Category: STAINED GLASS

Stained glass designs: vintage window frames are filled with creative designs.

STAINED GLASS DESIGNS

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Since playing in the abandoned houses on Swan Island, and being fascinated by the stained glass window in the stairway of the Polley-Robinson-Powell house near the campground, I have enjoyed creating my own stained glass designs! See examples below:

THIS VERY WINDOW ON THE STAIRWAY IN THE POWELL HOUSE BEGAN MY EARLY FASCINATION WITH STAINED GLASS!

THE FIRST WINDOW I MADE – INSPIRED BY A DOWNEAST MAGAZINE COVER!

MARILYN MONROE – POSE from 7-YEAR ITCH POSTER

ART DECO STAINED GLASS PANELS – INSERTED IN A VINTAGE WOODEN WINDOW FRAME

WHO DOESN’T KNOW BETTY BOOP? OPEN FRAME on the L SIDE.

GLASS FANTASY BIRDS SITTING ON A BRANCH

BAXTER THE FRIENDLY DOG OUTFITTED WITH HIS NAME ETCHED INTO HIS BOWTIE

CURIO CABINET DOOR – OPEN

and CLOSED VIEW BELOW….

DRAGONFLIES OVER THE KENNEBEC WINDOW – DISPLAYED AT ANNABELLA’S CAFE, RICHMOND, MAINE

FANTASY-FISH PRIVACY PANEL to fill a bathroom window

UNDER SEA FANTASY WINDOW

A BLUE MOOSE with a glass eye- CREATED FOR A STOREFRONT LOGO – open elements within

GLASS FEATHERS to hang in a sunny window.

INTERPRETATION OF FRENCHMAN’S BAY in BAR HARBOR, MAINE

MY SUNSHINE

FOUR FOOT X TWO FOOT DEPICTION OF NUBBLE LIGHTHOUSE in MAINE

BUBBLE JUGGLING MERMAID ELEMENT NOW FITTED INTO A WINDOW FRAME, INCLUDING SEA GLASS “SCALES” COLLECTED ON BEACHES THROUGHOUT THE USA

FAERIE MOON GAZER

FOREST ORCHIDS – YELLOW LADYSLIPPERS

WILD OCEAN WAVE – NEW OAK FRAME

THREE-FOOT-TALL 3-D ANGEL MOLLY – LARGE CANDLE INSERTED BEHIND HER DRESS ALLOWS HER TO GLOW

GRAMMIE FITCH’S CRAZY QUILT WINDOW

in a new RED OAK FRAME

LOGO PIECE HANGING IN A WINDOW WITH LIGHT SHINING THROUGH

LOGO PIECE LAYING ON CARPETING….note the difference in iridescent & reflective glass!

CONTINENTAL JETLINER in a new pine frame

TALL LEAVES 5-PANEL LAMPSHADE

7-PANEL SOUTHWEST DESIGN LAMPSHADE

FOUR-PANEL ART DECO STYLE LAMPSHADE

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT TREE OF LIFE PATTERN FILLS A STANDARD-SIZE WINDOW

BEACHED LOBSTER-STARFISH

JUST PLAIN MARILYN….

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MARILYN MONROE

MARILYN MILLER

NORMA JEANE BAKER

NORMA JEANE MORTENSON

NORMA JEANE DOUGHERTY

MARILYN DiMAGGIO

12” X 16” DRIED ROSE – mounted on handmade paper – under glass
PHOTO WITH AUTOGRAPH
26.5” X 35.5” FULL SIZE

1926 – Born Norma Jeane Baker on June 1.

1927-1942 – Lived in foster homes, with several relatives.

1943 – At age 16, married next door neighbor, James Dougherty

1944 – Pin-up career, modeling

1953 – Adopted the trademark beauty mark on left upper lip.

1953 – Appeared on Jack Benny Show

1953 – June hand & footprints in concrete outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre

1953 – Hugh Hefner features her on cover and as centerfold in first issue of PLAYBOY magazine.

1954 – Marriage to Joe DeMaggio (9 months duration)

1955 – Iconic subway grate scene for THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH

1955 – Begins psychoanalysis, recommended by Lee Strasberg her acting coach.

1955 – Marilyn begins a relationship with playwright Arthur Miller, later investigated by FBI for allegations of communism

1956 – Walter Winchell makes a statement that “America’s best-known blonde moving picture star is now the darling of the left-wing intelligentsia.

1956 – Marries Arthur Miller in June

1956 – Receives Golden Globe for Best Actress in movie BUS STOP.

1956 – Dependence on pharmaceuticals escalates, experiences two miscarriages, suffers from endometriosis.

1957 – Receives European award: Italian David de Donatello and the Crystal Star award.

