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Phoenix wrote:
Where would be a good place to start if one wanted to look up how to start doing stained glass?
Like what materials are best, how to cut the glass, that kind of stuff…
Look for stained glass shops near you. That is the best place to get lessoning from. A community college course can be a bit iffy – usually they won’t have as wide a variety of tools and glass available to work with as a stained glass shop. A glass shop will typically have classes on-site for a price – or classes for glass fuzing, mosaics, glass beads… etc. The sort of stained glass I do is a slightly different style from typical glass. I use the Tiffany method (copper foil around each piece) instead of cane-work, which is how I get such fine solder lines on my glass.
Just a word of warning however… stained glass is not a cheap hobby. The glass can be very expensive depending upon the variety. I’ve paid up to $70 a square foot for some of my rarer glass. The dichroics are worse, sometimes as much as $7 a square inch. I think my entire setup at home (minus the labor involved in building the tables) cost around $500. But I knew exactly what I wanted, and where to get it.
For materials, all I can say is to find what you like you must sample, sample, sample. I have my favorite glasses, glass cutters, and grinder heads and such, but there’s a huge variety out there to choose from, *especially* in the glass.
So, taking a starter class is a good place to start. Just don’t be masochistic like me, and take on a 500 piece project as a first project!
Thank you.
My signature picture is not an actual stained glass piece, but rather one I have planned. And I fully plan on rendering it in stained glass.
My main problem, is I don’t have the space. My specialty are huge, almost masochistically complex pieces that often take a year or more to create, and for that I need a reasonably sized workshop, especially if I intend on framing the piece (My Dad often does custom made wood frames for the larger pieces, because he is a wonderful wood-craftsman).
I am going to take commissions once I set situated in Oregon, as well as make some custom glass panels for the Windstone factory itself (Imagine an old warrior with each scale picked out rendered in glass!). Right now, all my glass supplies (along with my prized collection or rare and unique glass) is all stashed in my workshop in Redding. And I’m just going to leave it there until I leave for Oregon. No sense in hauling it south just to have to haul it north again.
Melody and I have batted the idea around of doing some collaboration glass pieces, and I know for a fact Arlla and Pam both want to learn the craft, so I’m not only going to be doing stained glass, but teaching it as well.
The ‘Ryask’ referred to in the picture is a gryphon. My gryphon, to be specific. That’s the critter my boyfriend uses to represent himself, much in the way I use that fangly wolf-horse stripey thing to represent me. He is also a stained glass craftsman, and we are working on a whole line of smaller pieces to sell in our (rare) free time. I’ll link you to his gallery yo you can see both his and my works:
My gallery:
http://buckskinmare.deviantart.com/Ryask’s Gallery:
http://ryaskgoldengryph.deviantart.com/That beautiful cedar chest you see he made for me. He is a horrendously talented craftsman himself. Check it out!
http://ryaskgoldengryph.deviantart.com/art/Cedar-Chest-74246355You know, I was going to remain quiet about this, but I have had enough of this little storm.
I watched and monitored this thread from the onset, and what disgusts me, is that AFTER it was known that someone had died, people posted something to the tune of “Oh that’s so sad… but can you keep such and such a piece for me?”. No doubt after I mention this, there will be a flurry of post editing to hide it all.
Snap was quite right in what he said.
Don’t expect me around either.
Well, the sentiment of her collection being sent to it’s newest guardian is a quaint, and sentimental idea. One, as a religious person, I’d like to believe.
Unfortunately, it’s most likely wrong. Assumptions being what they are.
I have absolutely zero faith in people these days, and I am not beyond thinking these were either stolen, or dumped by an uncaring family, or dumped to cover something up. The more momentos that turn up, the more I am thinking this is the case. If this is the case and they left these secrets out for anyone to find, well then, they can deal with the repercussions of not covering up such secrets. The presence of personal mometos that obviously mean something to someone is a dead giveaway that something is going on here, and it was a clue left behind.
You may choose to believe whatever you wish, and inaction at the end of the day is still an action. But if I were the finder of that collection, I would certainly make an effort to find what became of the owner given the situation surrounding the sculptures.
