More Minis.... Small can be Beautiful!

Welcome to Glass & Light. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.

Every once in a while I get the urge to work on pieces so small that I almost need a magnifying glass.  Must be the masochist in me!  Recently I've been creating lots of little pendants, made with the same care and detail that I put into my larger pieces.  I solder them up with pewter so they'll be totally safe to wear.  Although quite a few have already sold, you can find some for sale in Stringythingy.  These pendants are charming all year round but even more so in winter, when so few flowers bloom.

Cat's Eye (upper right) is on its way to the USA and Sunshine (bottom left) has just been shipped to Germany.  Enjoy!

It might be snowing in New York, but flowers are blooming in Israel!

Welcome to Glass & Light. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.

For those of you heading into the winter months (and no matter how much you love them, they can be a little dark and gloomy!) I have some fresh flowers to offer you.  Each stained glass flower is unique and I've paid attention to even the smallest details to ensure they will give you years of pleasure. 

Here is the first bouquet - I'm holding them up in the bright morning sunlight so you can see their amazing glow.  Those with crystal centers will scatter sparkles of color into your home when direct sunlight shines through them, and they'll be pretty all day long.  A bit of color to lift your spirits! 

Almost all these blossoms, on the other hand, have stone centers (either agate or fossil).  While they look great in a window, I find they are better suited for a wall - for instance, hanging on a wall of an office cubical - where they can charm you throughout the day.

Every stained glass flower has a unique hanging wire or dangle, with beads especially suited for it. 

These flowers make excellent gifts or a treat to spoil yourself, for less than the cost of many other indulgences.  You can find most of them listed in my Etsy store Glass & Light. 

Learn something new....

Welcome to Glass & Light. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.

I'm delighted to announce that my new tutorial, Agate Flower Garden, is listed for sale in my Etsy stores.  My stained glass flowers have been very popular over the years and I've decided to share my special tips and tricks for making them.  The instructions are comprehensive so that even people who are very new to stained glass can follow them.  Professionals will discover new techniques for expressing their creativity, and will make up the cost of the tutorial with the very first flower they sell.  I've illustrated it with dozens of photos from my studio....  Go to Etsy and search for Agate Flower Garden Tutorial for more details.

Let there be light.....

Welcome to Glass & Light. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.

I swear this is an unaltered photograph - and I also admit that I did not see this view before I photographed my bead, and that I can't see it now, no matter how closely I peer at the bead from various angles.  Something in the light shining through the bead at the exact moment the shot was taken gave gorgeous results...

Which, really, is the beauty of boro glass work.  Boro is manufactured with a lot of silver in it (and some other elements as well) which results in a lot of shifting colors, special shine and depth. Rather unpredictable and addictive.

I work my boro beads and wands on a Nortel Minor torch with 1 O2 concentrator.  With a stronger setup, you might get brigher colors and less haze.  Many of my boro beads are up for sale on StringyThingy.

Making the world a little greener....

Welcome to Glass & Light. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.

 

I am honored to be featured this week in Green Prophet, a webzine focusing on environmental news in the Middle East.  The webzine is in English and has quite about artists and designers who practice the three "R's"  - reduce, reuse and recycle - in their everyday designs and work. They also have well-written and informative articles about green technology and politics.  If you enjoy reading articles like this, then I would recommend visiting Green Prophet at least once.  They update their articles frequently.  Thank you, Karen of GP, for finding me and bringing me to your webzine!

And I ask (as I always do!), are 3 R's enough?  What about 5 R's, or 10?  I think that we should add to this list - 

• Repair - fix the old and keep using it, rather than buying new and junking the old
• Replant - let's keep Israel green by planting more trees.  Once our country was tropical.
• Renew - renew our vows to go "green" and our commitment to Israel's (and the world's) environment
• Rethink - be open to new ideas and new ways of doing things
• Remember - this is the only planet that we have, and most of its resources are limited
• Remind - remind others, especially our children, the what, how and why of healthy environmental practices
• Reward - give a good word to people who do the right thing
• Respect - the needs and opinions of others, but don't be afraid to stand up against poor practices and attitudes
• Regulate - first and foremost, we need to regulate ourselves.  It's not enough to "feel green" if we're not doing anything about it.  But I'm also in favor of getting our governments to set some limits on industry and waste management
• pRioritize - we can't do everything, but we should do something.  What are our priorities?
• pRepare - keep reading, keep learning, keep trying.... prepare for our future

I suspect that the last 2 are cheating, but I'm not taking them off my list.  Many of my stained glass pieces contain recycled or upcycled components.  I make a lot of beads from recycled glass (although most of them are not in my Etsy site).  And I've put a lot of practices in place to conserve resources.  It's not all about money - buying used bubblewrap or used bubble bags sometimes costs as much as the original and can be time-consuming to find - but about reusing what's already out there instead of encouraging the manufacture of more plastic while putting the old stuff into landfill.  

 

Thank you, Green Prophet! 

 

Little House Gods....

