Feist Forest X Flora Jamieson | Contemporary Stained Glass Collaboration

Super excited to reveal some pieces I have been working on in collaboration with illustrator and designer Vicki Turner.

I've been a fan of Vicki's graphic illustrations for some years now, and have been pretty much obsessed with everything else she has done too, from her excellent but sadly now retired blog Plucky, to her massively covetable wooden work tables that she designs and creates with a team of local artisans from her renovated Tin Tabernacle in Devon, under the name Feist Forest.

When she contacted me with the idea of producing a limited edition of contemporary stained glass pieces based on her recent series of paintings, it wasn't a hard decision to make.

We worked on the designs a little to translate them from paper and paint to glass and lead, and the resulting pieces are quite something.  Vicki's colour palette of steely blue, soft peach and dusky bronze suggest those of the coastline at sunrise, while fluid curves and pleasing geometric shapes echo the rhythm of tides and waves.

Making the pieces was enjoyably challenging - to do the designs justice it was essential that my glass cutting and lead lines were meticulous. There's nothing I like more than sharpening up my leadknife and geeking out over a bit of precision leading.

The 4 designs, entitled Loop d' Loops, are available now from her online shop.

Contemporary Stained Glass Wedding Bouquet

A dream project that I finished just before Christmas; a contemporary stained glass panel depicting the bride's wedding bouquet, which was commissioned as a gift by her lovely mum.

The wedding bouquet was made by Pyrus Flowers, which is run by creative duo Natalya Ayers and Fiona Inglis, who seek out unusual, seasonal Scottish blooms, often foraged from the wild. I could while away a good few hours scrolling through their Instagram feed.

In this bouquet, tucked amongst the peachy, creamy delicate dahlias, were sprigs of wild blackberry, hawthorn, hazel and scabious, all tied together with bright, trailing ribbons in bohemian shades of ruby, turquoise, gold and plum. In order to allow the richness of the colours of the flowers and ribbons to really stand out, I used a dark inky-blue glass for the background. For the bouquet itself I included some handmade, recycled glass. The date of the wedding is painted on the central gold ribbon tied around the stems of the bouquet.

The last image is of the beautiful bride Polly, holding her bouquet, alongside her father.

Such a wonderful way to commemorate the day and preserve the bouquet forever.

(If you would be interested in commissioning something similar for yourself or as a gift, drop me a line via the contact page on my website.)

Etsy Shop Stocked For Christmas

Dear neglected bloggy.  I grammed and pinned and tweeted and chimped this, and forgot all about you, old friend.

Anyway, the point is, there are things, lots of things, in my Etsy shop.

Just in case you were wondering where the heckins you could get a stained glass gherkin for Aunty Gloria in time for Christmas, look no further.

Christmas Card Designs For Woodmansterne Cards

I was contacted by Woodmansterne Cards a while back about licensing a couple of my designs for their Christmas card range, which was totally exciting as it's something I've often thought about looking into, but didn't know how to go about it.  I was also delighted to discover that my designs would be helping to raise money for two great charities (British Heart Foundation and Childline).

These cards have been in the pipeline for quite a long time, about 18 months or so I think, so it was pretty thrilling to receive the samples in the post a few weeks back - and it's taken me that long to find a moment to photograph them.  Luckily, Isla and I had just been to the local garden shop and had snaffled a load of helpfully tidied up their assorted crab apple windfalls, so while we were playing with them and arranging them in in size and colour order (we know how to party), I squeezed in a quick photoshoot.

Available online from here.

Etsy Shop Re-Stock - Friday 6th March 11am (GMT)

Spring is nearly here, and finally I'm ready to get my Etsy shop update live.  It's taken me a while as I've been juggling commissions, workshop renovations, big birthdays (not mine) and flaming torches (ok, that last bit is not strictly true).

From Friday 6th March at 11am (GMT) I will be listing lots of your favourite friends (including Egg Men, Singing Birds, Russian Dolls) and some larger panels that are now available for sale following last year's One Square Foot group exhibition.

It will also be your last chance to get hold of some of my designs as I am phasing-out a few and planning on introducing some new work later on in the year.

So catch them while you can....

