrower panels at the bottom were amalgamated and painted and silver stained to complete the missing sections of the shield.The panel where the shield originally was,was remade in the very pale green that i used for all the blue/green replacements. I didnt go at the top arched section save for some heavy cleaning as that was not in the remit. The lettering in the panel spells YHWH,which reads right to left in Hebrew and stands for Jehovah as far as im aware but i stand to be corrected.Sorry for no inside picture before the work started but the boarding up worked against me. Feel free to comment and be sure to have a look at my older posts and www.Lustrousglass.com for lots more work

Jellyfish Shoal

This is a collection of the jellyfish pieces (140mmx140mm) ive been working on.All leaded together into a panel 550mm wide,put into a nice oak frame supported by an upturned bowl that i turned. The bowl has the old clutch taken from my transit van screwed into it to give it weight and stability.Lots of practice on sandblasting, painting and silverstaining.The glass is a mixture of St Just red flashed and Lamberts Blue/Green. More to see at Lustrousglass.com

Halls Pictorial..

This is a before and after of a door surround that i just completed in Terenure in Dublin.The client wanted a design that was on other doors in the house copied with certain colours added ,to replace the obscure panes that were there. The purples and small details are waterglass ,the diamonds are a Wismach blue and the background is a semi-antique clear which glistens in the sunshine. See more at Lustrousglass.com . Feel free to comment

Dan Tien

This is a panel that i've just completed for a friend of mine Dave Shipsey who runs a Complementary Health Studio in Dublin called Dan Tien Check it out,he's a top class acupuncturist and much else besides. It goes over the front door and will make his place easier to find.The top and bottom panel are made of St. Just blue flashed glass,sandblasted for the lettering and the evolving symbol.The middle section is a Desag blue sandblasted opaque self-colour, again with the symbol.The side sections are a plain dark blue Desag to match.Feel free to comment. More to see at Lustrousglass.com

Deep Space

This is a small panel about 160mmx220mm.It is made of two pieces of glass plated together.The middle panel is a piece of Lamberts multicoloured glass,the exact one im not sure.Its sandblasted with some kind of design through to clear glass.The bottom panel is a piece of ordinary window glass painted with Reusche tracing black and some amber siver stain.And the top panel is the two pieces of glass together,one on top of the other.They are to go onto a wall light,a kind of light box.Theres more to see at Lustrousglass.com

Sample Panels

These are two panels that i have just completed for a friend who makes double-glazed windows.They are to go in these complete windows that he brings around as samples.Orders may follow.They are both painted with the background clear,and measure 229mm x435mm.See more Glass at Lustrousglass.com

Head over Heels

This is another one in the brass ring series,the rings i found in the scrapyard which were formerly sealing rings on a General Motors diesel compressor.Check out previous posts for more of the panels,i think i made 15 in all.The glass is Lamberts for the flower heads and a purple Kokomo for the base of one which unfortunately the photograph doesnt do justice to,or maybe its the photographer doesnt.. The other base is a blue/green Lamberts.The background glass is clear and plain. Theres more to see at Lustrousglass.com

Jellies

These are some of the the small pieces(140mm square) i have been working on recently,with a few older ones thrown in so to speak,all in a neat 3x3 lineup.Im not sure if they would look better in a different sequence,il rearrange until it looks right.They are in mostly Lamberts,with some sandblasting,painting and silver stain.Theres more on my website Lustrousglass.com

More Underwater Adventures..

These are a few more of my jellyfish, from sandblasted and painted flashed Blue/green Lamberts glass and sandblasted painted and silver-stained red flashed glass from where im not sure,France i think. See Lustrousglass.com
for more.

Underwater animals

Happy 2010 and at last im back doing some glass painting again.These are a couple of small panels(140mm square) in a series of sea creatures that are going to be set into a larger panel . The first is a piece of blue\green art glass that the blue sandblasts off very handily.Its painted and fired.The second is a piece of Lamberts multi-coloured glass that has some really nice colours but for some reason goes a bit muddy when fired in the the kiln,it seems to be a kind of metalling.Maybe a higher temperature would help.I'm working on some more of these creatures and il post them when they come out of the kiln. See more glass at Lustrousglass.com