Diamond in the rough shines bright today!!!

Back in May I mentioned that I bought a $5.00 solid wood coffee table from a garage sale. It was neglected, scratched up, chewed in some places and it looked like it was ready for the trash!! Well I could see past all the damage and took it home. Over the past few weekends I spent time sanding, fixing and finally stained it.


Now it's MY new beautiful solid wood coffee table! 


I am thinking of adding some glass art to the sides of the table.  When I come up with a design that I think will compliment it, I will be adding it! 

He's enjoying them!

My follow up of the up-cycled TopoChico bottles turned to drinking glasses seems to be a success!

Here are the pictures that were sent to me.

I think I'll be up-cycling a little more!

TopoChico

I finally bought my tile water saw, put it together yesterday and used it today!

This is my first up-cycle project and was pretty pleased with the way it came out.  I love drinking TopoChico spring water and so does a friend of mine who, even when not drinking the water, wanted glasses made from TopoChico bottles so he could use them for beer. I was happy to help him out!

I used the water saw to cut the bottles then hand beveled the glasses for a smooth edge.

 I hope he enjoys them!!!!

Kitty Cat food bowls

Who deserves some creative glass art? My Kitty Cats of course!!! I worked on three small food bowls, for my three cats, Tiger, Jake and Little Kitty (she's really not that little but she is little compared to the other two!)

 The yellow and orange bowl remind me of kibbles and the green bowl has a wavy edge perfect for the prissy little kitty.

                                              Jake's bowl with a dark kitty paw print corner.

                                            Tiger's bowl with a light paw print in the corner.

Little Kitty's bowl with a yellow paw print on the edge.

Jake

Tiger

Little Kitty (she's a messy eater :))

I think all three of them like there bowls!  

On a more serious note, I recently found out from a friend of mine that cat's can be allergic to plastic and break out with kitty acne around there mouth/face.  I have been a cat lover & owner all of my life and never heard of this. A few weeks ago I had purchased a cute small plastic bowl from the grocery store and started feeding Little Kitty from it and the top of her nose completely broke out and I thought some kind of bug had gotten to her.  I was wrong, she was allergic to the plastic bowl.  As soon as I threw it away she started to clear up almost immediately. From now on I'll make them their bowls from glass!

Working on it!

A couple of weekends ago I was in Austin and had the opportunity to stop by Helios Glass Studio and take a look around.  They had a great selection of glass and supplies and the atmosphere was very laid back and nice. I wouldn't mind going back up to Austin for there open studio! Since I didn't really need any fusing supplies, I went right next door to Artisan Stained Glass and they had the most beautiful colors of glass!  After much debate I picked out a couple of sheets of glass for the birds in my stained glass window and the gentleman that was there cut the glass to the size I needed.  I was very pleased with my selection and couldn't wait to see what my birds were going to look like with the combination of colors I selected.  I think that's the funnest part, picking out colors of glass!  

I finally got around and did some work on the stained glass window. I finished all the clear background over the past few weekends and today I finished cutting three of the six birds. I still need to define the feathers, and put eyes on them.  At least I'm working on it!

Slowly but surely

It was nice waking up really early and thinking about what I want to do instead of what I need to do.

I didn't need to be anywhere in particular this morning and since I already purchased the glass and drew out my patterns earlier in the week, I got up and cut glass for a couple of hours.  I finished all the leaves! I also have enough glass to finish the background but I don't want to rush.  I'm enjoying this project and I'm not in a hurry to get it done, even though I would like to have the window completed and hanging up some time in July. This project has been in the works for a very long time and it's one of those projects that done for pure enjoyment.  When I'm working on it  It's the most amazing feeling when I cut the glass, I lose all sense of time and it's just pure bliss, (unless I cut myself, of course :)).

Here's a few pictures of my progress.    

I can't wait till I start cutting the colorful birds!

Busy Month of May

Wow!  May is almost over with and it feels like a blur.  With end of the school year activities, receptions and award ceremony's May seems to be the busiest month of the year so far!

As I was driving around dropping kids off here and there and attending some of the evening functions, I really lost track of time.  All my projects were on hold, until this past weekend when I was dropping off my Son on Saturday for his TKD black-belt testing.  I passed by a yard sale and since my son was early to help set up I decided to go back around the corner and browse.  I spotted a scratched up, neglected coffee table that was solid wood.  I couldn't pass it up as the "re-finisher" in me came out and I purchased it for a whopping $5.00! I came home that evening and started to sand it and it really was a diamond in the rough.  I spent Sunday working on it and plan on finishing this weekend.  I would post pics but I would like to actually post them all at one time, from beginning to the finished product. Oh yeah, did I mention that it was stamped underneath "MADE IN U.S.A."? Well that little tid-bit made meal feel proud that I salvaged this piece and bringing it back to it's old glory:)

I'm also working on my stained glass window that was neglected for the entire month of May. I went out last night and purchased the most beautiful yellow sheet of glass for two of the birds. Drew out some more of my patterns on several pieces of glass to cut, and my goal is to have the window finished in July.

On another note, since I will only have one child at home, I decided to go back and finish out my degree. I only have a few classes left to complete it.  It won't be a "life changer" (as of yet), since I'm pursing my Associates Degree in Fine Arts at this time.  Eventually I hope to pursue my bachelors degree in Art with an emphasis in glass blowing. Maybe at UT Arlington???

till next...... :)