Designing with Bevels III

So I find a picture of a rural scene since this home is out in the country (actually, if I'd been smart, I would have taken a picture through the window and the homeowner could have a very realistic idea of what the window would look like, if I'd been smart) and I make it a layer. I've made my drawing another layer on top of it.

I'll start with the border. Since the upper facet reflects what's below, I'll place the target of the Clone Tool on a section of the scene below the bevel (A above). Then I'll place cursor where the upper facet would be (B above) and click and drag to the right. The target will move in a corresponnding manner. This effectively "paint's" what the target is moving over into the area covered by the cursor.
You can hold the shift button down while dragging to get a straight horizontal, verrtical or 45 degree angle line. Another way; you can click and then hold the shift button down. Still holding the shift button move the cursor to the other end of where you want to "paint" and then click. The image gets wiped in nice and straight. This is useful where you want a straight line but it's on an angle.

Well, like I said, I'm using a poor man's version of Photoshop but I'd bet it has a similar feature.

j

http://www.homestudioartglass.com

Designing with Bevels II

The drawing above illustrates what I was saying; the upper facet bends the light coming from below, while the lower facet bends the light coming from above. Almost as if they were angled mirrors. The program I use, Adobe PhotoDeluxe® is a poor man's Photoshop. It has something they call a "clone" tool. You place the target on a part of the picture you want to copy. Then you put your cursor on the spot where you want the copied image, click and drag and it will "paint" whatever the target is moving over into the area you're covering with your cursor.

More Later
j

http://www.homestudioartglass.com

Designing with bevels

I've always had a problem when designing beveled glass, how to show the client what it's going to look like.

I would draw it up and use colored pencils to try to give some idea but my artwork never quite captured the beauty of the glass and I always wound up basically asking the client to use his imagination. And it's hard to ask someone to hand you what is sometimes a fairly large sum based on a image in their imagination.

Well, I don't know what other software might get the job done more easily but I use a program called Photo Deluxe along with Photoshop Ltd. That's how I made the image here.

When a piece of beveled glass is installed with the beveled side towards you, the flat surface will, of course be just like any other piece of clear glass, i.e. you'll see what directly in front of you. The upper surface will reflect what below it and the lower surface will reflect what is above it. Likewise the vertical surfaces will reflect accordingly.

More later.

j

http://www.homestudioartglass.com

Covered Up

It's a common expression here in South Central Kentucky, when you've got more work than you can handle you're "covered up".

And they say that God invented time so that everything wouldn't happen at once.

And just a few weeks ago I was whining 'cause things were so slow! We even started doing repairs! I hate repairs. Now we have so many irons in the fire I feel guilty spending this time on the blog.

Be careful what you wish for. Heh heh heh

j

http://www.homestudioartglass.com

Blenko Glass

We went to Blenko Glass in Milton W.Va. on Monday. I think they're one of the last American companies still blowing sheet glass. It's amazing the way they do it. They blow a bubble of glass that they form into a cylinder with either iron or wooden tools. They cut off the ends and score the open cylinder down the side and put it in a kiln where it opens to form a flat sheet of glass.

Usually, they use iron shaping tools to form the glass into a cylinder but they had 2 sheets of red that they'd used the wood shapers on and they were incredible! Looking at this glass you can really see it's true nature. Glass is a super cooled silicious liquid. In other words, a liquid that has become solid without having a freezing point.

Blenko is a very strange company. If you want to buy their sheet glass you have to order from them or go to their factory, they don't go through a distributor. But if you go, set a limit to how much you're going to spend, cause you'll be like a kid in a candy store; "I want this and this and this..." and first thing you know, you're way over budget.

I'll talk more about the nature of glass later, but check out Blenko glass at www.blenkoglass.com

j

http://www.homestudioartglass.com

Re: What Have We Been Working On?

Re-reading that post I think it could be assumed that we are really depressed about losing several art shows and that's not the case at all. Granted, we - especially me, I don't deal with disappointment well - were very down for several days, but what I wanted to get across was that we are now much more energized and enthusiastic about our work.

