Found Glass Designs

Happy Mother's Day!!!

2011-05-03T18:36:00.000-07:00

Same but Different

2011-05-03T18:31:00.001-07:00

Two more months in Woodstock... go check it out at The Collective

Here's the lineup for Woodstock 2011

2011-03-29T17:57:00.000-07:00

Checkout guest artists at: http://www.thecollective-theartofcraft.com/

Its been awhile... here's some new items

2011-02-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

The Final Items in 2010

2010-12-18T12:20:00.001-08:00

Stay Tuned for Lead-Free in 2011.......

Last minute x-mas items

2010-12-13T11:18:00.000-08:00

We are each $50

Me too

2010-11-11T16:47:00.000-08:00

Found Glass Designs Accepted

2010-11-06T17:10:00.000-07:00

In to Gallery as Guest Artist:

http://www.the collective-theartofcraft.com

In addition, these items are for sale as well.

$120

$55

Found Glass Designs: We are available to purchase

2010-10-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

Found Glass Designs: We are available to purchase: "$75 each"

We are available to purchase

2010-10-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

$75 each

I'm back....

2010-10-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

Fitting glasswork in part time, but never stopping. I could lose myself all day in the work, but right now mommy needs to continue getting a paycheck.

In the meantime, Kate, here's your sister's piece...

Good-bye South End Open Market

2010-08-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

Last day... 'til next year

Not bad for a Rainy day

2010-08-24T06:22:00.000-07:00

As people still ventured out to the http://www.southendopenmarket.com on Sunday, Found Glass Designs was ready to roll. New booth setup worked out well as people were able to see the glass better.

Congratulations to the couple who received this from their daughter as an anniversary gift!

Sadly, after careful decision-making, the lovely young lady who purchased this stained glass earring hanger, left it at one of the food vendors. Hopefully, she finds a way to contact me, as there was definitely another woman interested in purchasing. Thank you to the food vendor who returned it to me.

Thank you to the other vendors around me, for making this such a fun show. Despite sitting in a giant puddle of rainwater, and not being super-busy, artists and crafters around me, helped to make this day a lot of fun. Please check out their work: Lisa Victoria Hand Built Clay (gorgeous work)! and Requiem Fine Art by Anya Bredbeck at http://www.etsy.com/shop/RequiemFineArt (she's a genius)!

Last, but not least... Thanks to my loyal customer Julia for returning to the market that day, only to purchase more Betty Crocker coasters. You are fun and excited about my work, and provided me with a great idea to display the coasters in gift baskets as hostess gifts.

Same, but different

2010-08-20T18:21:00.000-07:00

Distribution

2010-08-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

This is my replacement piece for one sold at the SOWA market. I'm calling it "Harvest Moon."

I also brought three floral window pieces over The Blue Cloud Gallery in Ball Square in Somerville, MA. Cool gallery; very nice owner.

http://www.bluecloudgallery.com

SOWA Market a success

2010-08-10T02:55:00.000-07:00

After driving around lost for an hour and figuring out the tent goes higher than head level, The South End Open Market was a success for Found Glass Designs. Besides learning a lot, a couple pieces were sold and a ton of Betty Crocker coasters, and the day was fun. Over 100 vendors are there, and people were pouring through for most of the day. Its fun to talk about your work, get ideas from vendors, a sense of what people like, and numerous connections made. And yes, I will do private lessons.

Props to Sara for helping set-up and emotional support. Props to the bro for breakdown and post-show bar-b-que.

Working

2010-07-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

Museum of Glass

2010-07-27T06:55:00.001-07:00

This is where my cousin went recently. I'm totally jealous.

http://www.museumofglass.org

This outdoor installation is called "Fluent Steps" by Martin Blank.

Ain't nothin' gonna stop me now!!!!

2010-07-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

I just found out my acceptance for The South End Open Market!!!!! I will be a vendor there on Sundays, in August starting on the 8th. Come by coasters, earring racks and more! This will be so much fun and a good "boot camp" for the business.

What did I do after finding out: obtained my Massachusetts tax id number and registered the business with the state.

What do I have to do now: purchase a tent, table, and display walls. Along with getting a credit card swiper at the bank.

oh yeah, and get a shit-ton of stuff made!

