Glassy Bevels!

I was told that I needed a catchy title and this is what I came up with.   

Following are close up images of the 1st stage of the beveling which will be easier to see each bevel.  I am showing these to explain how the bevels that I create are different from anything you have seen.  Typically when you see bevels in glasswork such as in entryways, mirrors, bevel clusters that stained glass artists can purchase, etc.  each bevel is a particular width and remains that width all around the shape.  

Quite a few years ago I was taught how to hand bevel and the width had to be the same all around the shape.  In the mid 1990s I was piecing together a panel with bevels that I had created and the design was flat due to each bevel being the same width all around the shapes and each one next to each other. I wanted more movement and depth to the design so I started playing with the idea of changing the width of the bevel from one side to the other and different widths from opposite sides of the shape.  This created much more movement and depth throughout the design.  This can be seen in many of the images I have throughout this blog as well as in my web sites isaacdsmith.com and stained-glass-creations.com

This additional light play as well as increased depth and movement adds to my purpose to Nourish Your Soul Through a Symphony of Light and Colour!

 

Glass Beveling, Stage 1

 Today I started hand beveling the pieces shown in previous post.  This first stage entails getting the initial angles in the glass, grinding glass away to the width and angle desired.  

Because of grinding glass away there are tons of scratches in the glass which create the cloudy feel.  The next couple of stages will be more of a finesse in smoothing out/taking layers away to get rid of those scratches.  The second stage is smoothing followed by pre polish and finally polish.  

Starting Fabrication Process of Stained Glass for Door

 I am starting the process of piecing together the stained glass panel:  

The 4 squares and 2 triangles will be hand beveled next to continue being able to piece together the design.  I am using zinc came due to the size of the panel.   I will show the hand beveling process as I proceed.  

Very exciting to be starting this process! 

Full Scale Design Completed

 The full scale stained glass design for the interior door is now completed:

Click on each image to see the design better. I had to darken images some to be able to see the line work.  Next step will be cutting clear 1/4 in glass for the sections that will be hand beveled.  I will continue showing pictures as I progress. 

Stained Glass Design for Interior Door

 Back in March and April I had posted a design for a stained glass panel to be inset in an interior door. This is the design I posted:

 I have since completed the door frame and hung it up:

It is a nice door slider.  I also have worked on the design a bit more and have reduced the number of hand beveled pieces and added more color.  I think this is a more interesting design:

Lot more interest, movement and light play. I will enjoy working on this.

Art Comes Alive 2024

 ADC Fine Art is presenting Art Comes Alive 2024 which is a juried international competition:

I had submitted several works and had a painting accepted into the event! Pianist was accepted!

I shipped the painting to OH for the event which takes place on the 16th.  I am grateful for this opportunity and it will be interesting to see if I win anything at this event. To be continued...

Stained Glass Star is Completed!

 Stained Glass of the Dallas Cowboys star is now completed:

Glass Panel Cleaned/Bevel Pieces Bonded

Completed cleaning the panel and the blue beveled pieces bonded on top of the clear beveled sections in the star.

 After completing the above sections I applied a patina on the solder joints so that they will blend in with the came instead of remaining silver:

Glass Pieces Beveled, Ready for Bonding

 While the putty is setting for a week, here are the blue pieces being cut and beveled:

Stained Glass Panel Pieced Together and Soldered

 Glass panel is coming together nicely! Top picture shows it all pieced together, 2nd image is after soldering all joints front and back, bottom two are showing the putty which fills in gaps in the came channel which will harden and traditionally was used as a sealer for the elements since these were the existing window up until a certain time period.  The last panel also shows the whiting which helps the putty to dry faster as well as absorbing oils from the putty. Have to let it set for a week before cleaning, in the meantime blue glass pieces cut in the shape of the center of each clear bevel of the star will be beveled and be ready for bonding on top once the panel is cleaned.

Important World Artists Publication is now Online!

 The publication Important World Artists Vol. 6 where I had 3 paintings win awards and able to be submitted in this publication.

Following is the link:  https://wwab.us/iwa-6/

The artists are listed alphabetically by last name so I am closer to the back of the publication.

The physical books will be available towards the end of August.

Piecing Together Glass Panel

 Began piecing together the glass panel: 

Different Stages of Beveling

 Clear bevels completed after 4 stages, roughing, smoothing, pre polish and polish:

First image shows the smoothing and pre polish stages, the bottom image shows polished stage.

The next step was to cut the 4 corner blue pieces and bevel a couple of edges to transition with the adjacent clear bevels and to tie in with the triangular shapes in the star.

Beveling Shapes

First stage of beveling continues with other shapes:

The last one in the background is the 5 sided shape that is the center of the star.  

Beveling Started

Began beveling the rectangles, this is the roughing or first stage: 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=823TMbZoNDE    This is a link for my video demonstration of hand beveling glass.  

New Stained/Beveled Glass Project

 I am working on a stained glass project for a client that I have done 3 other small panels at different times over the last 8 yrs.  I typically don't do these type of designs- sports team logos- but in her case she had a very good reason and I have been happy to help her and create these for her.  This one is the most detailed of all of them and involving hand beveled and bonded glass.  Here is the progress so far:

I have cut out all the clear glass that will be hand beveled. The beveled star will end up having blue pieces beveled and bonded onto the center portion of each piece.  

My Page Layout for the upcoming Important World Artists anthology

 I found out this last week that the upcoming anthology of Important World Artists Vol 6 is getting closer to being completed for the online book and the physical book will begin printing soon!  

This is my page layout for the publication:

The bio for these are typically done in 3rd person and info given pertaining to where learned the skills, awards, education, etc.  I don't like sticking to that format thus the difference in what I had written for the page.

Important World Artists award winner!

 I recently submitted artwork into a competition for an anthology to be published of Important World Artists curated and published by Artavita.  The following email was sent out the other day and I am excited as well as absorbing and processing the information!

Out of 1598 works and 389 artists I was selected as one of the 82 finalists!

I am grateful to be selected at this level!

My Work in World Wide Art Magazine #14 is Now Published!

 The two paintings that won in a competition I had mentioned in a previous post are now in the World Wide Art Magazine #14 which was published and distributed a couple days ago. 

Here is the link:

https://wwab.us/wwa-magazine-14/

A partial image of one of the paintings is on the Index page and the full image as well as the other painting are on pgs 87 and 88.

I am very pleased to be in this magazine!

International Art Competition Award Winner!

I have entered my artwork into a couple different international art competitions put on by Artavita.  The first was competing for the Artist of the Year Title and Awards where there were 60 awards, the top 3 had specific prizes. I placed 35th out of 480+ entries!  My painting titled Anxiety won that position!

Here is the award certificate:

The second one that I entered was the 63rd Artavita Online Art Contest, to be selected for publication in the 14th issue of World Wide Art Magazine. I had 2 paintings chosen for this award out of several hundred entries!  These are my oil paintings Anxiety and Discovering:

Here is the certificate:

I am very excited to have won awards in both as this is the first time entering my work into International competitions!  The second award allows me 2 free pages published in the World Wide Art Magazine coming out later this month! 

I don't know what the outcome of this will be but am glad to be doing something different and experiencing a positive outcome!