I am glad the collection is in caring hands, nonetheless.
Aetharia wrote:I decided to open the box that the shopkeeper handed over to me when I went to see her. It’s another green emperor that was wrapped in a quilt. He seems to be alright, but the quilt is what caught my attention. I make quilts myself, and I knew this one was handmade. I turned it over and sure enough, there was a small message stitched into the bottom corner. Usually a quilt maker will sign their work somehow, either by stitching it or even hiding it in the fabric in some special way.
The message was done in black embroidery thread, and it reads.
“For Tristan”
“From Grandma Maggie”
“2007”Does anyone know a woman named Maggie on the forums??
This is getting fishier by the second. First the shopkeeper that dosn’t want to say anything, and now more personal momentos? This is starting to paint a rather bad picture. It’s starting to smack of more than someone simply passing away. The hurried nature of the whole deal has me thinking coverup.
Whatever you do… proceed with extreme caution now. This is setting off my cop instincts.
Aetharia wrote:I have never been so upset or angry in my entire life.
I went back to the shop to talk with the owner. She was very nice like she was when I was there on Saturday, and actually offered me another box of what she said was windstones. She said she thought that was ‘all of them’.. which I’m still not totally sure what that meant. I went on to ask her where all these dragons had come from, and if she knew the story behind their owner. I also went on to tell her I’d found personal items amongst the dragons I’d already unpacked, and that I really wanted to speak with a family member.
Her being nice, changed over to a sheet of ice. She said she didn’t understand why I was asking so many questions, and that she didn’t have any information about the owner or her family. I told her I just wanted to contact the family and at least tell them that I had personal items I thought they might want. Her response went along the lines of:
“They dumped all those boxes on me because they didn’t want them, and they seemed to be in a rush when they handed them over. I don’t know anything about the grandmother or her family. But I can tell you they didn’t want the dragons.”
And then went on to me I was really young to be asking so many personal questions about people I didn’t know, and to mind my own business.
She also went on to tell me she wanted 100.00 for that last box, which I think was more her being spiteful than anything else. I just wrote her a check, and left.
I’m really at a loss, and I don’t think I’m going to be able to find out anything at all.
I’m sorry everyone. I tried. 🙁
I’m going to do some more sorting, and Lizzie took the two PYO’s to the campus to see if she can track down something in the Photography classrooms to get some pictures.
(I probably should have posted this in this thread over the other one, so I went ahead and double-posted)
*scowls*
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Aetharia wrote:I couldn’t sleep, so I’ve locked myself in the office with a mug of tea and another box in my lap.
I do want to know who this woman was. I never, ever thought that a snoop through an antique shop would turn into something like this. I also wasn’t expecting to find some of the more personal items left in these boxes that should have gone to a family member. The little pinkie curlie for example. If that picture was of the collector’s grandchild, I would think he or she would want that dragon for the personal value alone. The more I think about it, the more angry I get.
These dragons were neatly packed away, and with how much care was put into placing them in their boxes, I think only a windstone lover could have done it. It seems like the boxes were never gone through, or the family just didn’t care. Or maybe they were just grieving and didn’t want to go through personal things. I don’t know.. but I feel like so much was just thrown away for no reason.
I -will- be making phonecalls tomorrow. If any of the windstone staff wants to contact me personally, I can provide my cell in a pm. I may be away from the comp all day, so you all might not hear from me until tomorrow evening. Four hour classes also have to be taken into account. ><
Snap just said over in the flea market thread what I tried to say politely here. Thank you for being a better voice of reason than I could, Snap.
We are working this from the other end. What would make this a lot easier, is if you find any more limited production pieces or any of the first-10 production run pieces, or even a one-of-a-kind piece. That might give us some hints, and Susie and I can go through the paper trail from this end, and hopefully find out who this is. Post pictures of the PYOs here when you get the opportunity. Hopefully someone will recognize them.
