A LITTLE LOOK AT GLASS
There were a number of ideas that I've been dreaming about recently, and I decided to try a few of them out together for this drawing challenge. We were given the theme GLASS by a great artist friend
Susan, who is the host for this challenge. It took me less than a nanosecond to think of Dale Chihuly for this theme, and so I began. I made a little book with a few views of glass I liked. I wanted to try a sewn pamphlet binding. It worked splendidly.
Above you can see the center of the little book with the sewn binding. Dale certainly is a man of ideas. Here, we see one of his team working on a very large piece. This guy has charge of the flame.
And here is the man himself, the Master, the genius Dale, in full working action mode. Notice the guy in the suit standing to his left. This is hot work.
And here is another view of one of his pieces in situ, shown on the left page.
On the right you see the inside of the back cover. This is a view of glass door knobs. Oh how I love them. They are commercial items, and not Chihuly's work.
The cover of the little book shows a modern style glass chandelier.
This book measures 1 and 3/4" wide X 2 and 1/4" tall when closed. I played with colour image transfers, and was especially interested to see what a human face would look like, and if glass could be clear and translucent. It is. On the transfer of the door knobs, you can see and read the writing underneath. I find this amazing. I tried doing a transfer on vellum, but, oh hello dear, do not get vellum even the tiniest bit wet. That was a no go. I love the vellum though, on its' own and that is why it got center spot in this book. Dorland's wax medium basically saved me on more than one image transfer, for this challenge, and I would be helpless without it.
To see what others did for this GLASS theme drop in to Susan's blog and get linked up to an interesting variety of takes on this theme. Thank you for dropping in, and I hope to see you soon, hugs Norma, x
Hello Norma.....love your little book about one of my heroes in the glass world! Your transferred door nob page is gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteoh Norma, a little ode to the man and his art,(just found out he has a blog too and his work is fantastic)
ReplyDeletei just love the 'idea' page,the sparks and flames shining through, the hands taking part and shaping the idea,
again you took the theme and made such a fine small work, always surprising what you do, i love it, xx
Oh, dear Norma,
ReplyDeletelove your little book! with those technic of transfer... and those of the green door knobs translucency! Great story and pics of a very hot work. Thank you!
Love
x Ariane.
... and of course for the story of a great artist!
ReplyDeletex A.
Norma, I love your ideas that come from your mind in less than a nanosecond. this is called a fast creative brain. ha ha.
ReplyDeleteI love your book sheets which show the pages underneath. and one can read the backwards and forwards.
Congratulations!
Norma, I want to hold this book...it is precious and layered. Were the transfers made onto the velum and then adhered? In a video I saw on Chihuly, we was drawing on large paper using a BROOM in a bucket of ink. THAT"S HUGE. He is a character to behold. Your book a gem.
ReplyDeleteHi Emily, oh NO NO the vellum does not like to be wet one tiny little bit. One of the experimenting I did was to attempt a transfer directly on to vellum...which would look fabby hey? The vellum when wet instantly shrivels up like the Witch of the East in the Wizard of Oz. The vellum I used was from a little book of quotes which are meant to be used in paper crafts, like scrapbooking, etc.
DeleteWhat I like about Dale is that he thinks BIG, and big outside of the box.
a beautiful little book about a wonderful trade!
ReplyDeleteand I love your lighthouse so much!!
:)) mano
Well, this is just a fascinating post on lots of levels, Norma. I want to hold the book, too. Being a University of Washington grad, I feel like Chilhuly is part of my family, and am dying to get a visit to the glass museum featuring his work in Tacoma. AND - I want to say, your transfer work is just fantastic. My big jar of Dorlands has migrated to the top of my work table. How I wish you could come over and give me a demo. Guess I will just have to experiment! xxoo, sus
ReplyDeleteI cannot express how I would adore standing in front of an art table, playing and experimenting with stuff, by your side. I am on quite a tear at the moment with the gel image transfers. I lay in bed at night dreaming of ideas. My latest (last night) is to draw a face or something using pastels and pencil crayons in a neat controlled painterly style, and then to colour photocopy that and then do a gel transfer onto something or other and then to go in and sort of collage round and about the image, adding to it, and smudging over in spots like an off-set image. Isn't it completely weird to describe in words what one sees? And then, gosh, to try it out and discover it does not look at all like what you saw in the first place in the middle of the night in a dark room with birds singing at the edge of morning...maybe there needs to be singing birds in the collage. We will just have to see...well I wish I could stand by you and paint singing birds now. HA!
DeleteWell the Dorlands saves me like this: it seems no matter how much I rub, on the transfer there is always even a shadow of tiny white paper specs and this makes the image dull dull dull. When I then go in and rub Dorlands over top, and then give a good buff the image jumps to life. The photos weren't so wonderful but did the trick in this little book. The glass knobs on the other hand jump off the page. I'm amazed that one can see right through the transfer. *smiles* N, x
Hi dear Norma, this is truly a great little book, I enjoyed looking at every page and I like the "idea" page in the middle, great artwork and cool transfers!
ReplyDeleteAnd THANKS for mentioning me.
BarbaraBee
P.S. I send your giveaway last monday, well lets see how long it will take...
Its a triumph Norma
ReplyDeleteDont you love it when experimentation gives you satisfying results The transluency of that green glass knb is quite spectacular. I love the whole feel of the book too it having a milky dreamlike quality almost glass in itself.
Really love it and would love to hold it and read it.
Helen :)
PS: binding is sweet too.
Genious! Love it all, Norma. I had been working on a book tag before my break and now that I am rested, I cannot wait to get back to it.
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful.
Thank you for stopping by. I noticed today that your blog was not showing on my sidebar blogroll, but I quickly fixed that. I had lost the gadget a few weeks ago and some of the blogs are still being added back on. Looking forward to more of your art.
XOXO's
Oh so lovely Norma! I love vellum! I love transfers (I won't try it on vellum)and I love little books!! oh yah and Chihuly is AMAZING!! Think outside the box (I also love Dorland's wax) ... I too would love to hold this little treasure and flip through it!.... I am now waiting to see this collage you mentioned to me in your comment (please share it)
ReplyDeletea bit like a roarin' devil in action, the glass blower looks...
ReplyDeleteis that an eye patch?
n♥
Oh, this is just great! An artpiece book, maybe even for children to learn about how to create glass! It's beautiful, I love every single page of it!
ReplyDelete