Panel Lamp #2

At this stage, all of the pieces have been cut, ground and foiled.

Now I am ready to solder the individual panels.

Here I have already soldered the panels and am preparing to stand the shade up so that I can solder it into the shape of the lamp shade.

When I made my first panel lamp this part of the process sounded really easy. You just tape the panels together and then pull up in the middle and it will come up into the shape. However, it was nowhere near that simple. I tried and tried and could not get it to cooperate. In fact, I thought about giving up a couple times. I persisted though, and eventually succeeded. So this time I prepared myself. I was ready to take a frustratingly long time. However....

...SUCCESS!!!!

And on the first try!

I must admit, I was pretty proud of myself.

I am almost done now. I just have to solder the rest of it and then I will be done! And on to the next project!

Snowstorms & Brainstorms

I don't know what it is about snowstorms that makes me so happy, but they do. The result of this happiness puts me in a brainstorming mood. Around this time in a project (3/4 of the way done) I also start thinking about my next project. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's the way it is. So...this morning, that is what I have been doing. Brainstorming for my next project. I am thinking of doing another lamp, but there are so many choices!

My favorite kind is the Tiffany-style lamp. There are many different styles of this type of lamp, but one beautiful example is this:

The one problem/benefit of doing this style of lamp is that I have never done one before. It would definitely be a challenge, but that always makes things more fun. Plus, I always love to learn something new.

The next style, of which I have done 1 for myself and 3/4 of another one for my sister (so far), is the panel lamp. There are also many styles of this one, but here are 2 examples:

The second one is the panel lamp that I did for myself. (It's more red than it appears in the picture). It was my first lamp. Pretty simple, but I like it.

So that is where I am today. Trying to decide what to do next. And while I love doing stained glass windows, I just feel like making a lamp at the moment.

Stay tuned for an update on my current project...

Here I am...

After what has probably been close to a year of thinking and changing my mind back and forth a hundred different times, here I am. I have finally decided to jump into the world of blogging. I have never been a person with a lot to say, so I will mostly be posting pictures of my stained glass art as well as other art that inspires me. As Federico Fellini said, "All art is autobiographical." So maybe through this blog you will learn more about me than I would ever put into words. Either way, I hope you enjoy it.