Purple Iris Stained Glass Window Commission

I recently finished this large purple iris window for a lovely couple who travelled all the way from Hertfordshire to commission.  They were so nice they even bought me a beautiful bouquet of irises when they came to collect it.  

The design was quite challenging, especially in a window of this size (approximately 10 square feet) to make it stable and strong.  Although the panel was to be fitted on the inside of an existing window, which would provide support and stop the panel from bowing over time, it was still important that the design allowed me to handle and manoeuvre it during the making, without being too unwieldy.

The glass used for the iris petals is a machine-made streaky, but it was perfect to recreate the delicate, tissue-paper quality of them.  I also added a little bit of silver stain to suggest the yellow area at the centre.  The background glass is an ultra-pale blue tinted Polish mouth blown glass, which has beautiful meandering striations, tiny air-bubbles and superb clarity, allowing the sunlight to sparkle as it comes through.  You can see on the top picture the reflection cast on the adjacent wall.

Here are some work-in-progress images...

Design:

The panel was so large I had to design it on the floor over 3 days.  In order to make it, I had to get a new workbench built (I needed one anyway, but it was good to have the impetus).  Pictured is the old, scruffy one I've been working on the for the last 10 years.  Working on the new one is like driving around in a Rolls Royce.

Leading:

Often my favourite stage of making a window... seeing it take form in front of your eyes is quite magical.

Ready to solder:
Because of the sword-shaped leaves, a lot of the lead joints were at quite an acute angle, and have to be cut well so that they can be soldered neatly.  I can get quite OCD about my leading...

Cementing:

Never the nicest job, but I had just cleaned out and reorganised my cementing shed, so it was nicer than it had been for a long time in there.

Bear & Rabbit Woodland Stained Glass Panel - Wedding Gift Commission

I loved making this panel, which shipped off to New York just before Christmas.

The client commissioned the panel as a belated wedding gift to friends, whose summer wedding was in a beautiful woodland setting.

I wanted the panel to look like it had perhaps come from a children's picture book, but at the same time capture the romantic nature of the wedding.

For the foliage in the foreground, I looked to William Morris for inspiration, which is always a good place to look.

Christmas Exhibitions, New Cards and an Apology...

If you subscribe to my newsletter, you can skip this blogpost, because it's essentially a copy and paste I worked really hard to ensure that my blog and newsletter are both on-message.

Firstly I'm taking part in two Christmas Exhibitions, at two of my favourite galleries: Fox and Worthington (in my hometown of Bridport) and Rostra Gallery in Bath as part of the Bath Christmas Market - my work will be available in their wooden chalet (now doesn't that sound cosy?). Available to buy will be all the usual suspects - Singing Birds, Egg Men, Cheeky Sprouts etc... And by popular request, I have made some more Russian Dolls, although I have tweaked the design a little.


I've also had two new card designs printed - you know, for Christmas. They will be available to buy at Fox and Worthington and I've also listed them in my Folksy and Etsy shop. Two Brussel Sprouts giving each other the side eye and my alt. Santa creation - Caspar. 

Lastly, an apology.  My Etsy shop.  Is virtually bare.  Which is good for me because it means that I've sold lots of things lately, bad for you because it is unlikely I'll get time to make many more things before Christmas as I have a couple of nice commissions that I need to finish asap.  But if that situation changes I'll let my newsletter subscribers hear first - you can sign up to receive a (non-spammy, infrequent) copy over there in the sidebar.  

Contemporary Stained Glass Exhibition - One Square Foot

Some details from my contemporary stained glass panels currently on show as part of the One Square Foot exhibition (with Stuart Low and Christian Ryan), running for a couple more weeks until 21st June.

Work in Progress - One Square Foot

I've been continuing with designing and making my three panels for the upcoming One Square Foot contemporary stained glass exhibition which opens on 24th May.

It's been liberating to turn some ideas that have been inside my head for some time into actual pieces.  The process has also generated a lot more ideas for future projects and designs I'd like to work on.

If you are in the Bridgend area in May/June, do try and visit Chris's studio to see it.

One Square Foot - Contemporary Stained Glass Exhibition

Press release for the exhibition I am taking part in with Stuart Low and Christian Ryan in May.