1956-1959 – Marilyn hospitalized for barbiturate addiction, takes a sabbatical due to endometriosis.

1959 – SOME LIKE IT HOT earns Marilyn a Golden Globe for Best Actress.

1960 – Release of LET’S MAKE LOVE, reviewed by Hedda Hopper as “the most vulgar picture she has ever done”.

1960 – Gallstone pain necessitate barbiturates for which she spent a week in a hospital detoxing.

1961 – Marilyn obtains a Mexican divorce from Miller

1961 – Surgeries: cholecystectomy, endometriosis, depression keep her hospitalized

1962 – Purchases a house in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California

1962 – World Film Favorite Golden Globe Award for SOMETHING’S GOT TO GIVE

1962 – Six weeks of sinusitis postpones production of SOMETHING’S GOT TO GIVE (remake of the 1940 movie: MY FAVORITE WIFE)

1962 – Fox re-opens negotiations to recommence SOMETHING’S GOT TO GIVE and WHAT A WAY TO GO!

1962 – Marilyn sings HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. PRESIDENT to John F. Kennedy on May 19.

1962 – August 6, 1962: MARILYN MONROE found nude in bed, KILLS HERSELF.

1964 – To repair her public image, Marilyn posed in 1962 for two series of photographs taken by Bert Stern which he published for her posthumously with the title THE LAST SITTING.

SPARKLING INSPIRATIONS

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COLORED GLASSMAKING SAMPLES
GLASSMAKING SAMPLES

Before T is the heavy cardboard box she visits frequently. Sitting on the new padding she was pleased she had added to the old worn wooden barstool recently salvaged from the pile of discarded furniture on its’ way to the recycling center. The mystery of how this works never ceases to intrigue her. Residing in the dark place again, she finds herself sitting in front of a cardboard box in her most feared of all areas.

Feeling no sense of time or place, always sensing cold, nearly permanently paralyzed, her mind is swimming with regret over too many negative decisions. Negative results. Guilt over tasks still undone. People she pushed away. Phone calls ignored. Places unvisited, things too numerous to list, deeply felt like a heavy anchor pulling her down but would not be forgotten. The heavy cardboard box remains closed.

T’s attempt to concentrate through the darkness of her mind on making breathing rhythmic. Deep belly breath in, hold it, push out slowly from pursed lips, focus; the initial steps to lifting the box lid, revealing this particular mystery on this particularly dark day. Afraid and anxious all at the same time, wondering, what if it doesn’t work this time? How can it not work? But will it?

Time passes. Who knows how many minutes, anticipation builds. Finally came the fortitude. Take another deep breath, hold it, let it out slowly between those pursed lips, and……ever so slowly lift that hinged lid to open the box. Unaware of anything but the song, she heard a sweet harmony coming forth.

Each equally sized, perfectly measured piece twinkles and beckons to her, select ME. Fingers dance gingerly over familiar glass samples. Feeling the blood pumping in her heart, at her temples. By touch alone with closed eyes, she plucked a glass sample from the box. Opening her eyes to see, T found the glass selected is green. It feels hard and cold in her hand at first.

The first sample selected is a textured glass. As the artist continued to hold the piece in her hand, she began to feel it warming. Fingers explore the texture on the face side in contrast to the smoothness of the reverse. The green-ness is hypnotizing. Hands signal brain to notice warmth in the glass, or is it in the hands? The warm interaction is as delicious as the deep, transparent color. Reveling in the intensity it invokes; fingers linger on that solitary sample before moving onto another. Returning to the original piece randomly selected on the table, the exercise continues until seven glass samples are chosen, representing the number of days the dark time has lasted.

Sometimes at this point, T’s mind has already begun to assemble a new design to create. Other times the colored, textured pieces bring a distant memory or special feeling of calm, never sure which will reveal itself first. The color green reminiscent of spring, the St. Patrick’s Day that T’s Irish grandmother loved to celebrate, and her various gardens waiting to be preened and awoken. She loves to watch the first tiny shoots reaching through the rich seafood compost toward the warm rays of spring sunshine, growing the healthy vegetables and herbs she eats. There it is! A sudden thawing, defrosting. Sensing something; at last replacing the numbness inside. The sample box has worked its magic again.

T is most importantly thankful for her sense of touch, sight, and finally the ability to create something beautiful from cold glass objects. Her talented hands have learned their skills well and she has many. Forged once again forward through the tunnel of darkness, utilizing inanimate objects to restore some feeling inside what she believed was her deadened, black within.

T is a proud woman to have self-taught most of what she knows, resarching, educating, learning to use her hands to create beautiful objects and interesting stories. The mechanics of the human brain: wondrous. The brain-organ is the nerve center of our world, the database of who and what we are.