Stay tuned and send me support.

To All of You Waiting to Exhale......

2010-07-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

I found studio space!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hooray! I will be working in a giant warehouse space with two steel workers and it is only a couple of miles from where I live! I planted the seed, and here it starts to grow (on a side note: read "Seedfolks" by Paul Fleischman).

So I replied to about 30 different ads on http://www.artistlink.org. It is a very helpful studio space finder, that you can choose locations. However, I didn't think anything was going to happen, because 90% of spaces are totally expensive. And just when I was about to give up, I got a call from one of the dudes that works there.

Perks: GIANT SPACE!!! Tons of storage, tables, shelves, and cool steel tools to use. Only a couple of miles from where I live - accessible by bike, car, or train. It is conveniently located right near an awesome bakery: www.iggysbread.com.

And most importantly... its exactly what I wanted.

Me happy:

My studio:

View Larger Map

SOWA

2010-07-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

I applied for the South End Open Market (SOWA)last week. It is "Boston's outdoor art and indie design market," according to the website. The cool thing about signing up and reserving a spot, is that you have to reserve a minimum of 5, but can pick whichever Sundays you want. If you are accepted as "unreserved" you can pick however many Sundays you want. Its not a commitment for the whole summer, and would be a great way for me to try it out and see what people like.

I spent some time hanging out there on this past Sunday with my cousin and her little boy. We immediately shared a pork loin sandwich from a vendor that I of course did not get the name of, but it was right there when you first walk in and was delicious. Then, while Melissa got Daniel a cookie, I bought myself two macaroons from the Danish Pastry House, a vendor who is just a couple of miles from where I am living. They have sandwiches in their cafe, but most importantly, their pastries are friggin' delicious.
http://www.danishpastryhouse.com.

The market has, of course, some of the best indie and art crafters around. Beautiful work! I did not purchase anything until we walked around inside the vintage market. the vintage market is full antique and retro furniture, dishes, and other childhood (for some) assortments. I purchased some hot sunglasses and old postcards, and of course picked up a card of an adorable vintage dealer.

If accepted I think my window pieces and earring racks will do well here, and the Betty Crocker coasters will rock the house!

Discovery

2010-07-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

After discovering myself as an artist this past year, I set out on a journey to become a business owner as well. After taking two classes in Vermont, and spending a little under a year working on my own craft in stained glass, I have packed up my studio and moved to Boston, Massachusetts in the hopes of gaining new opportunities, connections, skills, and expenditure in a much larger market.

The business itself (Found Glass Designs)is meant to be a reflection of its time and culture. I create designs to be fresh, exciting, and appealing to a younger age bracket. While I am carried by the founding members of the craft (Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Comfort Tiffany) I think there lies something beyond the usual church window inspiration and New England home window panel. I think that by keeping the design simple with strong color contrasts, that the viewer is left with more imagination and a more complex level of feeling. I believe that sometimes when there are too many lines and too much design, the viewer has too much work to do and not enough enjoyment of viewing. Equally, if the image is too common and obviously replicated, than the viewer is left not being very engaged at all and might only glance at the image. The color and variety of the glass is so beautiful itself, that the artist must plan every line carefully.

Along with careful composition, I try to incorporate found objects and scrap glass into every piece. While color selection takes work, there can be an added challenge by using only that glass that one already has, including the most minuscule of scrap shards. I like trying to find a place for every single piece of glass. While this keeps down on cost, it also keeps down on energy consumption to create more glass. With this being said, I am passionate about reducing the amount of waste in the environment, and am thrilled by the challenge of incorporating used or found materials into my pieces. While the amount of waste in our culture is disgusting, what is being thrown out is not necessarily gross. While scanning the places I live in and travel to, I can always find new and exciting things to use in stained glass. While it may be a bit of work to reuse these items, it is worth the amount that we save in the environment. It is so easy to throw things away, but will be much harder to produce them when all the materials are gone. The earring racks I create are an example of using found objects in stained glass. I have taken toaster oven trays and grill racks, and framed them in glass to become beautiful holders for earrings.

See my website for more examples: www.foundglassdesigns.com