Welcome to Glass & Light. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.

I'm now the proud owner of several house gods, although owner might not be the right word - perhaps it should be "protectee." These are my first off-mandrel creations. I made them with boro glass and they have plenty of bling and a lot of charm. Much easier to care for and quieter than Spike and Buffy, our beloved yard dogs, who do tend to bark at night sometimes.

Meet Bear-Dog, family protector:

and the Striped Stallion, house god of creativity and passion:

And here is poor Curly-tailed Aardvark. I accidently snapped his tail off (ouch!) and while I'll try to repair him (whence he might become a curly-butt Aardvark!), reintroduction into the flame is tricky even for house gods like him, and he might explode.

Bear-dog and Striped Stallion are looking for a new home (Aarvark is simply looking for a new tail!). Click on my link on the right "Shop for Lampwork Beads" to find them.

Tip for Lampworking Artists:
Interested in learning to make animal figurines in the flame? I can highly recommend Pipyr's tutorials, which you can find here her Etsy store.

Learn a New Skill Set...

Welcome to Glass & Light. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.



I'm now offering my tutorial, From Bottle to Bead, for sale on Etsy. Bottle to Bead is the happy result of many months of research and experimentation working with bottle glass: specifically, recycling my wine bottles into lampwork beads. My tutorial includes how to harvest bottle glass, what to expect when you use it and an annealing schedule for your kiln. And of course, I've illustrated it with lots of photos from my studio!



Tips for Glass Artists:

Interested in purchasing my lampworking tutorial? You can find it at StringyThingy, my Etsy store. And if beads aren't your thing, keep an eye out for my "soon-to-be-published" tutorial for stained glass artists, which will be sold through Glass & Light.

Rolling with the Boro....

Welcome to Glass & Light. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.

Today I'm showing off a few of my new beads, made with Boro. This is a new batch, my first after returning from a family visit to California. You'll note that I'm trying out some new techniques here (look at that blue bead with the star field embedded in it, for instance, I really did that on purpose :-). I'm a happy camper today, although I believe there is a lot of room for improvement... A very few of these are/will be posted in my Etsy store.

Tips for Glass Artists:
All my beads are made with a Nortel Minor torch coupled with an O2 concentrator. While many will tell you that it just isn't possible, I'm here to tell you that it is... I highly recommend the tutorial "Boro on a Concentrator" written by a very talented glass artist nameed Pipyr. You can see Pipyr's art and purchase one of her wonderful tutorials at http://www.pipyr.etsy.com

Here Comes the Sun....

Welcome to Glass & Light. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.

Summer has arrived and I'm celebrating with some sunny suncatchers! Years ago I came upon some pressed glass medallions in rich reds and yellows and couldn't resist them.

For those of you who are envious of Israel's beautiful, sunny weather, remember that it will only get hotter here until about October. And, unfortunately, we will probably not see rain until November....

Both these stained glass mobiles are available in my Etsy store (see the link below right for shop for stained glass....)

More Beads a'Comin......

Welcome to Glass & Light. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.


Jacob's Ladder is over - 3 looooong days of sun, fun and fantastic folk music on the Sea of Galilee. I've updated my websites (minus the items that sold) and will now start listing new items.

You'll soon see a lot of new beads in StringyThingy.... I'll list a few every day, once I've got my camera out and can take some new photos.

• Erotic lampwork - aka Goddess Beads. I've got more naked women beads to put up.


• Recycled glass beads - made from beer bottles, wine bottles, and a broken vase that a friend of mine donated.


• Hollow beads - new, delightful, and full of color.


• Sculptural beads - this overlaps with some of the other categories, but look soon for my psychedelic carrot and some new fish!


• Spacers - I'll be grouping them by color or theme or perhaps whimsy, and offering them in sets. These sets will be offered at cost, basically, to move inventory.

Tips for Artists:
Are you in Israel, searching for new fairs to promote your work? JL's Spring Festival welcomes a limited number of artists/craftspeople who show their work to several thousand festival visitors, mostly "anglos" who appreciate our handcrafted creations. If you'd like more information about this fair, email me at cec235@hotmail.com

May updates

Welcome to Glass & Light, Israel. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.

Some updates for today:

• Jacob's Ladder! I'll be on the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee for those of you in the US) for 3 days of sun, fun and fantastic music, selling my glass art. If you're in Israel, I highly recommend this folk music festival. You can read all about it - and hear some of the music from years past, if you have speakers - at http://www.jlfestival.com/
• No more Art Fire - - sorry, but I didn't enjoy being part of this virtual community. (Meaning... I didn't sell anything. Oh, well....) I had all my most elegant lampwork and gemstone necklaces listed there. After Jacob's Ladder, I'll be listing them in one of my other webstores.
• Renovations, renovations, renovations; right after JL we'll be starting renovations to enlarge my studio, so that I'll be able to welcome visitors in style and offer workshops. For those of you who have queried me on workshops in the past, keep your eye on my website for updates, starting in June. (Yes, our construction manager swears it will all be done in 2 weeks... but is that really 2 weeks or 2 weeks in the south of Israel, which can stretch into 2 years?? We'll soon find out!)
  

