“The Adventures of Buffalo Joe and the Blackbird with the Broken Wing!”

That’s right!! My children’s book is going to be published!! This past week, everything has sort of fallen into place, and I am ecstatic! Since I was in Jackson Hole all week, I met with a local publisher while there, and he said he loved my work.  I am thrilled because this publisher seems to be the perfect fit for my book. Check out Homestead Publishing here.

I do have a lot of work to do before my deadline, however, so if I am MIA for the next little while, you know why!! Now I need to get to work . . .

Stained Glass is something that I absolutely love, thanks to my favorite job I had in high school. My senior year, I landed a job at a stained glass shop where I was trained in foil work. Although I only worked there for about a year before I went away to college, it really spurred my interest, and ever since then, I’ve kept it up!

I thought I’d show you the latest stained glass project that I’m working on. For one of our wedding presents, we received a beautiful piece of artwork with pressed wildflowers. It’s hung beautifully in our home for nearly 4 years, until it fell off the wall and the glass shattered. I was so bummed about it, but was able to salvage the lovely wood frame, and decided to create a stained glass piece to go inside. Here is the pattern that I created:

It’s a simple pattern of tulips, and I think it turned out great! I love flowers . . . I can’t seem to stray from them in my artwork . . . they are my very favorite. Here are some things that you will notice in the pattern design when you look closely:

-each piece labeled with a number
– lines on each piece that indicate the grain direction of the glass
– each piece labeled with a letter, which represents the color/type of glass used

And important things to keep in mind while creating a stained glass pattern:

-The more pieces in the pattern, the more intricate your stained glass project will be. And in many cases, more pieces = more difficulty.
-Try not to have pieces that are very, very small. They could get lost in the solder and end up not being seen. Small pieces also add difficulty to every project.
-While creating a pattern, every piece needs to be thought about. Each individual piece should not have jagged or sharp curves, as it is very tricky–and in some cases, impossible to cut that piece of glass.

So, there you have it! This project is currently under works. Stay tuned for the finished project! Also, if anyone is interested in their own pattern design/custom piece of stained glass made by me, give me a holler. I would be thrilled!