Just take this a little at a time. Answers probably won’t come easily, or immediately, but anything you can provide us as clues will help. Admittedly, the contents of the boxes don’t bode well insofar as what happened to the original owner, but just remember you have her collection now, and it is for the moment, safe until you can get some further answers. Don’t let it stress you too much… it is tragic, but you are doing your part as best you can, and you should be more than content with that.
This case really does hit a nerve with me. When I was younger, our elderly neighbor passed away… which was a tragedy, since he was a very nice man. His son came to collect his belongings. Except this collection involved throwing everything, from the furniture to the draperies to the knick-knacks in a dumpster than he had parked outside the house.
Call it personal interest, or feelings. But I want to find out who this person was, too.
Dragon Master wrote:Even if she bought them thru the store that does not mean she was an active Forum member. Maybe she just had a store account to purchase from. That would be the key if Windstone could find out anyone in her area that purchased the Pink Curly recently
She might not have been a forum member… but she might have. That is what we are trying to figure out. From the number and types of dragons she had, this was no small investor, and with the PYOs and curls, there is a reasonably good chance she knew of the board.
Thing about the internet, is people drop off the map all the frigging time. And this is *not* the way we had hoped to find out about a potential forum member’s death. No worse than you, or anyone else knocking off, and someone else finding their collection in the dumpster, smashed to bits.
Don’t downplay this tragedy. Just because she might not have been a forum member makes it no less of a tragic, recent death of a windstone collector.
I think that the paint-your-owns might be the best clue. If several of them were present, it’s pretty unlikely they were all from second-hand sources, unless the person painted them. In which case, we might recognize a painting style.
Lets see if any other indicator pieces turn up first. Curls might be a good tracking device if there was a limited enough color present, but a OOAK or one of the first-run production pieces with the sparkle paint on them also might be a good indicator.
I hate to be the one breaking the joy of the terrific find over in the flea market… but this find marks something a bit more tragic.
One of our forum members is missing.
Melody and I are trying to track down who this person was who owned all these dragons. Some of the stuff was obviously bought recently (the PYOs). I’ve put out this general broadcast call to see if we can’t get a sort of a headcount of any older forum members who haven’t been seen or heard from in a while.
While it is a treasure trove of a find, let’s please keep in mind it might have been one of our friends right here on the board who passed away.
Greater Basilisk wrote:The unpainted dragon with the open mouth is a sconce.
The silver kinglet looks pretty, the RF Risers look even better – and I gotta ditto purplecat on the shasta blue. I guess there’s not enough variation in it for my taste.The lighting in the actual factory isn’t very good. She’s got quite a bit of silver-black-blue gradation, and all the larger scales I meticulously outlined with a fine airbrush. There’s an intense amount of detail, but… the pictures do suck. She’s also got that special sparkle paint on her, but that dosn’t show up either unfortunately.
I have a few more ideas for some secret keepers. If Shasta Blue sells well enough, they might let me do more. That is pretty much what will decide if I get to do more shasta dragons – if this one sells really well.
*keeps her fingers crossed*
My list has gotten a lot shorter, but my tastes have gotten much more expensive.
I’m looking for just one thing – any one of Olympia’s sun dragons excluding the pearl colored ones. Just one. I want a piece done by my mentor, and I think her sun dragons are the best thing she makes.
I really, really want the red one with the violet dots, but I think he is owned (and loved) by a forum member. But I thought it was worth a try.
Simple.
I can and do hate it thoroughly.
Enough to use it for trebuchet ammo, and not feel so much as a twinge of regret.
I for one, hope these don’t get produced. Ever. Mainly because I would hate being made to paint such an ugly color combination on such a wonderful sculpt. The Secret Keeper deserves better.
Alright! It’s the sneak-peek you’ve all been waiting for!
Tonight, we have a triple threat sneak peek!
Let’s start off with some silver kinglets!
And then add on some red flame scratchers and rising spectrals!
And now, what you all have been squeaking for… I present to you, my Shasta Blue.
I find myself quite often homesick for nothern california here in LA… so I colored this dragon off of my favorite sight in the world. Every morning, I could look to the north to see the grand spectacle of Mount Shasta dominating the horizon, so this dragon is painted with that view in mind. She shimmers in the sun much like the mountain does.
