"I will not be ignored!" Studio Cat

Fatty (aka Simba)

likes to come into my studio and sit in my chair while I am working. If I ignore him he will reach out and grab my leg!

My Fat Cat!!

Here's my 25 pound kitty trying to tell me how the diet food I just gave him is not doin' it for him!

A long time coming!

Here are some photos of my new studio that has taken almost a year to complete!  We added  zero-scape landscaping to save water (we are in a serious drought here in California!) I also used some upcycled windows that I purchased at Habitat for Humanity. I am loving the outcome!

On losing a parent

I never realized how devastating losing a parent would be. Even though my dad was 84 and had Alzheimer's Disease, the real impact did not hit me until the actual event. I watched my husband lose both of his parents and was very sad for him (and myself because I really cared for his parents) but it did not prepare me for the loss of my own dad. It's comparable to having a baby in the sense that you can watch others go through the event but never really know the impact until you have your own child. The loving part is the same.

 Even with all my dad's shortcomings I realize that I loved him and was proud of him. There were  times that I hated him (as a teenager) but I don't think he ever stopped loving me. I  got my silly sense of humor from him and my laissez-faire parenting style. There was always the threat of  "wait till your father gets home" but he could never spank us and always had a laugh or smile just below the surface.

I said my last good-byes right before Thanksgiving when I was able to fly across country to see him in the nursing home. He kept falling asleep in his wheelchair and my brother and I finally asked the nurse to just put him to bed. All day long my dad barely said a word and it was uncertain whether or not he recognized us.We were flying home that evening and I just wanted some sign or glimmer of recognition. They laid him in his bed and I leaned over to kiss his cheek and said "Bye, I love you". I could feel him kissing my cheek and heard him whisper "I love you". I knew at that moment that he was aware that I came to visit and felt that he know me.

I love you Dad.  I can hear your laughter if I listen for it. I hope you are somewhere happy.
Rest in Peace (Owen Myrddin Davies 5-31-29 to 1-8-14)

Air Plant Art

I took a trip up to Hollander Glass in Los Angeles and bought SOOO much new cool glass I hardly know where to start when I go to pick colors for new projects. I have been having lots of fun picking colors for my new air plant panels that have been selling really well. I was also lucky enough to be asked to have a picture of my stained glass air plant panels posted on the Tillandsia International web site ( http://www.airplant.com/artideas.html ) under their "Air Plant Art" category! Just ordered a new batch of air plants and they are so cute! The plant in this picture is Tillandsia Juncea which is a pretty grassy-like air plant that is a pretty bright green with a bit of red at the tips. I loved this one!

I am having some fun trying to figure out some new ways to display my air plants using stained glass. Here's a simple design that looks good on a patio or bathroom. On the back I added some chicken wire to stabilize the cone and also to use for hanging. The air plant simply sits in the top of the cone. What do you think?

cdaviesart: Little Sun Goddess

cdaviesart: Little Sun Goddess

Get help editing your BLOG!

I get lots of help from my personal Blog editor when creating new blogs! Mickey is my greatest fan and is riveted by every word I write! I just want to take this opportunity to thank him for all his support and interest! (Do not try this at home... Mickey is specially trained and is ever the professional cursor watcher!)

Creating a Mosaic Mirror

When I start a mosaic project I usually have a general idea of a final outcome. I like a floral motif and for the pictured project, I  used the pretty pastel peach/pink color for the main flowers.  

Symmetry can be nice, so I often try to create somewhat of a mirror image although not exactly. It is more interesting when there are variances which is more reflective of nature. The flower sizes are varied as are the pieces of glass . Many of the pieces are scraps from other projects but on occasion it's better to cut pieces to get a certain color or shape (I did this for the aqua in the corner). 

 Creating a diagonal flow to the design has more interest for me. The bottom left of this mirror is reflected in the upper right . As far as color choice goes I usually have a couple of main colors in mind (such as the peach and aqua) then add the greens because it is a floral pattern and then add a touch of some other colors. There is a bit a lilac, yellow and iridescent red in this mirror.

