The Stained Glass Zone

The Beauty of Stained Glass

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:28:37 GMT

I really appreciate the look and function of my stained glass windows. They are absolutely beautiful when the sun hits them in the afternoon light. The brilliant colors make me feel warm and comfortable. I placed them in those afternoon windows to block the bright summer afternoon sun. My front room was the warmest room in the house because of those mid-day rays. I did not want to totally block out the sunlight so those stained glass windows really did the trick.

The fun part was shopping for and looking at so many different stained glass window pane arrangements. I was amazed and a little overwhelmed with the decision process because there were so many styles to choose from. I had to narrow it down first by the choice of color I wanted in my stained glass. Once I grouped those choices I thought about what kind of theme or message I wanted to relay with the windows. The stained glass would be seen inside the house as well as outside. At night when the lights were on indoors the stained glass could be seen from the street.

I am very happy with my ultimate choice. The stained glass windows are stunning in the light from either side. Plus the heat level in my front room has been reduced a whole lot. It is a comfortable place to hang out anytime of day!

Decorative Glass Factory

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:13:23 GMT

While visiting my husband's family in the Midwest we took a day road trip to tour a decorative glass factory. As the tour took us through the factory we saw hot molten glass being blown and shaped into candy bowls, vases and pitchers with curved or twisted handles. It was really neat to see how the crafters worked with that hot glass. They were able to make it do crazy things to create those beautiful pieces of decorative glass.

The tour led us through the painting section. This was where cooled down pieces were hand painted with flowers or some ambiguous design. The patterns were similar but actually all were different and one of a kind with the skill of these artists.

The tour ended in a gift shop that displayed many rows of shelves of the decorative glass finished products. Of course my husband and I could not leave without getting our own signed piece of decorative glass. Since we were traveling by plane we chose to have the piece shipped to our Southwest home. We watched as the clerk packed our piece of decorative glass into a box with those plastic peanuts. Today, that piece of decorative glass is prominently and warmly displayed in our living room.

Tiffany Glass Lamp Sets Mood

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:39:23 GMT

I just love the mood set by the light displayed from a mellow tiffany glass lamp. I have a tiffany lamp placed on an antique table in my living room. As dusk falls I turn on the tiffany glass lamp. When the room gets dark the illumination from the tiffany lamp is soft, warm and inviting. I really look forward to spending relaxing evenings in the room.

I found my tiffany glass lamp while shopping at an antique store. I spend alot of my free time doing just that sort of thing. I like the look and feel of antiques so my home is loaded with them. The day I found that tiffany glass lamp was the same day I met my then to be future husband. He owned the antique store I was shopping in and we hit it off immediately as we talked about this, that and the other thing.

A week later he and I went to dinner together and truly have not been separated since. Talk about an attraction and a feeling that we had known each other forever after just a couple of meetings. We believe fate intervened by way of a tiffany glass lamp.

Making Stained Glass Crafts with Daughter

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 06:09:02 GMT

My youngest daughter has always been the artsy craftsy child. With her I am able to explore my own missed childhood opportunities. My daughter and I have enjoyed doing things like making tye dye t-shirts, painting bird houses and then putting them outside in a tree with bird seed in them and watching the feeding frenzy. We have made edible jewelry and permanently colored a jeweled box to hold my daughter's treasures. Our latest endeavor was working with stained glass. I truly believe I like doing the artsy craftsy things as much as she does!

The stained glass kit came with all the pieces of brightly colored glass broken up into workable sizes. My daughter and I then arranged them into different shaped pallets. I worked on a square shaped piece while she did a hectagon. We spent a good week working on those stained glass plaques. After the adhesive was dry we sprayed them with a clear glaze so they could be used outdoors. Today those beautiful pieces of stained glass artwork are proudly displayed in the garden.

Adding Personality to a Home with Stained Glass

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:24:31 GMT

If we are not careful, it is really easy in life to go with the flow, move into a cookie cutter house, drive the standard car of the time and dress to fit in. I would much rather keep some individuality and live outside of the box. Some things in life are worth following the crowd with but when I own my first home here is where I’ll be able to show some personality. I grew up in a neighborhood with cookie cutter type homes. From the outside, our house looked like a few others coming up our street but inside it was unique. That was partly because of renovations and partly because my mom incorporated things she enjoyed like stained glass.

There were three skylights above our kitchen-dining nook. My mom started by switching out one of the window panes for a stained glass panel and after liking it so much swapped out another leaving the center skylight clear glass. Unless someone sat down at our table, they would have never seen the stained glass but it added character to our home.