Spinning Wheels of Color....

Welcome to Glass & Light, Israel. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.

I spent a few days realizing my dream of learning to make kaleidoscopes. I still have a long way to go but I'm excited to have met with some success already.

The first noted here has straight sides, a decorated casing, and no object in front but a few bead dangles. I put in some colored mirror inside and this tinted everything aqua. The photo on my "other" blog was taken with this scope.

The second also has straight sides and a revolving agate over the end. The agate has natural color variations and an unusual shape that combines with the view you see through the scope. The photo below was taken with this scope.

The third scope is an itty-bitty tapered scope. I put one of my lampwork disks in the front and there isn't much light. You can see photos of that scope in my Flickr photo collection (there's a link in my "other" blog to that, too).

Wishing all my friends, family, clients and followers a very happy Passover and Spring season!

May this be a year of health, peace and prosperity for all

Glass & Stone - using agates and raw gemstones in stained glass

Welcome to Glass & Light, Israel. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.

I go through periods when I am possessed by the urge to handle stones - we're not talking about diamonds here but stones can be used with a lot of success in stained glass. Just foil them up as if they are glass. Usually, because they are not straight edged like glass pieces, and not particularly sharp, there is no need to grind the edges.

How do I love stones? Let me count the ways:

• polished agate slices
• polished chunks of semi-precious stones
• raw (unpolished) semi-precious stones
• cool stones that I've picked up while hiking around
• polished and unpolished fossils
• stone beads like garnet, jade and carnelian
  

Tips for Glass Artists:

1. Most rocks are not flat. (We all know that but when handling rocks with glass, we forget.) When you're setting chunks/nuggets/crystal spears into your work, consider saving the rock work for last, and centering them in their place. This means that the copper foil is wrapped around the center of rock, and you'll need to put supports under you panel to raise it to the height you want relative to the rock. The rock will stick out of both sides of your work.


2. Flux can leach some colors out of the edges of dyed agates. I like the effect, myself.


3. Patina acid can damage the polished finish on some stones, agates and fossils. If you want to patina your piece, consider applying a thin layer of oil or Vaseline on the stone's surface first. Be very careful not to get the Vaseline on the solder, as this can result in uneven patina cover.

Mandalas for your spirit

Welcome to Glass & Light, Israel. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.

I find making mandalas a very spiritual quest, and often lose track of time while preparing them - it's very absorbing. I'd like to share some of them here on my website; some are for sale and some were private commissions and by definition, for sale only to the clients who requested them.

The mandala on the right, is called "Israeli summer." I made this, really, to show off the pottery shards that I love to collect. When I handle them, I can't but think of all the people in the past 2,000 years who might have used the clay vessel the shards came from. In Israel, these things are laying about pretty much everywhere and I find them very evocative. I made companion piece called "Israeli Winter" which used blues and greens with shards.

I recently created this mandala to commemorate a young woman who died in a freak accident. As I was working, Liat's photo was centered among the pieces of art glass. She was looking directly at the camera when the photo was taken and as I worked, I felt like she was looking straight at me, into my soul. I found myself smiling into her eyes and thinking, yes, between the two of us, we will make something for your parents that they will love. It sounds a little crazy, but aren't all artists a little crazy??

Dancing Water Lilies - Fused mandala within a stained glass mandala

Chanuka Menora

Welcome to Glass & Light, Israel. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.

I'd like to share a photo of a special commission I just completed. Sure, it's a little late for this holiday, but the family fell in love with a menora - or Chanukia - they saw in our home and commissioned this one to take back with them to the USA. They plan on using it for many years to come; it will not only serve their traditions but be a very personal souvenir of their stay in Israel.

The glass cups can hold wicks and oil or candles. They can be removed for cleaning. The shamas (or head candle, as we called it when I was a kid) is at the top. You can just see its support on the highest edge. It also carries a cup, which doesn't show in the this photo.

Art Boxes - a place to keep your dreams

Welcome to Glass & Light, Israel. If we haven't met before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.

Today's *ping* is about Art Boxes. These are stained glass boxes with fancy lids. Most of my Art Boxes are special orders and meant to capture the sentiments of the client. They come in various styles. Ocassionally I make them without anyone in mind and then they most likely express my sentiments of the moment.

Please take a moment to leave a comment and let me know what kind of designs you would like to see in Art Boxes, even if you don't want to order one.

Welcome to my new website...

Welcome to my new website. If you haven't met me before, you can visit my "other blog" (see link on the right) for a more personal view into my soul.

So what's new today? I'm listing a new line of stained glass ammonite creations in my Glass & Light Etsy store. I'll put in a few new ones every day - I've made about 10. Each is unique and all are for sale.

Brand New Day....

this is my new blog. Nothing here yet... check back soon!