Hanukkiah or Menorah?

 

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There is often confusion about what to call this ritual item that eventually holds 8 candles and a 9th lead candle. Most folks call it a menorah...but technically the menorah holds only 7 candles.

Hanukkah is a festival lasting 8 days. Each day succeeding candles are lit: 1 for day #1, 2 for day #2, etc..... The candles are lit from a lead candle also known as a shamash. This candle holder is not a menorah but a hanukkiah.

I've made two additional ones which will be available for purchase at the MJCC here in Portland Oregon, tomorrow! Our Marketplace event will only be open through Friday Dec.1

Come check out my table...and all the other amazing artists!

Each of these has silicone feet. Candles are not included!

New Works/ Hanukkah MarketPlace

 

I don't know why I keep forgetting to post on this blog! Oh Well...I'm here now!

This is my table area at the MJCC (Portland Oregon). ORA has a Hanukkah MarketPlace event all week. In addition to my tallit clips, garden stakes, seder plates and quilted glass, I will be adding menorahs to the display starting this afternoon !

I'll post photos later this evening.

It's About Time!

 

Twenty +...yes...20 + years ago we renovated our kitchen area. We had a curio cabinet installed and I asked the contractor to leave space for my own windows. 

Inertia, perfectionism, laziness, forgetfulness...more inertia, more perfectionism, more laziness and finally "What the Heck!!!!...just do it ! (to coin a much over-used phrase.)

I'm not getting any younger! I decided to opt for an easy solution. I used Bullseye Tekta and tack-fused blue and clear confetti . That's it! 

How silly that it took that long to do something so simple, so basic!

The Long and Narrow

 This is a commissioned piece for a long and narrow bathroom window. The hoe owners wanted to add a little more privacy to the space. It's approximately 20"x9".

The base is Bullseye Tekta clear and is topped with a cloudy white streaky glass. The tree is adorned with green fruit and dichroic dots. Powdered fruit was sprinkled on the background to create a "mood. The moon is a small disc of new lavender capped with iridescent clear. The grass is aventurine green with home-made aventurine green fruit.

Fingers crossed that it will make the journey safely...A family member is carrying it on a flight to the mid-west. Hopefully the bubble wrap is a sufficient to protect it!

Gnome on a Stick

 Just having a bit of fun in the studio. He was pretty popular at my last show....going to make a few more of him... I might have to start naming them....better yet, the new owners can do that!

Tree of Life: Aitz Chayim

 

This is the other commission I created, a gift of gratitude for someone who chaired a fund raising effort to benefit our community. Below is the explanation I provided.

Aitz Chayim, The Tree of Life is symbolic of so many things. Traditionally, it is a metaphor for Torah and also for knowledge and wisdom. In mystical Judaism the Tree of Life  demonstrates the essence of God ( as best we can understand ) and the manner in which the world was created.   

This glass plate  was inspired by a quote from the book of Proverbs (referring to the Torah) where  it says:

דְּרָכֶ֥יהָ דַרְכֵי־נֹ֑עַם וְֽכׇל־נְתִ֖יבוֹתֶ֣יהָ שָׁלֽוֹם׃ עֵץ־חַיִּ֣ים הִ֭יא לַמַּחֲזִיקִ֣ים בָּ֑הּוְֽתֹמְכֶ֥יהָ מְאֻשָּֽׁר׃

“Her ways are of a pleasant path, and all these ways are of peace. She is a tree of life for those who hold fast to her and all those who hold her are happy.”

Cycling

 

This was a commissioned gift for the editor of a local community newspaper. After 31 years of dedicated and loving service to the community , she is retiring and plans to spend a lot of time bike riding with her husband.

This was sooo much fun to make. It is a mask I call cycling because in addition to biking, cycling takes on all kinds of meanings that apply to her. The face, lips, eyebrows and eye balls are all made of fused glass. The hair is bike chain and the eyes are accented with bike gears. Her nose is a #2 pencil and her left earring is a stack of mini newspapers . The right earring is made of computer keys...page up and page down. It is equipped with mounting brackets so it can hang on her wall.

 I think the recipient likes it! Yay!

I've Got My Eye On You!

 The Commission is complete ...and will be presented to the recipients tonight.

Once it is in their possession I will publish photos of both pieces.... 

Keep an eye out!

Turning Scraps into Art

This new piece is 100% recycled material ....The wood backing was a piece of thin scrap walnut I fished out of scraps bin, the copper backing is a piece of sheet metal gleaned from the steel yard parts pile, and the glass is all left over pieces of iridized cathedral glass leftover from other projects. The sheet metal looked pretty dull, even after thorough cleaning and polishing, so I hit it with a light coat of copper spray paint from a can I had sitting in the tool shed (aka garage!)