Going to Start Making Stained Glass Mobiles at Home

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:23:56 GMT

I love stained glass objects and have had a serious desire to learn to make them myself. To that end, I found this loupe online that should be useful when I'm making really intricate stained glass pieces. I talked to a woman who teaches the art of stained glass and she suggested that one of these would be useful for making the small pieces that I want. Instead of making large stained glass panels, I want to make small ones with lots of pieces of color in them. I love things that are small and intricate, so it makes sense to buy the Premium 20 x 30mm Jeweler's Loupe w/ Stand that will help me create the small objects.

I am envisioning making stained glass mobiles. I used to make mobiles all the time from seashells, driftwood and small rocks. I got the idea of making stained glass mobiles when I was going through a box of old stuff and saw both a glass bead and one of my old mobiles, so when I put two and two together, and came up with the idea of making intricate stained glass mobiles myself. I can get all the things I need to make them online, and I can't wait to get started. There are even tutorials online for making stained glass ornaments so I might be able to get started all by myself just by using the tools the Internet offers. I found this loupe at Circuit Values located at http://www.circuitvalues.com and not only will it be useful for my stained glass projects, others in the family can use it for close up work, too.

This loupe magnifies up to 30 times so we can really examine things up close. I like the fact that this is mounted on a stand and we won't have to use my hands to use this magnifier. It's a cool product and I'm really looking forward to getting it. It was reasonably priced and will let me make some beautiful stained glass mobiles as well as other things I have yet to discover down the road.

Arts and crafts are an excellent way to entertain myself and I grew up in a family that was always doing things with their hands, and I can't wait to learn how to make my stained glass mobiles for the house and patio. If I come up with really beautiful designs, I might even be able to sell them online, too. I didn't see that many sites for stained glass mobiles, so maybe I've hit on something here that will let me do something I've always loved and be able to make some money at it at the same time.

Love the Look of Tiffany Glass

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:49:40 GMT

I just love the look of tiffany glass lamps. I have several of them in my home. Two tiffany glass lamps are located in my front room where I spend most of my relaxation time. Also in that room are a big screen television, my comfortable recliner and surround sound speakers. I enjoy the comfort and warmth that room offers me, especially at the end of a hectic day.

The other tiffany glass lamp is in my bedroom. The colors of the stained glass are a compliment to the rest of the decor in the room. I love the light casted about with the tiffany glass lamp. I find it to be quite soothing and a great classic addition to my area of rest.

I hope to add to my collection of tiffany glass lamps. I don't really seek them out but if I run across a lamp that speaks to me I will get it. I like to peruse the antique stores to see what treasures they may hold. I did purchase one of those tiffany glass lamps from an antique store. It was in good shape although I needed to polish up the brass stand. I like to do that sort of thing. I just love the look of tiffany glass!

Opalescent Glass for Front Door

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:19:50 GMT

The entry way to my parents home sports two large carved wooden doors. Beside each of those doors is a long narrow window. The windows really light up the entry way in the daytime but at night they revealed too much of the interior of the house. My parents felt uncomfortable at night with the easy visibility into their home through those windows. Solution: installing a custom made stained glass panel in each window made of opalescent glass!

This was a fun project as my mother and father spent some time looking for the perfect stained glass design. They knew what colors they wanted to incorporate in each of the long narrow stained glass panels but they were not sure of the pattern or picture they would depict. After many months of looking around and installing temporary paper blinds my parents made their final choice.

Today each of those long narrow windows is prominently covered with the most beautiful stained glass panel made of an opalescent glass. The light is diffused but still comes through during the day. At night my mother and father experience the security and privacy they were seeking.

A lesson about Tiffany glass.

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:06:46 GMT

There is a TV show on the Discovery Channel I enjoy watching. "How ir's Made" is the name of this show, and while watching an episode last week I was pleasantly surprised to see they were going to show how real Tiffany glass was made. I stayed glued to this show as I have a couple pieces of Tiffany glass and am interested in not just collecting Tiffany glass but also stained glass, opalescent glass, and many different types of decorative glass. The show moves quickly but from what I can remember the process of making, say, as Tiffany glass lamp shade begin's with an artist laying out the pattern they want the Tiffany glass pieces to cover. This pattern is then numbered so the individual laying the separate pieces of decorative glass will know what goes where. This is where I found the process really interesting--the next artist then fashions the copper, silver, or lead wire framework to match the original drawing. They fit these pieces together with a lead solder and gradually build the wire you see surrounding a finished Tiffany glass product. The original drawing is placed on different sheets of Tiffany glass and the shapes are traced onto this decorative glass panel. Each piece is then hand cut and fitted into the framework of wire. This is now when more molten lead is poured around the edges of the glass and wire frame to solidly hold the piece's of individual glass in place. I found the entire process very fascinating and informative. While searching online for Tiffany glass lamp shades for a dining room light I stumbled upon a really interesting item on the Circuit Values web site located online at http://www.circuitvalues.com. I found this item so interesting I thought other might like to know about it.
This is a picture of the APOLLO 40th MEDALLION - contains Apollo flown metal. Yes, according to signed statements endorsed by NASA this cool medallion contains metal from one of the space flights to the moon. How cool is that! What a great conversation piece and as an addition to any collection of NASA and space related collectables. The medallion is stamped on both sides commemorating the moon landing's and comes with a beautiful holder/stand. Finding something like this while searching online for a totally unrelated item is what makes online shopping and browsing so interesting. I know just the spot on my fireplace mantle for this very unusual item.

