This new glue is called HoneyDoo Zuper Glue. I bought a small bottle and put it on a shelf. A month later, I decided to give it a try. Problem was that the glue had dried in the bottle. Apparently there was a manufacturing problem. I got another bottle, and back on the shelf it went.

Last week, however, the HoneyDoo Zuper Glue finally came in handy. When I made my flower plant pokes, placing the stem first was the best way to design the piece. But as I placed the petals around the glass stringer stem it rolled everywhere. A small dot of Honey Doo Zuper glue instantly kept the stem in place so I could continue my design. With the HoneyDoo Zuper Glue the glass stringer wasn’t going to move anywhere. For the petals, I either used no glue, or a small dot of Klyr-Fire glue. The Klyr-Fire allowed me to reposition the petals until I had them where I wanted them.

HoneyDoo Zuper Glue definitely has a place in this glass fuser’s workshop.

I often check out the Bullseye Glass and Spectrum Glass websites for ideas and inspiration. The Spectrum Glass website has a project guide section that provided the inspiration I needed. I came up with an idea for a plant poke or plant stake for my flower loving friend based on two of the projects in the guide. The first one was the Icicles project which was the inspiration for the shape of my plant stake. The second project was the Garden Border Dish which was the inspiration for the flowers.

I am not so sure I’ll be selling these anytime soon on my website. All the little pieces made it a bit time consuming to create these. If I can come up with a more time efficient method of creating the flower designs, then they might be profitable to sell. These could be a good item to sell at the fall show that I do. More experimenting ahead!

It is a complete book. By that I mean it is valuable for beginners and beyond. This book covers more topics than I have seen in any other books. It has 22 chapters. In addition to all of the basics of cutting glass, firing and slumping, it has information on cold working, inclusions, pot melts, pattern bars, kiln casting, and so much more. It is a book that will grow with you as your skills develop and will be a great reference book. The index in the back of the book makes it easy to quickly find what you are looking for.

This is not just a “how-to” book. And in fact, you won’t find a lot of projects in this book. What you will find is a lot of inspiration and great explanations on the “why” things happen. I’ve read and reread much of this book and highlighted quite a few sections. I highly recommend this book!

Handkerchief vases, or drape vases, are made by positioning a piece of glass over a stainless steel form. It is slowly heated in the kiln until gravity starts to do the work of shaping the glass. A lot of variable go into how the piece will turn out. The type of glass, how it is positioned on the form, how hot the kiln is and how long I keep the glass at the highest temperature all play a role. The results are never the same.

I really like the way this handkerchief vase turned out. There is a lot of “movement” in it. The glass is clear and black on the inside while the outside is an iridescent glass. The swirl pattern on the glass helps to accentuate the flowing lines of this piece. It’s really hard to capture this in pictures, but here are a few.

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This piece was really all about the color. It is a little hard to see in the photograph, but the colors in the stained glass panel are echoed in the painting that is hanging on the wall. The dark blue represents the dark shadowy foreground of the landscape as the sun sets. The purple and pink are the wonderful hues that a setting sun can produce. There are bright oranges as the sun sets low into the horizon. And the turquoise blue is the last sliver of the blue sky you can see as the sun goes down.

This piece can be viewed as you walk into the front door of the home and makes a great statement. I love it when a client isn’t afraid to put their own personality into a design. This design was a nice departure from the flowers and bevel designs that are so popular.

Here is another view with different lighting.

When I first started selling on line in my Etsy shop, I checked my statistics fanatically! Several times a day! Before Google Analytics, I kept a spreadsheet to see what time of day people were looking at my shop. I tried to evaluate if views went up when I listed a new item for sale. They did. Then I tried to see if a certain time of day was better than another for generating views. After I signed on with Google Analytics, I checked daily to see what keywords were being searched on. I learned which items were the most viewed. I learned which blog post was the most popular. I learned a lot…

Not really.

I had a lot of statistics and information, but I never did figure out how to use any of these facts to help me sell anything. I can’t tell you if blogging, or tweeting, or Facebooking resulted in a single sale. This is frustrating to me because all this information should tell me something.

This June will be four years since I opened my Etsy shop. I don’t look at the statistics nearly as much as I used to. Now I mostly just look at two things.

1. How much am I selling?
2. Am I selling more this year than last year?

I figure that as long as the trend is up it’s still worth keeping my Etsy shop open.

If you want to contribute to the statistics, you can visit my Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/GlassArtByMargot

I used to be afraid of the design phase of a commissioned stained glass project. But now it is one of my favorite parts. I spend way more time on it than I should, but it is because I get totally lost in the design process. I have tons of books that I use for inspiration as well as searching the internet. An image search is a great way to get color and design inspiration. After I’ve filled my head with images and ideas, I draw my design using a program called GlassEye. This again takes way more time than it should because I am forever tweaking the design. Knowing when to stop can be the hardest part.