The wood had some spalling (holes caused by a natural occurring fungus) so I added to it with a little bit of wood burning. There is a solid piece of glass backing up the small rectangles. It is clear with clear iridized confetti glass fused into it.

When the sun hits it, it is absolutely gorgeous...a true rainbow of colors!

This one is a keeper...it's going on a wall in my dining room.

This one is

New Commissions

Before and after pix ....I spent part of my day degreasing some really good looking gears for my latest commission, in progress.

Each gear was absolutely caked in thick sludge. I feel like I should become a spokesperson for  Dawn liquid soap! I use it all the time to wash my glass...and I have to say it is fantastic at removing this gunk!

I looked up sludge in the thesaurus and among the synonyms I found these wonderful words: goo, grease, gunk, and muck! Dawn made a gross task simple and efficient!

Anyway, I can't reveal the details of the project until it is presented. but I am really excited about it !

I just started cutting the glass today....Due to other obligations, no glass work for the next few days...but I will resume the work late next week. I'll post more pix and info then!

I just finished another commission, but again, I can't share anything about it until later...in June.

Stay tuned. I know my posts are sporadic...but I appreciate you taking the time to read them!

      

WHY AM I NOT IN MY STUDIO?????

                     

Sometimes the distractions are too pretty.... too beautiful.....too distracting! What can I say?

Writing About The Tedious....Is....Well....Tedious!

During the spring, summer, and fall, I do all my wet work on my lower back deck. ARGGGH!  

Okay, I think I am done with sharing the tedious aspects of art making. I haven't yet shared my reflections on the storing of display equipment, the storing of the artwork, the record keeping, the labeling, the pricing, the advertising....and sigh....the list goes on. I love making glass and I hve learned to get past my introversion tendancies enough to actually enjoy meeting with my customers. It's been awhile since I have heard a comment like, "oh, I made a glass tray once...this is easy!", and I fortunatley haven't heard someone complain about the prices of my art and others being too high. But my last several posts and this one are reminders to all the wonderful art lovers and consumers of art...that when you purchase a piece of art, large or small, it's more than just a bit of glass with some doo-dahs on it. It's more than just some paint slapped on a canvas. It is the result of study, hard work, the aquisition and maintenance of tools, the cost of belonging to a guild, renting a studio or maintaining one, advertising,etc. Most artists I know are happy to just break even.

Equipment maintenance ...The tedious, part 4

I don't mean to sound whiney! It's just that there is so much maintenance behind the scenes and post holiday season seems to be the best time to focus on those things. I continue to work on my studio cleaning and organizing. It's slowly getting better, but at about 15 minutes a day.....well, it's going to take awhile! Meanwhile I still have projects to work on...just small ones, but I need to get them done. Yesterday I started up my saw (it looks like the one in the picture above....but definitely not as bright and shiny! It's an old Taurus Ringsaw. I love it! But within 30 seconds it made funny sound....uh oh!..... and yep, just as I backed off, the saw blade stopped moving. Sigh. Step one....turn off saw and check the blade. Phew! still in tact. That's good news because my replacement blade is on back order and costs $80! Step 2, remove the saw from the water bath and inspect the belt.Phew again! Still in working order. Good news! Even though I have a back up belt, a new costs $38 so I am not in a hurry to replace it! Step 3, check the grommets. Bingo! One grommet missing, so I fish around in the cold water bath to locate it. Yup, it's broken. Good news! I have replacement grommets. They come with new blades and rarely need replacement. I have several. These ring saws are a miracle but they require maintenance. Something I haven't yet mentioned is the sludge that accumulates at the bottom of the water bath. SLUDGE! Think liquified cement....sludge. Because it's winter I can't easily hook up the garden hose to wash it all out. You can't pour the stuff down the drain either! I carefully have to pour out the water into the toilet and then scoop the sludge into the garbage. Some people like to dry it out and use the sludge (glass powder) to fuse things. I don't. I'll continue the saga of the ring saw in a day or so! Stay tuned!

More Tedious Work

Happy Secular New Year! The season for shows and gift giving are temporarily over....and ...the studio is a disaster! What have I done? Perhaps the better question is What haven't I done? The answer to the first question is....I made a mess! The answer to the second question is...I failed to clean up after myself....time and time again. My studio is a disaster! There are times when I look at a mess and paralysis sets in. Where do I start? What do I keep? What do I throw out? How can I create homes for things and clean up after myself each time I work in the studio? Great questions, right? I'm not commiting to any New Year's resolutions. That's a recipe for failure! WHat I will do is commit to working in one section of the studio at a time...for just 15 minutes at a time. I didn't create the disaster in a day....and I won't fix it in a day. I'll let you know how things go. No pictures until I make some progress.