Flowers wouldn’t be the same in my house without decorative glass vases!

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:17:13 GMT

I find it to be interesting at times that something as simple as decorative glass vases can really spice up a room in your house. Take my bedroom, for example, there are several decorative glass vases that have really nice, fresh flowers that my wife keeps stocked in them and they really add to the flare and the ambience of the room. This is the same status quo for the other rooms in my house; decorative glass vases really do add this missing, final touch to those rooms. And on another related note, being able to have fresh flowers strewn around your home using decorative glass vases is just decadent if you ask me. As far as finding the decorative glass vases that suits my wife and me, they can be, I have found, easily located online at a wide variety of different online stores that have all sorts of deals and selections on quality decorative glass vases that you can order for quite the value, avoiding the costly retail markup. And having fresh flowers in my house is just heavenly!

Flowers I ordered online for Valentine’s Day come with amazing decorative glass vase!

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:17:08 GMT

My wife just loves getting flowers on special days, such as our wedding anniversary, her birthday, or this forthcoming lover’s holiday that comprises Valentine’s Day. She also has plenty of really nice decorative glass vases in her collection that currently house fresh flowers around our home. However, this Sunday – which marks Valentine’s Day – she will be getting yet another really nice decorative glass vase that she can add to her ever growing collection. This is because I shopped for the flowers that bought for her online – and got a great deal on them mind you – and they come with a really nice decorative glass vase that my wife will just love; not to mention how shocked that she will be when the flowers are delivered to our house right before we head out to dinner. Indeed, I love getting my wife surprises, but this gift is twofold: she gets the flowers that she will love, and the keepsake decorative glass vase as a memento. I am sure that she will find a special place to put it in the house so the vase can hold more fresh flowers in the future!

Framed Stained Glass

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:50:58 GMT

I have two small windows in my kitchen that frame the stove area and allow the afternoon sun to shine in. When I moved into this house I immediately thought those windows called for a couple of framed stained glass hangings. The thing was to find the perfect designs.

My kitchen is decorated in a country theme with yellow sunflowers, birdhouses and it also includes chili peppers. Did I mention that my interior design is a little eclectic? I surround myself with the things I like. So my kitchen and other rooms in the house don't always match in the eyes of the casual observer but it is what I like.

I found framed stained glass hangings made with both of my favorite kitchen adornments. One is a yellow sunflower and it hangs in one window. The other is a chili pepper vine and it looks great in the second window. Yes, my taste may be eclectic but there is some sort of order to it, if you want to call it that. The framed stained glass helps to bring it all together in the kitchen area.

Beautiful Grandfather's Clock Has Decorative Glass Shelves

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:12:02 GMT

One of the things that makes my sister's family room so inviting is the big grandfather's clock that she has in there. I love how it chimes on the hour and half hour, and it has the most beautiful decorative glass face on it. I began looking online for one and found this one which might be just perfect for our family room. This is a smaller version of a grandfather's clock which would be perfect because we don't have enough space for the size my sister has which is quite large. This clock has the decorative glass face and two additional shelves for displaying curios. This is the Kassel™ Grandfather Clock with Curio Cabinet and it measures 75" tall and weighs 38 pounds, so even I can move it around when we decide to rearrange the furniture.

I am a soft touch for decorative glass and even though we have two rambunctious cats, I love adding to our collection on a regular basis. I have a number of glass paperweights, some gorgeous crystal wine glasses, and drinking goblets. We use these decorative glasses frequently, too, believing that there's no point in having something unless we can use it when we want to. Our water is so hard, so I buy vinegar by the gallon to keep the decorative glasses sparkling and clear, but the experience of drinking from them is so elegant, it's worth the extra soaking.

