Puppy Love Stained Glass Night Light

When my nephew Ryan and his wife Jennifer had their first baby, Julia, I made for her a night light.  It was a teddy bear with a blue ribbon around it's neck and holding a red heart. Cool...

This past summer they had their second little girl, Victoria.  I wanted to make a night light for her that was comparable, but different.  I found a pattern of a puppy with a tennis shoe in it's mouth, and voila! 

Puppy love. 

Jennifer was interested in the process involved, and guess what,

I just happened to take some pictures along the way!

Here is my design, and the pattern after tracing it with carbon paper onto half of a manila folder, which I cut out and glued to the glass.  Then I cut the glass to individual pieces......

...and grind them to their exact shapes.

 I wrap each piece with a strip of copper foil,
 which has an adhesive backing. 

After burnishing, this foil is what the solder flows on,
to hold everything together.

 Now I tack it all to the pattern to keep things in place while I solder.

Next I apply some flux to the seams,

which helps the solder flow smoothly, and solder...

          You'll notice that their is a tab at the puppies feet...

             this goes in the slot of the wooden base of the night light.

I also used black glass cabochons,

 which are rounded on the top, for the eyes.

There's alot of washing after soldering to remove all the flux and finger prints.

I am also prone to finishing most solder with a dark patina,
 instead of leaving it shiny silver...that's just how I like it.

Sweet dreams!

Feel free to leave a comment!.....please? 

And do come see what's new in the shop...

http://www.etsy.com/shop/newmoonglass

     

Morning Visiter

I have been sorting through old photos today,

and thought I would share a project I did in 2007.

It's still hanging in my living room today.

 Unfortunatley the photos don't really show the

dimension created by layering the glass. 

The bottom layer consists of the sky,  hills, bridge, and water. 

The hummingbird and flowers are individually attached on top of the bottom layer at varying angles, and wire swirls through the morning glories as the vine.  

I bought the frame from a catalog.  It had a mirror  in it, but I new that I would eventually put stained glass in there!

A year or two later...voila!  

Valentine

http://newmoonglass.etsy.com/

I made this little valentine with a chunky glass heart inside a wire wrapped bronze 3" ring.   I added a cascade of iridescent beads and a delicate red ribbon for hanging. 

Color in Motion

http://newmoonglass.etsy.com/

This was the first thing I sold on etsy.  I was kinda bummed because it sold the same day I listed it.  It was a personal favorite and I really wanted to show it off.  It is my own design using left over bits of glass from other projects along with some glass gems.   I loved the different textures and colors.   I like to use it as an example of the vast difference in the character of glass when viewed with backlighting as opposed to front lighting.  Night and day!  I called it Color In Motion.

The Fish

This colorful fish is not my own design..... but every time I looked through this pattern book I was drawn to it.  The center part with the fish is the design from the book, then I added the rest to make it bigger.  I'm not sure why.  I knew that I had no place to hang it, and I did'nt know anyone that was really into fish...or a Pisces.  I just really wanted to make that fish.  That was a while before I started trying to sell my work.  Now I have it listed in my shop online.  I love the colors and motion of it!   

Trinket Box

This a sea shell trinket box.  The design is not my own.  I used a textured turquoise glass.  I plan on making some small affordable trinket boxes for my esty shop.....ah...the time's the thing.

Bejeweled Miniature

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This little jewel is only  3 1/2" x 2 3/4".   I used some pieces of glass left over from previous projects.  I don't like to throw good glass away.  Add to that some glass gems and a bit of wire and there you have it.  It sold on my web site to a lady at Berkeley.  It was a part of my fourth sale on Etsy...I was very excited!