I saw on a TV show - it's terrible when most of your information comes from TV isn't it? - that the Chinese symbol for crisis is actually 2 symbols, one being the symbol for danger, and the other being the symbol for opportunity. I don't know if it's true or not, it doesn't even matter, I like the idea of it. And I think it's true that some of our best work comes under times of stress and crisis.

So I just want to correct any impression that we're all down in the dumps with bleak thoughts and bad feelings. Life is good!

j

http://www.homestudioartglass.com

Fish On a Stick

Well, we came up with a new item. It's a free standing fish on a stick. It has a wood base and it rotates. You can see it at http://www.homestudioartglass.com/images/fishies.jpg. We're going to try to get this item juried into the Kentucky Crafts Market.

I'm also finishing a church repair. We had a real bad hailstorm a few weeks back and it damaged a lot of windows. Even buildings with storm windows had quite a bit of damage. But this poor church didn't have any protective glazing and the 2 windows on the windward side of the building got really hammered. They had to be completely dismantled and rebuilt. I hope to get them installed by the end of the week.

j

http://www.homestudioartglass.com

What Have We Been Working On?

What have we been working on?

Well, we lost 2 of our shows (almost lost a third) this year. It focuses the mind you might say. I hope to say at that it was the best thing that ever happened to us but that would be premature at this point. It definitely makes you take a long hard look at your work and where you want to go. There's no doubt when you do the same shows year after year and you get to know what sells and what doesn't, that you become complacent. We've re-evaluated our work and added some new stuff that I hope to have on the website soon.

The thing is that you don't get any reason why you were rejected from most of these shows. all they'll say is "there were a limited number of booths available and the competition was strong". It's difficult in this business to really get any constructive criticism from qualified people. So we decided to try to enter the Kentucky Crafts Marketing Program, http://kycraft.ky.gov/

The program was started back in the 70s to get the work of Kentucky's craftspeople to a larger audience. The idea being to introduce artists and craftspeople to the owners of galleries and shops all over the country to whom they could wholesale their work.

We were in it either the first or second year, I forget, but the entire wholesale thing really threw us; you have to either cut your retail price in half to the shop owners or double it to the retail customer. We felt we had gotten our price as low as it would go for our retail buyers. And in our business, it takes just as long to make a particular piece if we're making 12 as if we're making 1. Mostly we want the feed-back. So we're going to Frankfort for their jury session on Monday.
Hey, if anyone wants to comment on our stuff and tell us what's right or wrong with it, feel free. http://www.homestudioartglass.com

j

St James Court Art Show

Well, we just got our acceptance letter from the St James Court Art Show, http://www.stjamescourtartshow.com/ This will be the 21st year we've done the show.

"The St. James Court Art Show is a juried fine arts and fine crafts show produced by a consortium of five non-profit neighborhood associations: Belgravia Court, South Third Street, 1300 South Third Street, St. James Court and South Fourth Street; and the West End Baptist Church. Always held the first full weekend of October, it hosts an impressive 650 plus artists from all over the Americas. Held in the heart of historic Old Louisville among the country's largest collection of Victorian homes, the St. James Court Art Show has for over four decades provided our neighborhood, city and state with a rich cultural and artistic legacy" -quote.

For the first 10 years, we were on Belgravia Court. Then there was this big shake up and we moved to 4th Street. After 2 years we moved to 3rd Street and now, this year we're back on 4th.

We only do about 3 or 4 shows a year but they are all high quality shows with excellent work being displayed. Each of our shows require you to be juried in, in other words, you have to submit your work for acceptance. Back when we were only making a few hundred dollars per show, it was no big deal - other than the blow to your ego - to be rejected. Now that we make a significant portion of our income doing them, it's pretty nerve wracking to go through the jury process and not know from one year to the next where your money will be coming from.

But this is a very impressive show, both from an artist's and an audience's perspective. The quality of work here is amazing. But be prepared to walk. And walk. And walk.

So I hope to see you there.

j

http://www.homestudioartglass.com