The Glass Fairy
Have I ever told you guys that my mom totally rocks? And that she’s super talented? And that she moonlights as a glass fairy?
Well, you don’t have to take my word for it – just take a look at how she transformed the simple hutch in our breakfast room from this:
into this stunner of a showpiece:
See? I told you she was amazing! She put away her glass tools about 25 years ago and decided to bust them out of hibernation to spiff up our hutch – and we knew the end result would be gorgeous, since her handiwork is all over my parents’ house, from the windows in the front of the house to the china cabinet to an awesome glass coffee table.
But back to our little hutch. The first step in taking our glass panels from plain glass to snazzy leaded glass was to tape our pattern onto the panels like this:
That way we could make sure that we liked the pattern and that everything would line up just so. Then Mom whisked away the plain glass panels to her workshop (i.e., my sister’s old bedroom) and worked her leaded glass magic, which included things like cutting glass, stretching lead, and soldering everything together.
Pretty soon Mom had created 8 custom panels that looked like this:
Love those diamond shaped bevels!! If you look closely, you can see numbers and arrows drawn onto each of the individual pieces of glass – since there were four different sizes of panels for the hutch, Mom used this system to make sure that none of the pieces got switched around (which would have made the panels totally wonky):
After Mom dry-fitted each one of the panels, she dabbed a little clear silicone into each of the corners and the middle of the panels and then tapped them into place:
To keep the panels from getting frisky while the silicone was drying, she used tiny nails to hold them in place along with some serious clamps (that you can see in the picture above).
So what do you guys think of the transformation? Isn’t my mom the coolest?? And in addition to being cool, she’s also totally generous – now she’s working on a few pieces for my craft room! Am I a lucky duck, or what??
Totally lucky! Those windows are now totally gorgeous.
You ARE a lucky duck! Please tell your mom she did a fantastic job! And then tell her that she needs to do my house next! :)
You lucky duck! That is an amazing transformation-now to only get my mom in on the help your daughter with glass….not going to happen!
PS It would be great if you posted some photos of your moms handiwork from around your parents house.
Wow!!! I love it! It really is a stunner. And, you are a SERIOUSLY lucky duck :-) I agree with Gillian, let’s see more of your mom’s work!
I can see where you get your creativity now. Your mom must be blown away with all things you’ve done with your handiwork! You two would make a great team!
It looks awesome!!!!
Liz,
I can see where you get some of your talent from! This looks amazing.
Big giant wow!!! Your mom should charge for that – she’d make a fortune!
It was sooo fun to read today’s entry! Working with glass is very gratifying, particularly when one is working with Liz. Liz selected and installed 11 of the glass pieces in her craft room window, so she will be cranking out her own panels soon.
Mom,
I think you give me too much credit! :) But it would be awesome to be able to make something like you’ve done, and you’re great at passing on your knowledge!! Can’t wait until our next lesson. :)
Gillian,
Great idea!! Next time I’m over there I’ll have to snap a few pics of Mom’s handiwork.
~ Liz
How pretty! Does she have a shop full of beautiful stained glass pieces perhaps? ;)
What an amazing talent — when/where did your mom learn how to do that?!
Y’all should totally have her do that for each of your flips. It can be your firm’s signature. ;)
Kristina,
Ha, we keep telling her that she should start selling her pieces but she keeps resisting! I imagine she’ll give in after a little more arm-twisting. :)
Averill,
My mom has always been very artistic, and when she wants to learn how to do something she’ll just take a class and suddenly become a pro – for example, she took classes in photography and turned her laundry room into a dark room! I’ll have to ask her exactly where she learned to do it (maybe she’ll chime in!), but she started making leaded glass about 30-35 years ago and went strong for awhile then put it down when we were young. I’m glad she’s started up again!
We have definitely thought about having one of Mom’s pieces in each of our flips (and our own homes) – by the time we seriously thought about it at this first flip we were a little too late, but we certainly hope to in the future!! :)
~ Liz
STUNNING!! Does she have reasonable rates??? :)
Those are amazing! Such a talented family… :)
Amazing! I love it all! What unique and personal touches the glass adds to the home.
That is absolutely beautiful! She is extremely talented. Lucky you!