I am always being asked how long my work takes to make, so I thought I would document the process on a straight forward piece, a front door panel for a house in Sidmouth, this is a straight forward panel with no etching or painting involved and is 63 x 63 cm. I worked from 9.15 to 3.15 yesterday with 30 minutes for lunch, and probably another 30 minutes of faffing! In that time I marked out my cutting pattern (full size cartoon of the finished design) and altered bits I thought did not balance properly/slight ajustments to fit the size of the glass etc. Then I took a little break from it to do another drawing/get the kiln going for other work. I always leave a little break between making the cutting pattern and cutting so I can take one last look at it…….then down to cutting the pieces for this large front door panel
Posts Tagged 'white'
How long does it take to make a stained glass window?
Published June 11, 2011 stained glass 3 CommentsTags: Amy Mccarthy, art, art deco, art glass, artisan, beach hut, bespoke, blue., boat, boats, coast, commission, craft, Devon, front door, landscape, lead, light house, red, renovation, sea, seaside, stained glass, sunshine, traditional methods, white, window
Lotus Panel Tryptic
Published December 31, 2010 Uncategorized 3 CommentsTags: 3 stained glass panels, acid etching, Amy Mccarthy, art, artisan, bespoke, commission, continuous design, design, Devon, Exeter, glass, green, grey, handmade, internal windows, kitchen, lead, leading, lily leaves, lily pad, living space, lotus flower, pink, Spectrum glass, stained glass, stained glass panels, traditional methods, unique, water glass, white, window, wispy
These panels were completed just before Christmas for a house in the centre of Exeter, in the very old part of the city, which is being totally renovated. They will run the full length of the wall, one above the other, from floor to ceiling as a feature between the kitchen area and sitting area of an open plan living space. The panel with 2 flowers will be at the top and they will follow horizontally from there.
The design brief was to create lotus flower panels to fit with the colour scheme of the new kitchen and I have used light grey and green on green Spectrum water glass for the leaves and water, Spectrum wispy pink and white glass for the flowers and I have acid etched yellow cathedral glass for the centre of the flowers. The design flows from top to bottom and I was inspired by designs in an Art Nouveau pattern book.
I have ensured all of the water glass pattern runs horizontally to mimic the ripples of water and the light transparency of this contrasts wonderfully with the semi translucent qualities of the pink glass, really making the flowers stand out from the panels. With all the terrible weather we have been having the building work has been slowed down, so they have not been fitted yet and I will add photos of them in place in due course, until then I am keeping them safe away from the building work!
The slide show below shows the process from drawings to finished panel.
Teignmouth Sunrise and Boats Panel
Published November 20, 2010 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: Amy Mccarthy, artisan, bespoke, blue., boats, cliffs, coast, commission, craft, dartmoor, design, Devon, Exeter, front door, glass, green, handmade, hills, http://folksy.com/shops/amyorangejuice, landscape, lead, lines, orange, panel, reclaimed, recycled, sails, seaside, solder, south west coast, sunrise, sunshine, unique, waves, white, window, yellow
This diamond shaped front door panel was picked up today by its owners, photos of it in its new resting place will be added when it is fitted and the new owners get round to it! They very much liked another recent commission of mine (coincidentally for a front door) and a recent sunrise panel I had done, so a bit of a combination of 2 things here! I very much enjoyed making this piece as I was in my comfort zone, the sea, simple lines and vibrant colours. I took as much care as possible with the template, but shapes without right angles always have an element of risk in my world, I will rest easy once I know it is puttied into its window frame!
The below slide show takes you from drawing to finished panel
The next commission is 3 panels and the theme is lotus flowers, pinks, greens and greys. I love the variation of my line of work, but some of the deadlines are tight, I have got to the them done by Christmas!
Little edit, here is a photo of it in the front door (from the outside, not got back in yet!)

Sailing off to a new front door!
Published September 10, 2010 Uncategorized 2 CommentsTags: Amy Mccarthy, art, artisan, bespoke, blue., boat, boats, coast, commission, dartmoor, design, Devon, Exeter, front door, glass, green, handmade, landscape, lead, panel, sail, sail boat, sea, seascape, seaside, stained glass panels, stripey, stylised, traditional methods, turquoise, waves, white, window
My recent seascape commission panel is finished and I am very pleased with it! It will be fitted into the new front door of a house in a local village. The brief of the commission was to suggest a landscape, preferably with sea and if possible with boats in without being too busy/complicated as it is a small window (37 x 18 cm). I am pleased with the results, all the different blues and turquoise look fabulous with the sun streaming through.
Imagining Florence
Published August 12, 2010 Uncategorized 3 CommentsTags: art glass, buildings, city, commisssion, design, dome, Domo, Florence, Italy, orange, panel, red, roof tops, stained glass, unique, wedding, wedding present, white
I have recently been commissioned to create a panel as a very special wedding present for a couple getting married in September. They both love Italy and are honeymooning there, so the theme is Italian, specifically Tuscany. I adore Italy and as soon as she said Tuscany I had images of Florentine roof tops in my head! She was excited by this idea too and so I have whittled my drawing down to 2 depictions of the city………..I wonder which one she will choose?