About Me

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Houston, Texas, United States
Welcome to my Blog Site :) I am so happy you stopped in. I am a part time worker, wife, mom and artist/crafter. I became a grandmother for the first time about a year ago. My passions are Stained Glass and Mixed Media Art. I am a Texas girl living in a house that my father and grandfather built in 1945. I have a loving husband and two teenage boys. My boys are talented musicians who make my life complete. I hope you enjoy reading my posts about music, my boys and grandson and just about life in general. So grab your favorite choice of drink, sit back, relax and happy blogging.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Window Project Update

 Here is the third window "I Wish I Could Fly".  I used flat globs for the flowers, the flowers in the middle remind me of Bluebonnets.  There are several intended and unexpected things happening in this window.  For instance,  how the bottom left panel looks darker.  I did use a few darker pieces of stained glass to the bottom of the tree yet the whole panel looks darker as if there is shade under the tree.  I also like how there are three leaves falling under the three birds as if the bird tore the leaves off while sitting on the tree limb. 
This window was inspired by a bath towel I bought at Target that had birds on tree branches with one bird flying away.

The window is not completely finished, I still need to add a beak on the yellow bird, add a hole to the front of the bird house, add eyes and whiskers to the little kitty cat and add o-rings to the window frame for hanging.  It will be hanging in the store by this weekend at 238 W. 19th St., Houston, Texas in the Heights area. 







My husband very seldom calls me on my cell while he is at work, so when he calls I know something is up.

While riding through the neighborhood he noticed a house being torn down and saw old window frames thrown to the curb.  He stopped and talked to the contractor who said the window frames were trash and that we could have them.  So he called me to go by and look at them and see if I wanted some for my stained glass.

I went and loaded up my van with all the window frames that had been thrown out.  Even the broken wood frames and the frames with broken glass.  I figured I can always take the glass out of the broken wooden frames to replace the glass in the good frames.

When hubby came home he asked me if I picked up any of the windows.  I said yes.  He asked how many, I said I don't know, I did not count.  So we went to the back yard to look and count.  I had a total of seventeen window frames.

Seventeen Old Window Frames in need of some TLC.


That same evening I washed and cleaned two window frames.  The next couple of days was spent scraping old paint off and repainted with a coat of Gesso and paint.

 It took me two weeks working early morning until early the next day to mosaic the first window frame.  I named this one "Sunflowers".



Window is layed flat until white grout dries.



The second window frame took three weeks to complete.  I named this one "The Aquarium"  Notice each panel has a boarder of small tile pieces that frames each panel. 

Used black grout, sea shells and small tile and rocks.  Placed on window ledge to take picture.















Here in these pictures you can see where they are both hanging on conceinment at a shop in the Heights Neighborhood in Houston, TX.





I am almost finished with the third window frame.  Some panels still need grouting.  This one is titled "I Wish I Could Fly".  There is so much going on in my household that I am going on four weeks to finish this window.  I will post a picture once it is completed.

This Window Project will take some time to complete and even though there is no time frame, I am not in any rush to complete it.  Yet, I am curious to see where my artistic imagination will take me.  Plus with so many windows, I will have to find other stores willing to display and sale them for me.   Any suggestions or comments on how and where to sale them will be appreciated.

I will keep updating my progress as I finish each window.

3 comments:

Maria Ontiveros said...

Your windows are awesome! I had no idea what your plan was when you first picked up all those frames, but now I realize it was like finding 17 canvases in which to work! I love the color of the birdhouse and the aquarium is so much fun!
Looking forward to where this project takes you.
Rinda

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Wow, Irene! Wow! These are so beautiful!!! That is so cool that your hubby saw the windows and you were able to grab them before they were trashed. Your art work is just so beautiful.

I'm curious about the process. Do you adhere the small pieces of glass directly onto the glass in the window? I'm also wondering if you ever cut yourself or are you so used to working with glass that you don't get injured at this point?

I can't wait to see how the other windows take shape! Wish I had suggestions for places to sell them. Do you have any local farmer's markets where you could have a table once in a while?

Missus Wookie said...

These are gorgeous - I was upset to see 1920s painted glass windows in a skip and so wanted to take them home for some TLC. You do some beautiful work!

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