Rhapsody

Is it possible to make music without making a sound? I think that may be possible with art. Some art creations just "sing."

Here's the story behind my latest work.

I like making art with a musical connection. My latest "musical" art creation began several years ago. I had an old upright piano. I don't really remember how I came into possession of it. I lived in Whites Creek at the time. It had been painted several times. I spent days taking off the many layers of paint and underneath them all was a beautiful walnut (at least that color) wood.

The piano lived a couple of different lives. After taking out the cast-iron harp it was much easier to move around so for awhile it was a computer desk. The computer keyboard went where the pianos keys were (I had taken them all off) and the monitor sat where the music would go. For a little while it was a headboard but eventually my lovely wife said it took up too much room and it was banished to the carport.

I decided to take it apart. Some of the wood was loosing it's veneer. Some was missing. I decided to rescue parts that I thought I could do something with some day and the rest ended up with some lighter fluid and a match. All that was left were screws laying in the ashes.

As I was preparing for my art show at Planters Bank I decided I had to make something I had pictured in my mind for years. I needed a big "WOW" piece for the show. Here's what I came up with. I named it "Rhapsody" - thinking of that beautiful piece"Rhapsody in Blue" by Gershwin. I didn't want to add the "in Blue" because I wanted people to think "in blue" without me obviously  pointing it out. There are five lines of lead. (the blue is the spaces)

I wish glass photographed better. The beauty of stained-glass can't be captured on film.

You really should go by Planters Bank on Madison St. (if you live in Clarksville) and see it for yourself.

My art show there opened at 10:00. By 11:15 I had one man take a picture of it to take home to his wife to convince her that they should buy it and another couple came in, talked about it for just a moment and then wrote me a check for it. (Thanks again, Tony and Beverly)

Beverly took a picture of me next to "Rhapsody" and then e-mailed it to me.

Now I want to get on Craigslist or Ft. Campbell Yard Sales and look for another piano!

You can see "Rhapsody" if you go to Planters Bank before the end of September.

Stained-glass Crosses

We had a great time in my stained-glass class making little panels of a cross.

There are several steps in creating a stained-glass piece. There are also many tools required.

First, you choose the pattern, copy it, and cut out one of the copies to use as a pattern.

After tracing around the pattern onto your glass, you cut the glass with a glass cutter.

You leave a little space for the lead, so cut your glass INSIDE the line you drew. Each piece of glass needs to be the EXACT size of the pattern. Too big and it won't fit. It will push the other pieces out too far or just won't go in at all. Too small and you'll have a gap in your finished piece.

You put your glass together on a board that has two boards on top at a right angle. You use these boards to push against as you put the pieces of glass in place. The pattern is there so you know where everything goes.

The outside of the panel is zinc. Lead stretches and is very soft, so it doesn't make a good border. We cut the zinc channels at a 45 degree angel.

Here is a piece with most of the glass in place. The nails are there to hold it together until after the solder is added. You put them in as you go along then move them when you are ready to put another piece in. This is especially important with curved pieces (in a different pattern) because they move around a lot when you put new pieces in.

Here you can see that piece number 12 is the only one not in. We number the pieces so we are sure they go in the correct place. This is more important in a larger piece but is still helpful even in a small panel like these.

After all the lead and pieces of glass are in you put some flux on each joint. 'The joints are where the lead meets up against another piece of lead. The solder won't stick to the lead unless you put flux on it. There's some sort of chemical reaction that you can google if you really need to know more about how that works.

The soldering irons are REALLY hot, so make sure you only touch the handle. You use just enough solder to cover the joint. Go straight down and straight up for a pretty solder joint. DON'T Paint it on. Down and up - that's it. We wear masks because it's really not good to breath the flux fumes. For that matter, the lead is rather hazardous too! Please don't eat it.

After all of your joints are soldered you remove your nails, flip the piece over and do the same thing to the other side.

After soldering it's good to wash off the flux just to make sure it doesn't keep reacting with the lead and make ugly spots. This may not be as necessary because when the piece is cleaned a little later that may take care of it, but this makes sure all the flux is gone.

The next step is called "mudding." The "mud" is actually window glazing like you would use on an old wooden window sash around the glass. The mud makes the window air-tight and water-tight and keeps the glass from rattling around in the lead.

I'm not sure what "whiting" is, but it cleans up the glass and makes it shine beautifully and it dries up the mud. You sprinkle it on the glass then scrub it with a brush.

A final brushing off with a soft cloth and you have your finished window.

BEAUTIFUL!

You can see more of the finished crosses from my class on my facebook page.

Lyndel's Bear Hollow Creations - facebook page

Repurposing and Goodwill

I like going to Goodwill. It helps others and I find some nice bargains. http://www.goodwill.org/

When we first moved into our new home I needed some bookshelves. I found some at Goodwill!

I also found this. It's the top to a china cabinet.

I pictured it as a really nice bookshelf.

I added some feet that I bought at Lowes. Here are the feet waiting to be stained.

Here it is with it's new legs. Later I realized it needed two more in the front.

It needed a top for it since the top was open.

First I used a router to make a lip for a top to sit on. I later decided it had to have more support than that and I added some cross beams.

I cut a template from cardboard and then traced it onto some plywood then cut it out with a jigsaw.

A nice sturdy top.

Then put a mosaic made from cut stained-glass on the top. It has some roses and some violins.

I'm very pleased with how my $60 purchase at Goodwill is now a $1,000 glass bookcase!

(and yes, I know the flowers in the vase need help. Those were bought to check the color.)