Dichro Sparkle: Wings of Peace

 These tallit clips are my gift to a fabulous young teen. Their parsha is Noah. Their tallit contains all the colors of a rainbow and a silvery dove that wraps its wings around the shoulders . This fabulous young teen designed it with the help of another remarkable and fabulous soul, silk artist Diane Fredgant. I don't hav permission to share the tallit design yet.

The dove is of course a rather universal sign of peace. In the story of Noah, a dove is sent from the ark to retrieve a leaf to indicate that the land was emerging from the flood waters. Wings of peace....shalom!

The simple design of these clips is accentuated by the use of silver dichroic glass. Due to the nature of dichroic glass, the colors will flash to a pinkish or sometimes soft blue hues. Nothing fancy- simply carrying the message of peace complimenting the message of rainbow colors...the universal acceptance of all humans. This young teen understands the importance of carrying this message forward! Mazal tov!!!!!

More Garden Stakes!

 

….and yet again, I am delinquent in posting. I still haven’t finished the commission piece I started some time ago. I hit a wall and had to let it go for a bit.Then there were travels...and then more travels!     I did have a crack at cleaning up my studio....I made some progress but I also had to devote my spare time to making more garden stakes in anticipation of Portland’s first Jewish Festival on the banks of the Willamette River. It was a great success and I am pleased that I had the good fortune to sell well. Pictured above is my newest Gnome stake. He was the first to sell. Below are a couple others I made..

Tomorrow I renew my efforts to address the needs of my commission. I’ll rework some of the pieces that frustrated me and beat down the “wall” that I hit. It’s a triptych and everything has to be an exact fit. I’ll also make an effort to work at organizing my studio for 15 minutes before I work on my glass. I will get there!

THESE WORDS MATTER! Three Commissioned Gifts

Emet: Truth

Chesed: Loving-kindness

Tzedek: Righteousness/Justice

It was an honor to make these mixed media gifts for outgoing board members of a local charitable organization.

Each gift features a special word that suited the recipient. These words are middot~intentions. In many ways they defy simple definitions. The are words that inspire us to be better people. They are aspirational and imply action. In this situation, each word is so representative of the mensches (fine people) who worked to benefit their community in  significant ways. Each word is related to the other words. 

All middot are really connected.

There can be no justice without truth and loving-kindness. Truth stems from a belief in justice and loving-kindness....and of course, truth and justice support loving-kindness.

The base glass is called Aventurine Green. It resembles a specific type of quartz stone ; a sparkling dark green. In some spiritual practices the stone is used as a meditation aid. This quartz is said to represent moving forward with confidence, especially through challenging circumstances.  The green is clear capped giving each piece a sense of depth.

Each piece of fused glass is elevation-mounted on hand polished aluminum sheeting. French cleat style mounting brackets make it possible to hang these on a wall.

Embedded in the glass is copper mesh. When copper is heated it changes color, in this case, red.  The mesh creates small bubbles that are inevitably trapped between the layers of glass. The letters are cut from dichroic glass and tack fused to the clear cap. Dichroic beads dance on the surface while a strip of rainbow dichroic glass underscores each word.

Yes, there is intended symbolism here! But I don't like forcing people to accept my word for it...I prefer that those who choose to take the time to be with the glass, interpret the meaning behind each "adornment."  

What do you think they mean?

New Commission for Great Grandma!

The base disc is pre-fired. A second tack fuse firing follows 

Each leaf bears the name of a grand or great grandchild! Once the tree is tack fused, the disc will be slumped into a bowl

I've had a bit of fun (and challenge) working on this latest commission. It is a 14" iridized cobalt blue bowl with the tree of life as its theme.

There are 27 leaves, each with the name of a grandchild (in green and red) or great grandchild (yellow and orange)

Depicted here are two of the stages before firing....the finished bowl will appear in my next post!

Vineyard Bowl Taking Shape

This is built on a white base. The back of the white disk is sprinkled with blue frit 

After fusing the background I added some leaves and grapes

then added even more leaves and more grapes!

GOBY!

My neighbor is a woodworker...today he took me to HIS candy store....GOBY!

I like working with pretty, shiny things. Wood is pretty. It doesn't shine...at least not in its raw form. But oh my, wood is seductive!

And I couldn't just look...right?   I had to buy some pieces. I am excited about the pieces I selected, even though it means finishing and oiling the wood to bring out its characteristics. These pieces will become mounting boards for my glass work. I am quite excited about the prospect and am looking forward to some future design work wth the wood in mind! Tonight I shall have dreams of wooden tables made from the slice of a tree. Someday, I will make one!

Davita Continues To Evolve

Once the hair is in place, Davita will make her first appearance in the kiln. 

The white glass you see is the base glass for the piece. The purplish glass is actually a clear iridized glass with a tinge of pink-purple. It is a striker glass so the color should intensify a little when exposed the heat.

Once the base layers are set I'll begin working on her main features.

Just in case you haven't been following the blog...I am making a set of masks to be on display during the run of DAVITA'S HARP in the Page to Stage production by Jewish Theater Collaborative directed by Sacha Reich.  

Torah Pointers (Yads) Revisited

These yads (Torah Pointers) came our of my kiln and were all sold the next day right here in Portland, Oregon!

I'm experimenting with different ways of making these pointers so that the colors can be vibrant or subtle, depending on the needs of the leyhner (Torah chanter.) 

I shifted away from the design that requires torch work. I felt they were too fragile and frankly, I just didn't love doing the open flame-work....I know....that's heresy in some circles!


My most recent batch was less exciting but I learned oh so much more...about volume, color blending, heat...and more.


I'll salvage some of these, polish them, shape the point and fire them so they will be ready for use,  but a couple will be chopped up and reused in my next experiment.

I have several commissions ahead of me so I may be absent from my blog for awhile.
I'll post  the commissions...with permission of the permission of my customers.

In the meantime..... HAPPY CHANUKAH!