I'll have new patterns, and keep the classes small, probably no more than 4 students at a time.  

I'll have both a beginners and an intermediate class, where students can pick their own projects (with my approval). 

I'm looking forward to teaching again, as it's been over a year since I held my last class.

Enjoy the day!

Joe

Vermont Stained Glass, Southern Vermont Stained Glass, The Shires of Vermont, Stained Glass Vermont, The Shires, North Shire, South Shire, Bennington Stained Glass, Stained Glass Repairs, Stained Glass Custom work, stained glass classes.  www.glassfusionstudios.com

I have decided that it's time for a new website presence.  Troy has found me a software product where I can make my own website, update myself and as often as i like.  I'm hoping that it will give me the look that I want.

My current website, designed by a professional, doesn't allow me to update it myself, as I don't know HTML, so I have to shell out $60 an hour to have someone else update it for me...nice gig.  

I hope to add a classes page, a for sale page and it will be easier for me to add new windows I've done, or rotate all the windows I've done over the years, just to keep the site fresh, and show what I can do.

So, I hope to have my new site done by Spring 2010, keep and eye out for it.

Have a happy 2010!

Joe

Bennington Vermont weather today - cold, chance of snow.

Vermont Stained Glass and Southern Vermont Stained Glass, along with New England Stained Glass, Bennington Stained Glass, Stained Glass Vermont too.

After last years event, we had hundreds of people attend and most of the artwork was sold!

One Hundred for $100 basic premise is there are 100 pieces of artwork by varied artist that sell for $100 each.  It's a great event.  We plan to have at least 100 pieces of artwork, food, and music. 

If interested in this event as an exhibitor, let me know and I'll send you the prospectus.  If you just want to attend this free event, the location is still TBD, but I'll get you the information I currently have.

Just let me know.

Thanks,

Joe

PS - Don't forget, I can do custom stained / leaded glass windows for anyone anywhere...so don't let my location here in Bennington, Vermont scare you off.

Well, we here are Glass Fusion Studios of Vermont are missing the big blizzard that is hitting a lot of the East Coast today.  It's bittersweet as I would love to have a blizzard to stay home and work on some glass projects, and snowshoeing, but I won't miss the shoveling.

I have a couple new projects in the works.  One is a repair for one of the student housing homes at Bennington College.  It's a repair of a damaged leaded glass window, and should be a fairly easy repair.

The other project is a small lamp shade made out of discarded optical lenses I came across.  Each lens is wrapped in aluminum and I spent some time copper foiling them to get ready to build the lamp.  

I'll blog about each project separately as I get to them...hopefully in the next few days.

Hope all is well.

Stay warm.

Joe

Bennington, Vermont weather - change of snow (1 inch) and cold.

Thanks in advance for all your well wishes, and gifts I know you'll be putting in the mail tomorrow.

Joe

One of my goals as the Chairman of the Arts Committee, was / is to help make  and market Bennington, VT as an Arts Destination.  One of the ways I thought was through a website that was a one stop for all things arts in the area.   We had set the site up but after lackluster support and marketing of the site, it was decided to drop the website idea, much to my disappointment. 

 

It's been about 6 months since the decision was made to cancel the site and a fellow Artist, Tony Conner, and I met to re-invigorate our interest in getting the site up and running again, so we have brought the site back.  We will be editing the site, getting a blog going and adding arts events to the site.

Our goal of the website is to have a one stop location for artists, local arts related attractions, and visitors to Bennington for arts events. So we want artists to join, and put a bio, photos etc, as another way of marketing themselves, and as a community builder.  We want to add the attractions, museums, galleries etc so visitors can find an event they may want to attend.

The site will take a lot of work to get up and looking good, but it is currently available, so, take a look and we are open to any suggestions you may have.

www.benningtonarts.com

Have a great day.

Joe

Bennington, Vermont weather, COLD, COLD, COLD

Hello,

Well, it's 11:30 pm, and I'm watching some lame tv show, and I thinking about my next blog entry.  I usually have a difficult time in thinking of something to write about, I used to think that I was just procrastinating, but in reality I need to be inspired to have something to say...so, now that the Thanksgiving holiday is past us, hope you had a great one, I'm starting to come back thinking about glass and my next projects.  However, the blog is on my mind and to get back to my title, "inspiration".  

I guess for me, inspiration can come from anywhere, and anything.  I actually get some great color ideas from tv.  I see a color combination that is new, and I translate that into my glass work, whether it's stained glass for my fused glass work.  My problem is that I'm easily distracted and can often go off on tangents and have a hard time re-focusing on the task at hand, but I understand that's the way I work and I'm getting more comfortable in dealing with it.   

