Art Deco Style

I've been wanting to do something Frank Lloyd Wright - ish for a while, so I've made a couple of mirrors in Art Deco style. They're all 900mm x 600mm on the water resistant substrate, so you could display them outdoors.

Again they're impossible to photograph adequately, so I took them inside, put them on a stool, and used the ceiling as background.

Hers's an outdoor photo:

                                               The reflections are confusing to say the least!


Here's the same piece with the ceiling as background:

                                  Looks a bit flat and lifeless, but at least you can see the design.

Anyhow, here's another mirror - the rounded geometry caused me some headaches but the end result is pretty good I reckon:

And lucky last in this series:

You can see tantalizing hints of the different highlights and reflectivity even in these crappy photos. Just have to see them in the flesh at the galleries (or at home after you've bought one!)

AGOG over GOG GIRL!

My Glass Girls Series has just grown by two. They're twins - one is stained glass mosaic, the other is Glass-on-Glass. I call them Sandy and Shelley.

GOG Sandy

The GOG technique is a jealously guarded one that has been handed down through hundreds of generations of a mystical Nepalese tribe and only available to outsiders who complete a rigorous training regime lasting at least fifteen years.

Or you can use Mac Glue.

Sandy being a shadow of herself. You can see the texture of the background glass in the shadow.

                                                        This highlights her golden tresses!

 

                                                                      Beach Babe!




                                                                And here's Shelley:

                                                                      

                 Her swimsuit is mirrored glass and she's chosen a glass bead necklace to accessorise.
                                                            And those sunnies!

What girl wouldn't want a Millefiori handbag?

                                                             With matching shoes!

Queensland Garden Expo

We've decided to start attending "Event" markets rather than a weekly one, so for our first one we set up a display at the Queensland Garden Expo last weekend (6/7/8 July) at the Nambour Showgrounds. The Expo is the biggest garden/outdoor show in Queensland and we wanted to promote the business, our classes and hopefully sell some pieces.

Overall it was very successful. We talked and gave brochures to hundreds of people who would never otherwise have seen our work, and sold several pieces as well. The highlights for us of course were seeing all our friends who came to visit and to catch up with people we hadn't seen for ages! Hi to you all and thank you so much for making the 3 days even more fun!

It's a great Expo, and although we didn't get a chance to see it all, we did manage to sample a few of the culinary delights on offer..........mmmmm donuts........ It was also really nice to meet the stallholders on either side of us - Hi Lisa and Lee! If we do the Expo again next year I hope we get you both as neighbours again!

The weather was generally fine, but as a thank - you to all the stallholders the heavens opened right on closing time of the last day, causing great merriment to everyone as they packed up their newly soaked displays.

Some photos:

As you can see, there were times the stall was so busy Mark got squeezed out like a watermelon pip!

Latest Piece

This is my latest piece - a 900mm x 600mm mirror utilising several different elements to create the flowing silver cascade effect:

Here are some photos of the detail:

The stars are made from diamond bevels. I apply Brightback to really make them pop.

Using Brightback again. It gives amazing life to any textured glass.
I still haven't decided on a name for this piece yet - watch this space!

More Budding Mosaicists!

I taught my Beginner's Class to another lovely group of people yesterday! Here they are with their completed projects:

It was a cold, bleak day outside but the creative energies kept it nice and warm inside the studio (and the fire going in the house helped too!). Thank you to everyone for coming, and I hope you all enjoyed the day as much as I did teaching and getting to know you.

Nambour Garden Expo coming up!

It's only another 3 weeks until we have our stall at the Queensland Garden Expo at Nambour. Billed as the premier sub - tropical garden event in Queensland, it attracts huge crowds over the 3 days of 6, 7 & 8 July.
We have decided that rather than commit to a regular weekly market, we'll attend what we call "Event" Markets such as this one. Last week I sent some photos to be included in an advert we are placing in the Official Guide for the event. The Guide will be included in the Wednesday July 6th. edition of the Sunshine Coast Daily and also given out to market attendees.
Here are some of the photos:

 This panel is called "Palm Beach". I'm currently working on a similar piece for a Comission.

 This is a Lazy Susan called "Crystal Elements"

                                                 Another Lazy Susan called "Flutterbys"

MAANZ Polymer Clay Day

We had a wonderful day yesterday in my Studio - I held a Polymer Clay Workshop for MAANZ members. 7 girls and one guy (Hi JIM!) attended and I think I've set a lot of them on the path to becoming Poly People!
Barbara, David and Tammy also came to lend support to Mark in the kitchen, and he showed them the dark art of installing hangers in Marmox board while my workshop was running.
The day ended up raising over $400 for MANNZ, which will go towards the cost of our exhibitions etc.
All in all a truly fantastic day, and just reinforces to me and Mark what an exceptionally talented and sharing group we have; we're privileged to know you all!
On to Barbara and David's place next time for David's photography workshop. It'll be a beauty!