Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The Wedding Gift

I have started a new project -- a rather traditional type panel as a wedding gift.  I poured through all my pattern books, which is quite typical of me.  My daughter likes to tease me about this quirk of mine..... I have a need to look through every single pattern book I own before I can decide. Yes, it hit me when I saw it, that it was just what I was looking for!  It's a pattern by Ed Sibbett, Jr., from his Ornamental Flower Stained Glass Pattern Book.  Both my daughter and my daughter-in-law told me, at different times mind you, that it reminded them of the Beauty And The Beast rose.  It wasn't planned, but yes the bride is a real beauty. Her husband-to-be, though, is not beastly by any means, lol, but I hope they will like it. 

The design is a single stemmed rose with leaves, inside a heart, which is framed by smaller squares, which make up a 14" square.   Hard to describe -- you'll just have to have a look for yourself!



 Of course, I also had to research the meanings of every rose color known to man!  Hmmm....a white rose signifies purity and honor, so much a part of wedding cermonies, and red roses, well, we all know they signify  l-o-v-e and p-a-s-s-i-o-n!!  Well, love & passion won, so I've chosen two reds for the flower, but I am just not certain how it will look once the light shines through it.  One is a deep, translucent, darker shade of Spectrum's red Artique.  I LOVE this type of glass, the way the little variances in it catch the light.  The other is a red wispy, also by Spectrum, but it has a look of light falling onto the petals, although it's a bit heavier looking.  I've been mindful of how a real rose might look, with a bit of sun-light on it.  I will need to lay it all out on my light-box to see if the two shades work together ok.

I've chosen single glue-chip for the glass surrounding the rose that forms the heart-shape.  This will help the rose stand out more, but will perhaps give it a somewhat more romantic, old-fashioned look.  This glass is usually good for backgrounds, and what I really like is that it is very pretty, and super easy to cut! 

For the square shapes surrounding the heart, I remain undecided.  Tentatively, I have pulled out some clear textured iridescent glass from my stock that would give a little sparkle to it, but I am just not sure.  I may want something a bit heavier, with more color here.  I think a trip to the glass shop this Friday is in order.  Plus, I only have one shade of green for the leaves, and I always like to mix my greens when possible. As you can see, I really don't need much of an excuse to visit the glass shop!!

The funny thing about all this is, I have glass on order (also expected to be delivered on Friday)  for this very project, but I just decided to begin with what I had on hand to see if I might like it.  So far, I do!  The glass I have on order that I originally envisioned for the rose is Peppermint Pink Baroque, which is a very beautiful, textured, swirly glass, with lots of movement.  I admit, I wanted to try and combine the red & white color meanings of the roses.  ♥

Unless I am totally thrilled with the first one, I may build two of these, both different, and give the one I like best as the wedding gift.  Perhaps the other will end up in my ETSY shop.  I'll be sure and post pics when I have them ready.

2 comments:

  1. It is going to be beautiful! Can't wait to see the finished window!

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  2. Me too! In fact, I even feel like watching the movie....

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