Blog

It's Rye Scallop Week at the end of the month and from that came the idea of a panel with shells actually leaded in to it. I was kindly given some shells that required some cleaning first - couldn't get much fresher! (After cleaning here)

So I chose my shells and placed them within the overall outline (size) of the panel. Then the glass lines were drawn in. The glass is cut to size but the shells are left alone so I had to work around them.

The glass was chosen in a range of blues:

After the glass is cut I lay out every piece along with the shells to get an idea of the finished piece:

The shells are fairly flat and for the best part are rounded too. Only the bottoms of each shell proved to be a bit of a problem. For leading up I used a large lead which would help to cover any particularly difficult shell edges:

The whole panel needed a jiggle and everything to be packed tighter before soldering.

So far it's all coming together quite well although the panel does do a slight 'up and down' thing along one of the edges due to the shells not being completely flat. 

Because the leaded light cement (the stuff that weather proofs a panel) is a dark grey gunky substance I masked off the shells. The front rough surface would have badly discoloured if I didn't.

The cement gets brushed on into all of the gaps between the lead and the glass or shells and is covered in whiting. It gets to sit like this for an hour before the first clean up:

After this clean up I check one of the shells. Any spillage of the cement on the edges of the shells comes off with some white spirit thankfully! Cover up again and clean up fully the next day followed with black grate polish on the lead. 

And it's nearly there. At this point the shells look a little 'flat' in colour so I tested on another shell some olive oil of all things! It worked a treat as it added a gentle shine and really brought out the deep colours that the shells were hiding.

Enjoy!!

It's also worth having a look at the backs of the shells too:

Now just to frame it!

I thought I'd show this lampshade off again. There may be a few people that have already seen it but it's a great way of showing the sheer scale of work involved in one of the simpler lampshade designs that I've done. (Yes - I said simpler!)

One of these lampshades take about a month to make, alongside any other work I have on and finishing each of these stages is a milestone that keeps me going until the very end!

The design is my own.

The pattern is put in a water-proof sleeve and all the pieces of glass are cut to this pattern. Every piece above has been cut out twice (two halves) using a little yellow for the very top, streaky orange for the main part and a streaky red for the bottom row. Opaque glass is always best for lampshades too so you don't see the bulb and the light is diffused much more evenly.

I grind the edges of every piece (to take off the sharp edges and prepare them for copper foiling) wash and dry them all and place back on the pattern. Not putting them back on the pattern would prove to be something of a nightmare when it's comes to constructing the whole piece. Self-adhesive copper foil tape is wrapped around the edges and burnished.

Every piece is then tin soldered (given an initial covering in solder) and pinned onto the form. I then tack solder the pieces together which starts to hold every piece together and this allows me to remove the pins. Then more soldering is done to the joins and to start to add strength. Very carefully the lampshade turned upside down and is taken off the form (carefully because they are usually floppy) and propped up on some homemade stands specifically made for this size and shape. I then solder all the inside joins constantly turning the shade around as all the soldering has to be done on the level. Back to the outside - I add a bead of solder along every join - this adds more strength to the lampshade. The bottom edge pieces are then added and the whole thing goes for a shower! The shower washes off all the flux ready for the black patina. And with a final polish, it ends up looking like this:

And by night:

And how many pieces are there? Erm... About 270 I think... I may have got a little lost!

Welcome to my new blog! A very much work based blog about new ideas, work in progress and other, hopefully of interest, glass based meanderings.

For anyone that follows my first blog diomoglass.blogspot.com I will continue with this one in a somewhat more general way about ideas, wanderings, inspiration and online shop based ideas. 

On this blog I will also explain some of the big changes that I will be putting into action this year including changes to my website and the availability of my smaller work.

Watch this space!