The new motor

Well, here is the machine, having one of its many polishings during a very sunny autumnal weekend.



This is a bit slanted but has fitted in most of the car along with my lovely mother in law cleaning her windows!

Progress with the glass

Went over to Nick and Naomi's home on Monday to see the glass put in position. I found it rather exciting to finally see it in place where it was made to fit.

Nick and Rob cleaned down the gap and fitted the architrave into the space.



We found that by turning the lights out in one room, and putting plenty on in the other, it all comes to life.



I've really enjoyed making this piece. Thanks Nick and Naomi for asking me to make it!

Falmouth tall ships

Had a brilliant weekend staying on Pete's boat during the tall ships visit in Falmouth harbour.

Arrived on Friday (in the new car... ) to see quite a few ships moored up in the harbour and open for people to visit.  A quick trip out with Pete and then back to see the ships lit up for the evening and fireworks over the bay.

The next day was pretty crazy with every boat owner out in the bay to escort the sailing ships out to the start line.  Unfortunately, the beautiful weather meant not enough wind to sail.

Great light though and the sails looked brilliant against the clouds.

Progress with the glass

Well, the window is all soldered now and it has been interesting to see the final colours now that it can be lifted up off the bench.   

On Sunday during the final cementing, the sun shone really brightly through the glass reflecting over the bench - it was tricky to get a good image with accurate colours, the trees are a lovely warm toffee / caramel colour and the greens are deep emerald - but this doesn't do it much justice!

Nick and Naomi have been over to see the finished work and all that needs to happen now is to get the window fitted in their home, which should happen on Thursday.

Progress with the glass

Well, nearly there now, glad that Nick and Naomi got to see it a week back, the last section has cut really well and adding the warm colours for the sun and sky has been very satisfying.

The soldering has almost been completed and you can just about see how the colours look for this final section.



Once soldered, I can actually get to lift the window up and get a proper view of the colours, a final cementing, which will probably happen when we get back from Cornwall, and everything will be much more solid and really bring out the glass properly.

Watford? I've been visitng Skye.

Had a great trip up to Skye last weekend with mum to see how Simon, Debbie and Holly are doing with their housebuilding and to finally find out what the Island really looks like.

They have bought six chickens that seem to be everywhere but are very funny and do useful things like laying eggs.



The house looks great and going inside really gives an idea of the size of it. The views are brilliant and I am really looking forward to taking Rob up to see the beautiful scenery.

Progress with the glass

Well, have been struggling through quite a difficult section but am pretty pleased with the way Nick and Naomi's window is shaping up.

The tricky bit is where the trunks and branches lead up to the main crowns of the trees and the bits wobble about so quite a bit of recutting has taken place - but am now looking forward to reaching the redder sun areas to balance the strong greens at the base.

Initially, some very warm orange pieces were planned - as below:



Have to say that although it looked a great colour, seeing it against the purples and blues it jarred so went back to the drawing board and cut another piece.



The colours look quite bright against the white paper but when it is against the light they will appear paler and I am looking forward to getting it cemented and lifted up to see how it really works.

Progress with the glass...

Well, the glass has all been chosen, had a really good trip over to Tempsford with Naomi and there are some really exciting pieces that all work together. Some of the greens are stunning and will look great with the lighter shades. The shop have two fantastic hounds, an English bull terrier and some little terrier - just what was needed chasing round the glass showroom with a ball on a string.

It seems like a couple of weeks ago when we went over but I think it has been quite a little while now, it took me a while to get into being able to cut the first pieces for the window - they were the more expensive greens and it was like gearing up to cut a diamond.

These are two of the greens held up to the lamp in the shed:





So, just to show that I have not been too idle in the meantime, these are some photos of the progress so far, they don't do the window justice against the paper, but you can see the scale and the shapes as the window starts to take shape. I am already enjoying getting on with it and will keep sending updates as I reach the tree trunks and into the sky areas.

One day like this - Elbow in Delamere Forest

Just had a fantastic Saturday with Ady and his lovely lady Fred. Despite fears of petrol pumps running dry and needing to get up almost to Liverpool, it was worth the effort, after all it was also a Birthday celebration for the "old boy."

It looked pretty quiet at 6.00pm when we opened up the picnic -





But as the sun dropped and more people arrived, the atmosphere changed, the stage began to light up and Mr Garvey arrived with the band.











It was all over far too quickly as we wended our way back through the forest to drive back home. So glad that we went and glad that we won't forget what a great gig it was.

Enjoying the shed

With Rob being so busy at the moment, have really enjoyed getting some glass work done in the shed. This is a pretty early photo (you can see the frost) but it looks better now with electricity and even a few fairy lights. Next step to buy a sofa....

Glass designs for Nick and Naomi

Things are moving on well with the glass designs for Nick and Naomi, there are several ideas and the watercolour designs don't really do much justice to the coloured and textured glass. Three sample panels have been put together to give a bit of a glimpse of what the design could look like.

These two are based on a copse on a hill.

The first is a brighter design, almost 1930s with classic sunrays and clouds.

The second has a more misty appearance although in the real window I would use more purples and translucent glasses, this design looks a bit too pink.



Bright design

The warm oranges and contrasting blues and greens make it a bit like 1930s ceramics, I particularly like the green glasses of the fields and the very deep purple for the trees.






Pastel / misty design

These look very different in front of a lamp and with natural light, the second one is perhaps more closely what the sample panel looks like. Again, used the same greens since they have a really nice texture and seem to glow in the natural light.






Umbrellas and water design

This is based on an adapted kimono design, I really like the abstract shapes and flowing patterns of Japanese fabric designs and wanted to see how they would translate into glass. Naomi had liked some of the combinations of orange and green in some of the designs we first looked at and they also liked the effect of the raised "globs" used on our bathroom door. I chose the cobalt blue against this very bright orange and green which looks really exciting against the light. The red globs probably work better than having green as well which I think, unless they are exactly the same color as the flat green, introduce another shade which is not as graphic.










So, just have to get the sample panels over to N&N now so that they can live with the colours for a while. At the moment they are sitting on the window at the back of the room and I stare at them whilst eating breakfast - I shall really miss having them in the house!

If you go down to the woods today....

Who said we live in town, went out on the motorbike for pretty much the first time this year on Saturday to Whippendale woods about two miles out of town. Spring is certainly getting the hang of things.

So all I need to be able to do now is load up the darn pictures - bear with me....




I see, they work from Flickr, oh well, lets try another one. This is Rob with a crook shaped stick that he found and insited on tripping me up with.