Further information can be found at onesquarefoot.co.uk, or contact myself or Chris.

Stained Glass "Officially Cool"

I'd just got over the thrill of seeing a feature on contemporary stained glass on Design Sponge a couple of weeks ago, and now here is Apartment Therapy trumpeting it as the new cool thing to have in your home.  And not only that, one of the featured shops on Etsy last week was Bespoke Glass, interesting geometric glass items made using the copperfoil technique.

Move over, wobbly ceramics*, there's a new kid in town.

*Don't get me wrong, I'm still pretty crazy about wobbly  ceramics.

Etsy Shop Update / Newsletter

I've just updated my Etsy shop with lots of new things, including two new designs - Sneaky Shrooms and Sweet Heart.

All the items in my shop are now In Stock and ready to post within 1-3 days of receiving your order.  I am unable to take custom orders at the moment, but if there's a design you'd really like to see in the shop, let me know and I'll make sure I add it in to the next update (at the end of February).

Newsletter sent out to those who have already subscribed (thank you very much).

And if you want to find out when the next update is (and maybe get a cheeky discount code), sign up for the next newsletter over there on the sidebar.

To Do List.

source

I was all set to come back to this blog after the Christmas break full of excellent pictures and great resolutions and exciting new work projects.  

Instead I got an ear infection which burst my eardrum and it's left me a bit lacking in vim and vigour.

When normal service has resumed, here are a few things I would like to do:

1) Set up MailChimp.  
I have plans to streamline the way I do things, and one of the ways of doing that is to change the way I run my Etsy shop.  Currently I make to order.  This is a stupid way of doing things.  It means I sometimes have to fire up my kiln for one little bird.  Not very cost effective or environmentally friendly.  So when I reopen my shop, I will make pieces in batches, and have a monthly shop update.  That way I can also try out new designs more easily and it will leave me with more free time each month to work on larger projects.  In order to let people know that I have new stock in the shop, I'll send out a newsletter - which means I need to get my head around MailChimp.

2) Apply for a CPD Award.
A Continuing Professional Development Award is given by the Worshipful Company of Glaziers each year to 2 established stained glass artists in order for them to learn new skills or further existing ones.  I would love to attend one of Deborah Coombs glass painting classes in Vermont to learn a whole host of new techniques using an alternative paint mixing medium called propylene glycol.  Deadline is 31st January, so I really need to get on to this asap.

3) Make Some New Work.
In May I am taking part in a joint exhibition with 2 other contemporary stained glass artists, Stuart Low and Christian Ryan.  The show is called One Square Foot and we are each exhibiting 3 panels (of 12" x 12") at Chris's studio (I'll put up more details nearer the time).  I definitely need to get started on at least thinking about the designs for those.

4) Studio/Office Redecoration/Reorganisation
On the resolution list for the 3rd year running, still not achieved.  Maybe 2014 will be the year...

5) Use My Kiln To Make Some Clay Things
I've been meaning to do this for ages.  I'm not just jumping on the ceramics bandwagon, honestly.

Christmas Post.

Just a quickie to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  

This is Caspar, one of the new designs that I did for the Fox and Worthington Winter show. He's a modern day Wise Man - he doesn't bring you a load of old tut that you didn't want, just one really special thing that you love.

See you in January, lots of exciting new things afoot in 2014!  

Contemporary Glass Society Skills Showcase - Stained Glass

I'm very happy to say that I have been selected as one of 4 artists to be featured in the Contemporary Glass Society's latest Skills Showcase on their site.

This fourth showcase focusses on contemporary stained glass artists, each with quite diverse approaches to the medium - from soft and painterly to bold and graphic.  I particularly like Tom Pearman's screen printed glass pieces for Oxford NHS Trust.

Above 3 images © Tom Pearman

A long time ago, when I had just finished university and was deeply regretting a Media Studies degree over something more practical and hands-on, I decided to take some stained glass evening classes to see how I liked it.  I really did like it.  On days off from my boring admin job, I used to take the bus over to the Crafts Council and sit in the library there and read back issues of the CGS newsletter.  So as you can imagine, it feels pretty good to be featured.