I found this grandfather's clock at Circuit Values located at www.circuitvalues.com, a site that has a lot of interesting things for the home and home entertainment, including some electronic gadgets. I try to do as much shopping online as I can because it's a real time and money saver. This clock is presently being offered at a massive discount which makes it easy to make the decision to buy it. Sometimes getting great buys on things is enough of a motivator to tip me in the direction of buying as opposed to just window shopping.

We have started buying almost everything online now because we can get such good deals on things and there's no end to the kinds of products that are offered online. I don't even know where I would find a grandfather's clock with decorative glass shelves in it locally, without having to spend a lot of time calling around or driving from store to store, which would take an entire morning or afternoon. And then there's getting it home which would be a challenge, too, since our vehicles are small. I have ordered many of my beautiful decorative glass paperweights and glasses online, and will continue to see what's in cyberspace before I have to resort to actual bricks and mortar shopping.

Shopping for a Tiffany glass vase for new sister in law who eloped!

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:38:56 GMT

My brother and his now wife are very sneaky, as it turns out. They had a clandestine wedding planned for months, and they scurried away to Barbados and got married without telling anybody; until today when I got a card that announced it in the mail, and stated that they did not want any gifts. However, I say bah to that notion, and knowing that his wife loves Tiffany glass vases, I have been shopping online without letting them know to get her a new Tiffany glass vase that she can put somewhere in their new home in Long Beach. I think that they will be pretty surprised when that Tiffany glass vase – whichever one I end up finding online – arrives in the mail. I also have been shopping for a great gift for my brother as well. I will make sure that they don’t get a receipt, this way they have to accept the gift. Besides they will love the gifts I get them, whether they want to get them or not, and they are deserving of something nice to celebrate their marriage and decorate their new home with!

New York City trip netted amazing pictures of stained glass church windows!

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:42:26 GMT

If you have never been to the amazing megalopolis that comprises New York City, or the Big Apple, or the City that Never Sleeps, then you are missing out on one heck of a historical adventure my dear readers! I was in this awesome city back in March of last year, and the one thing that was on my to do list of sites to see while there were the many historical and preserved churches and their divine stained glass windows that offer unsurpassed beauty that one cannot find nearly anywhere else in the world, perhaps with the exception to the stained glass windows that you can find in the churches in Italy, or the stained glass windows that you can find in older cities like Boston. I visited several churches while I was in the big city, and I was certain to have my digital camera handy so that I could take in these gothic and behemoth, pristine wonders as only the city of Gotham truly has to offer the millions of visitors that it welcomes each year!

Decorative glass ashtrays wife ordered online are fab, made me smile!

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:17:38 GMT

I have to hand it to my wife, she really knows her stuff when shopping online for all things and deals on them! I know that smoking is really bad, and we are both trying to quite smoking, and I am only down to smoking one or two a day, as so is she, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t want something nice like decorative glass ashtrays to make our home look nicer; and we don’t smoke inside, so some of the decorative glass ashtrays that are in our house are just for looks. But namely, she ordered two decorative glass ashtrays online the other day that she found at a great store for an amazing bargain because the dog ran into the patio table and the decorative glass ashtray that we had on top of the table flew off, shattering on the ground below. After I cleaned up the mess, I told her that we had better get another one online. She was shopping for some and found such great deals that she actually ended up ordering a few, one for outside and two to place around the house!

I love the way that light reflects off Tiffany glass!

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:43:06 GMT

Have you ever seen the way that light can reflect off Tiffany glass? It is so candescent and amazing that it really catches my eye. I have always wondered why Tiffany glass made the light contrast into so many amazing colors, so I did some online research and it revealed to me that Tiffany glass is made from a mixture of different glass particles that are all melted down and formed by hand – in most cases – to the beautiful Tiffany glass pieces that you can find online. These pieces are then formed into anything from Tiffany glass vases – like the ones that my mother adores and has a pretty ample and impressive collection of – to other things, like beads, or handmade necklaces, ash trays, you name it. Indeed, if you were to ever see the inside of my mother’s house in Tempe, Arizona you would see how amazing the Tiffany glass looks when the shades are drawn and the bright Arizonan sun is shingling through them. It decorates the entire house with a rainbow of different colors that are just gorgeous!

Attractive Neon Clock has Decorative Glass Cover

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:22:17 GMT

I am so drawn to products that use decorative glass. Today when I was browsing online, I found this neon blue clock that uses a neon tube and a decorative glass cover. I think it's a high quality clock and I know it would really look good in the kitchen, where the only clock is the one on the stove. It would be so nice to have a large clock in the kitchen that is illuminated and easy to read, especially late at night and in the dark of the early morning. My husband is nearsighted and this clock would give him a clue when he walked into the kitchen without his glasses on in the dark.