New stained glass mirrors!

After mulling it over for a while, I went ahead and made a few new mirrors. I had this great avocado green glass that was left over from one of my business card holders so I used it to create another "retro" office mirror. I used one of my brother's prints as a background ( see http://www.etsy.com/shop/cdaviesart for more of his work). The picture on the right shows another small mirror with one of my brother's paintings as a background. For this mirror I experimented with a new tool (dapping block and punch set) that makes perfect little domes from copper sheeting. I used the dome for the center of the flower. I like the way it turned out.

Office Mirrrors

I've been thinking about going back to making some small office mirrors again (like the ones pictured here)! I started making the mirrors because I wanted to use stained glass in a useful way and do something small (lets face it, I don't have the patience for larger stained glass projects like my friend Shereen) ( see one of my favorites in her shop :http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25435771 )

These little mirrors were made with the working woman in mind. It comes in handy when hung near your desk/computer to check your lipstick or eyelashes when you don't have time to run to the restroom!

Creative Madness- Artist Exposed!

Here I am in my messy studio (converted dining room)! My mess is always on the verge of chaos (but never quite over the top)! Every once in a while I simply have to spend the day organizing and I usually uncover forgotten ideas or half done and abandoned projects that I can look at with fresh (Zen) eyes. I often realize that those forgotten projects had lots of potential and will pick up where I left off or take it in a new direction. Other times I have to wonder "What was I thinking?!"

I often will take older projects and rework them into something new. For instance, I took a cuff making class with Connie Fox (here in San Diego) and though I learned a lot about working with metal, I will probably never get into making jewelry (too much work - but never say never)! I took one of the cuffs that I made and cut it up and used it on one of my plant stakes (see picture-right).

Easy Recycled Handmade Gift box

I have always looked for ways to recycle cardboard (I just hate to throw it away)! Then one day I received a free sample matchbook notepad from Alice's Piping Hot Papers (see http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39143739)

which gave me an idea!

I had been looking for a way to make a quick and easy gift box for my shawl pins that would both protect when mailing and also be a cute way of packing. I decided to use cardboard from a cereal box because it is strong but still easily bent. I covered it with my painted paper and then cut to size, folded and viola, I had a very simple but sturdy gift box!

The matchbook gift box is three simple folds and I made mine to fit my shawl pins (about 3 x 4 inches) but could be made a bit smaller or larger to adjust to your jewelry products or small gift ideas!

Painted and Screened Photo Albums

I have so much fun making my painted paper that I wanted to find more ways to use it! I decided to cover these small photo albums which are very good for recipes or to keep a photo journal of your art work to take along with you on shows. Cyndie Smith, a wonderful metalsmith who makes beautiful jewelry ( see her shop at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/cyndiesmithdesigns) recently bought one of my photo albums to take with her to one of her shows!

I layer the paint using stencils, splatters, and silkscreen designs and try to create rich vibrant colors and designs. I use large sheets of paper and then cut out the sections that I want to use to cover my journals, photo albums, and file organizers. The smaller pieces are used for making my mini cards and I love the results (see these items at: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39217079) .

Hand Painted Card/Bill Organizer and Journal

It has been a while since I posted anything new! I am currently focusing more on my hand painted journals and bill organizers lately (because I am having fun!) I am mulling around some ornament ideas but for some reason this has not quite taken hold of my fancy as of yet and if it doesn't soon, the holidays will be over! Anyway I am posting a couple of my favorite journal and card holders that I have recently created! They are matching because I used the left over paper from the bill organizer to cover the journal.

Story Behind my business card holders!