Like I've stated before here in one of my posts, I had a pattern sitting on my table for months and I would pass it every day, several times a day and I had a hard time picking colors/glass for the design, I couldn't see the finished window with color, then one day I was passing this pattern and I stopped, immediately picked out the glass and began to cut the window.....I can't force decisions, it I do, I'm usually not happy, yet in order to get work done, that is what I need to do at times, but again, that's what happens, the perfect idea, color, decision just pops into my head...now I may be sub-consciencely be thinking about it, but I don't know it until it hits me.

So, I guess my inspiration just seems to appear, an idea, color, shape etc, sits in my brain for a while and then comes to the forefront and I flow with it. 

Don't know if this makes sense to folks, or if I even got my point across, so ask me any questions you may have, whether it's on stained glass, fused glass, repairs or inspiration, I'm happy to hear what you have to say.

Have a great week.

Joe

Bennington, VT weather - COLD, and rain is on it's way

Well, I have a couple hundred discs of colored glass, some wrapped in aluminum frames, and I'm trying to wrap my head around what to do with them.  I have some of them laid out on my light table and the colors are fun and interesting.  

I got the discs at an optical company in Vermont, that sells their scrap and the colors change as the light changes or as you move and look at them from different angles.  That's why I think they would look great in a glass project, but just not sure what that is.  Some are mirrored and I think I'll glue them onto a piece of mirror on the edge for a funky effect, but I haven't a clue on all the colored discs.  I may return most of them as they are all 1" in diameter or smaller and making a project with them will be time consuming and difficult.  They have larger disc that I think will have a better overall effect when done in a hanging window. 

I want to make some different glass windows as I'm thinking of participating in Artscape in Baltimore next Summer with a friend of mine, Anna Croyle, who is a stained glass artist and a stained glass window designer.  Anna actually has 5 stained glass pattern books published by Dover Publications, just do a search for her and you'll find the books.  I've made many of the designs and they are fun.

I want to offer something different for folks who may not want traditional stained glass windows, something with a funky feel, or maybe just a different take on colored glass windows, stay tuned this winter for my new projects and photos.

Creating a new custom stained glass window takes a bit of time to get the design just right, and for me sometimes the hardest part is to come up with an idea.  I usually think about it for a bit, depending on what needs to be done and then all of a sudden I'll get an idea and I'm off.  That happens more times than not.  

I once has a pattern on my work table for a few months, not knowing what colors would look best.  i walked past that pattern several times a day, not consciously thinking about it, but in the back of my mind the project was there.  Then one day, I walked past the pattern, stopped, pulled out all the class, set it next to the pattern and it was done.  It seemed like an easy decision when I was done, but until I got to that point, I just couldn't get the colors in my mind.  It just works differently all the time.

Enjoy your day.

Joe

Well, is 5:50 am and for some reason I'm wide awake, probably woke to the rain pounding the house...so it's up and at 'em with coffee and a quick blog.

I finished my 3 window repair project last night, with pick-up set for Saturday.  They windows came out great and two of the three just needed to be repaired and not completely re-built.  

I always find it difficult to tell people when they call or send photos what really needs to be done to a window until I see it in person.  So, this customer actually saved $600 from my original estimate, since they did not require as much work as originally thought.

These windows were leaded, clear glass windows.  I stripped old paint, re-glazed and cleaned them up.  

I think they will be happy with the work.

now on the my next project...I'll have pictures of those two windows.  They are 2 of I think 9 sections of a skylight and they are extremely bowed windows.  Should be an interesting repair...stay tuned.

Joe

Today weather....RAIN

Well, I thought I'd chat about my stained glass maple leafs that I make.  In my studio / retail store, they were one of my biggest sellers.  

I also sold a number of them to the Bennington Museum Gift Shop and to a local art & craft retail store.  I've probably made close to 300 +  over the last few years.  

They are a great thank you gift, I put some on my Christmas Tree, and in my windows for year round color.

What I really like are the Autumn colors of the leaves, the bright reds, oranges and yellows that just pop in the window when the sun hits them.  I'm not a huge fan of make a lot of small projects and sun catchers, but my Maple Leaf is the only sun catcher project I'll make.

I'm currently sold out and need to make more.  Over the winter I hope to build up my supply and get them into shops and my online store at Etsy.com  You can check out my finished work.  Just go to Etsy.com and look for Glass Fusion Studios of Vermont and I should pop up.  I have a mixture of my custom stained glass work and fused glass.  

This photo was taken in my photo booth, which I am still learning to use.  The leaf below is of course hanging in my window.  Originally I had them hanging upside down from their stem, then later added the hook to the top, so people can hang them either way....They look great in a grouping of them in a window, looks like Autumn leaves year round.

If interested in purchasing a leaf, drop me an email.  They come in all Autumn colors, but I also make them in other colors as well.  I have a red white and blue maple leaf for patriotic folks, and people who like country decor really love tthem.  

I can make a leaf in any color you like. just let me know.

Here is one of my leaves.  I have this one hanging upside down

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day.

J

Bennington, VT weather.....hard to say, I wrote this blog on the 12th of November and will post it for a later date.