Besides the neon and the decorative glass face, this 14 Inch Double Ring Neon Clock has a polished glass band around it that adds to its attractiveness as a kitchen clock. It's kind of retro, but the design is classic enough to go with just about any decor, and I love this shade of blue. In fact, I have light blue curtains in the kitchen and the nook that this clock would go nicely with. It runs on AA batteries and also comes with an AC cord, so even if the power went out, we would still know what the time was without having to turn our cell phones on.

I found this clock at Circuit Values located at http://www.circuitvalues.com, a site with a wide variety of merchandise. This decorative glass clock comes in different colors of neon, like yellow and green. This is one of the best looking clocks I've seen in a long time and I think I'll order it. I like clean lines on things and this clock is decorative without shouting it out. I love shopping online because it is so easy to find things that are hard to find locally, especially decorative glass and even stained glass, another of my weak spots for home decorating.

I've even started taking lessons in making stained glass panels and those are fun, but this clock is something I'd never be able to make, since it uses neon and the convex decorative glass cover. My goal for the stained glass classes is to be able to make some window panels for our west facing windows so when the sun comes in during the afternoon and early evening, we'll have something spectacular to look at. By taking classes, I'm so far ahead in my learning curve and I'm hoping to start designing something by the time the classes are over. In the meantime, in a week or two I'll be hanging this clock in the kitchen for its decorative and practical value.

Beautiful stained glass garden lighting.

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:27:42 GMT

I have been searching for stained glass, opalescent glass, decorative glass, and even Tiffany glass items for my home. I think lamps, lamp shades, candy bowls, wall art, and many more home decorating accent pieces made form stained glass, opalescent glass, decorative glass, or Tiffany glass make wonderful decorating accent pieces. I have many stained glass item sprinkled through out my home but I am always looking for more. During this search I recently ran across the ALLSOP 29036 SOLAR-POWERED CALLA LILY GARDEN ART at Circuit Values. This hand blown cracked glass is solar powered which is really cool plus I like the stained glass bulb and all the features build into the stained glass garden lighting piece. I would naturally expect to pay more for a hand blown stained glass object like this and that is even it did not have all the extra features, like solar power. But considering what I would get with this product the price is very reasonable I feel. Located online at http://www.circuitvalues.com there are so many nice products it was very interesting looking through all this web site has to offer.
I can think of several places this lighting product would look great around my home. A nice line of several running along side my driveway is one place as well as along my sidewalks leading to the front door and the sidewalk leading along the side and back of the house. And then placing a few along the edge of my garden and back porch would also look great. Finding a hand blown stained glass outside illumination product like this that is also solar powered was pure luck on my part. I am glad I did as I have looked at several different types of lighting for my driveway, but every normal pole lighting for these applications just did not give me that feeling of being the perfect fit. This outdoor lighting product does that, plus I really like the fact I would not have to connect each light and then bury the electrical line connecting several of these lights to power them, and then find a good out of the way place to plug them in. The product has these great features: SOLAR-POWERED GARDEN ACCENT LIGHT & PLANT STAKE
HIGH-POWERED AMBER LED LASTS OVER 100,000 HOURS
SUPERIOR QUALITY SOLAR CELL KEEPS PRODUCT LIT FOR A
MINIMUM OF 6–8 HOURS
HAND-BLOWN CRACKED GLASS
INTERCHANGEABLE TOPS
DETACHABLE BOTTOM STAKE
& TIP ALLOW FOR 2
DIFFERENT STAKE HEIGHTS

Stained Glass Mushrooms

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 07:37:06 GMT

I like to garden. My husband built a special area in our yard just for the pastime of gardening. It is a raised bed with a picket fence around it. I have restained that picket fence a couple times to keep it looking it nice. We dumped a bunch of fresh soil in the raised bed before I began planting. I find this to be my sanctuary and will escape there on occasion.

I like to put decorations in my garden. I have found some cool stained glass mushrooms that are placed amongst the flowers. They brilliant yellow, orange and blue stained glass caught my eye as we perused a garden shop one day. I just had to have them. After looking through the many colors of stained glass mushrooms I choose three. I like those stained glass mushrooms so much I have gotten more. I have placed them in big planted pots on our patio. They look especially fun when the sun hits them just right.

Along with those stained glass mushrooms I have wind chimes, my Dad's old metal watering can, a sun dial and some other little ceramic friends in the garden. There is a frog, lizard and squirrel. Quite the menagerie. When I need to relax I head to the garden and my husband to the garage!