The design for my cards holders came about by complete accident. A few years ago one of my neighbors was throwing out a stained glass lamp shade that had white and pink glass pieces. I fished it out of the trash and diligently took it apart and was left with eight wide petal shape pieces (the back), 8 trapezoid shapes (the bottom), and 8 or so long petal shapes (which I used for the sides). I began playing around with the pieces wondering what I could make and stumbled upon the idea of the card holder. The pieces lent themselves perfectly, with only one cut on the sides (and I am all about less work). Of course now all the pink and white pieces are long gone and I have to cut all the pieces but I still enjoy making these card holders!

The picture of the pink holder is one of my original holders that sold long ago. I keep trying to improve my holders each time I make one and have changed the front shape but have stuck with the original overall pattern because it works so perfectly! I have made and sold about 30 card holders over the years and have had many satisfied customers!

Now for my new card holders, I pick out glass that is unusual and cut the pieces to take advantage of the most beautiful aspects of the glass. My favorite part is finding shapes and beads to adorn the holders. The Orange Mint holder is one of my new favorites!

Creating Digital Artwork- Photoshop Possibilities

I haven't had the courage to post any of my digital art but if anyone out there in etherland has any interest, I will make my debut today! It all starts with a photo which is uploaded into Photoshop! I don't know more than about 20% of the capabilities that photoshop offers but it is fairly easy to navigate through the Filter Gallery and find renderings that are artistically pleasing.

If you are not familier with this, go to your header and click on "Filter". I personally like using the "poster edges" feature first (which is in the "artstic" category), followed by "paint daubs" or "dry brush" (also in "artistic" heading). It allows you to keep the outline of your picture but gives you a painted feel.

For the yoga picture, I created the background from a photograph of Travertine tile. I clicked on "Image", then "adjustments" and then used the "Hue Saturation" button to increase the color saturation to bring out lots of hues. That created my background.

Then I used the "Poster edges" feature in the "filter" for the two separate pictures of the horse and myself doing the yoga posture. After I got the horse and yoga posture the way I wanted ( also using the hue saturation feature), I used the magnetic lasso to outline the horse/posture, used the "Edit" then "copy" and then "paste" to get the two pictures on my travertine background. Since the horse and yoga posture are separate layers, you can move them around separately untill you find a good spot using the move tool. I like to keep the layers separate untill I am completely done. That way you can edit each layer separately. I repeated the process for the flower and the design around my head. If you want a design to overlap another design, simply drag the layer down below the other layer. To show the layers, simply go to "Window" and click on "layers" and the layer window will display on your screen. Once you are sure of your completed design, click on "layer" and scroll down to "Merge layers" and all the layers will merge. Now you can edit the picture as a whole (using the filter) if you want to continue to render your desing.

Hopefully, this is not too confusing for the beginner using Photoshop!

For the love of Yoga!

Poor little neglected blog! I decided to change the subject today and talk about Bikram yoga. For those of you who are not familiar with Bikram, it is basically Hatha yoga in a very, very hot room (105 degrees). I have been practicing this yoga for the last five years and do attribute a lot of my refound interest in stained glass and creative flow to having been practicing this yoga. The heat is intended to get your heart pumping faster and sweating out all the toxins (my body must be extremely pure..time to fill it up with more poisons!)

I actually started doing stained glass many, many years ago but when I got into the Bikram yoga I was first inspired to create stained glass yoga postures (like this one pictured). I have since moved on to the plant stakes as seen on my etsy site (but will occasionally re-create a yoga posture upon request)!! Namaste

Designing Stained Glass Patterns- Part IV

FINISHED! I decided to put some pink pearls for more interest and also especially bought the jade beads for more accent. I really like the way it turned out!

Designing Stained Glass Patterns- Part III

This first photo shows the glass completely cut out and ready to wrap with copper foil. I had to adjust the design again because I miscut the largest piece of aqua glass. What I do is trace the edge of the glass to create new lines which will be the edge of the next piece( this works as long as I have not already cut the next piece) .

The next photo shows the piece soldered together and I am deciding where to place the wire leaves.