Before I actually start drawing a design though, I meet with the client. Sometimes clients have an idea of what they want. Sometimes they don’t. Often clients ask for flowers and humming birds. And I will admit that my own first stained glass piece was indeed flowers and a humming bird. But there are so many more possibilities. On occasion, I will work off of a pattern on a piece of fabric in the room. That was the case in the stained glass window pictured above. The clients wanted to obscure the outside view but let as much light in as possible. Their window treatments had a leaf pattern that I used to frame the window on a trellis.  Sometimes the client wants something traditional and neutral. In that case I usually recommend different types of clear textured glass and some beveled glass. The piece I am working on now is inspired by a sunset photograph that the clients loved. They also love the bright colors associated with New Mexico. This was a really fun piece to design.

After the design is approved by the client, it’s time to make the pattern templates that I will use to cut the glass. To do this I lay down some poster board. On top of that I put a layer of tracing paper. Next is a layer of white paper followed by another layer of tracing paper. The final top layer is my computer pattern. I trace over all of the lines of my pattern. Then the bottom poster board layer is cut up to make the templates that will be traced onto the glass. The white paper layer will be used as my layout piece. This piece goes on my workbench and the window will be built on top of this piece.

Once I get past this necessary step, the fun really starts. That’s when I get to start cutting out the glass.

For an arched window, the first thing I do is make a template of the opening. I take a roll of paper, place it over the opening, and trace the outline. Then I spray mount the tracing onto cardboard which I cut out and check against the opening. This usually requires several trips up and down the ladder to make adjustments to the fit. When I’m done, I have a template of the opening.

But to get the glass pattern size right I have to adjust the template. I have to subtract 1/8 inch for the hardware that holds the window in place, ¼ inch for the lead came border, and a 1/16 inch for allowance. Sounds pretty straight forward, right? Well if you are a numbers person, it probably isn’t a big deal. And even though I did well in math, it does not come naturally to me.

Because I am paranoid about this part of the process, once I have the final design drawn I adjust the template to the new measurements and make another trip to the client’s house to make sure I’ve got it right. So far, I have never had a window that hasn’t fit on installation day. Maybe after I’ve done a hundred or so of these windows, I’ll worry less. Until then, the extra trip to size the template is worth the peace of mind knowing that installation day will be a breeze.

One reason for my general malaise is the darn rain. We needed rain so desperately in Houston. But enough is enough. Too many days of rain and gray skies are doing nothing for my mood. Maybe I have Seasonal Affective Disorder. Or maybe I am bummed because I haven’t been able to play tennis. There is definitely something therapeutic about being in the sun and smashing a tennis ball around. So much so that I once suggested to my husband that he move my tennis expenses from the “hobby” category in our budget to the “health” category. He didn’t buy it.

The other reason for my bad mood is that I haven’t had much studio time. I am having creativity withdrawal symptoms. Other than doodling on my napkin during a two day retirement seminar, I haven’t been able to create. I don’t know why this makes me grumpy, but over the years I have definitely noticed a correlation between my mood and the amount of time I spend creating. It doesn’t necessarily have to be creating in glass, but I have to be doing something creative. Next week I will start working on a new custom stained glass piece. So I am sure thing will look up. In the meantime, I am going to turn on all the lights and put my creative efforts into baking a cake for my mom’s birthday tomorrow.

Speaking of mom’s birthday, I made this plate for mom a few weeks ago. I hope she likes it.

Unfortunately, not everyone survives colon cancer. Kim Hanson, the daughter of a friend, did not survive. Kim was diagnosed with stage IV colorectal cancer in August of 2008. She was 37 years old and known for her ever-present smile and signature “live sassy” slogan. Kim lost her courageous battle on December 31, 2009. While fighting her cancer, Kim spent each chemotherapy session at Fort Bragg’s Womack Army Medical Center with a cozy blanket. It was her wish that every cancer patient who is “in the fight for their lives” should have some comfort during it. With that, Comfy for Chemo was born and is dedicated to providing blankets for every active duty military, retiree or dependent receiving chemotherapy.

According to the National Cancer Institute, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death from cancer in the United States. The number of new colorectal cancer cases and the number of deaths from colorectal cancer are decreasing slightly each year. But in adults younger than 50, the number of new colorectal cancer cases has slowly increased since 1998. A look at some of the stories on the Get Your Rear in Gear website will attest to this. I was surprised to see how many young adults in their twenties have colorectal cancer.

Colon cancer is an equal opportunity disease. It strikes both young and old, men and women. I encourage you to get screened if you are over 50, or sooner if you have risk factors. Because of hereditary factors I have already had three screenings. And while its not the most fun way to spend a day, it could very well save your life. (I will tell you that if I could dedicate my donation money it would be to find a better prep method… just saying.) Obviously, this is very personal to me. I would like to invite you to help provide comfort, to educate and to fight this disease.  Here are some ways you can join in this fight:

• Visit the Comfy for Chemo website and provide a blanket for a chemotherapy patient.

• If you live in the Kingwood or Atascocita area, Comfy for Chemo will be the Guest Charity on Friday, March 2, at the free Keller Williams Concert at the Harbor. Raffle tickets will be sold from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. There will be some great raffle items including one of my custom fused glass plates. For more information visit the Keller Williams website.

• Also, in honor of my mom and in memory of Kim, my husband Mark and I will be doing our second Get Your Rear in Gear walk. If you would like to support us by contributing to this cause, you can visit my personal page by clicking on this link: Get Your Rear in Gear My Page. Whatever you can give will help – it all adds up!

Comfy for Chemo Raffle Item