Over the years I have had the opportunity to do some unusual projects that have been challenging and fun.
In 2001 I got involved with a group of people that were working to build a full sized carousel in Salem's Riverfront park. Since I am not a wood carver I deceided to make a glass replica of the carousel that was being built.
I had purchased a book by Jackie Nichols that had both historical information and patterns to build a carousel. I took photographs of the horses being carved for Salem's Carousel as well as the rounding boards. Using the patterns in Jackie book I began to construct my carousel to look like the one being build in Riverfront Park.
The carousel I built had 22 horses on it, was 25 inches tall, rotated and played music. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to figure out how to make the horses go up and down. I gave the carousel to Salem's Riverfront Carousel and it was sold at auction to raise money to support the carousel.
Many of the horses were made to look simular to the horses being carved for the carousel. By using my skills and understanding about glass fusing, I was able to create detailed rounding boards to match those on the Salem Carousel. I was very happy to be a part of this community project.
In 2008 I had the opportunity to create fused glass trophies for the Dallas Oregon Rotary. In July the Dallas Rotary holds and annual pancake feed as a fund raiser. A number of years ago they decided to add a car show to the event. Because they wanted something special, not the standard trophy, they asked if I could make something that would be a piece of art not just a trophy.
The pictures are of some of this years trophies. There were 50 trophies and no two were the same. They are 9 inches by 8 inches and are shaped on a curved wave shaped mold. The glass is mounted into a myrtlewood base. Each one has "Dallas Rotary 2009" and crossed checked flags sandblasted on them.
Sanctuary Mosaic
In 1999 I was approched by a local church about doing a stained glass panel for their sanctuary. When I went to look at the site I was surprised because the location was a wall behind the baptismal. It received no outside light and there wasn't room to build a light box to back light the glass. So I suggested that I do a mosaic that would look somewhat like a stained glass window.
The church provided 3 marine grade plywood panels, each one inch thick, that I coated with white latex paint. The plywood had been predrilled where it was to bolt onto the wall. I cut all of the glass and laid it up on the plywood where it would go. I glued as much of the glass as I could in my studio. Wherever the glass would cross between two pieces of the plywood, I left that glass off. The panels were taken to the church and bolted to the wall. I went in the next day and attached the remaining glass using contractors "goop" and duck tape to hold the glass in place. I went back the next day to grout the entire panel.
Overall the mosaic was 12 feet wide and 8 feet tall.
Cape Mears Lighthouse
In 2003 I was approached by the Oregon State Parks.
They were in the process of doing a restoration on the Cape Meares Lighthouse outside of Tillamook Oregon. They showed me a number of pieces of glass and wanted to know if I could match the glass. It appeared to be cast glass. I explained that it would be difficult to find glass that was just the right thickness. Float glass, or window glass might work but that it would have a green cast to it. What they were looking for was something that was mostly colorless and with the small air bubbles that indicated a more hand made process.
It was then that they explained that the glass was for the Cape Meares lighthouse. In the lense deck were 14 iron portholes. These portholes had glass pieces in them that let the light into the room below.
The contractor that was in charge of the restoration brought me one of the iron portholes. I used it as a model to fit the glass pieces into.
There were three different shapes and a total of 266 pieces of glass that needed to be made. I used the two pieces of glass that Oregon Parks still had mostly intact as models to create those shapes.
Using Kaiserlee board as a mold material, I carved out each of the shapes. After some experimenting, I was able to come up with the correct amount of glass to fill each mold with in order to achieve the correct thickness once the glass was fired in a kiln. I used Bullseye Glass Company's crystal clear glass to fill the molds. It gave the glass pieces that colorless look with the tiny champagne bubbles that the Oregon Parks Department was looking for.
Once I was finished making all of the glass pieces the contractor had them grouted into the iron portholes and reinstalled into the lighthouse floor. It was very rewarding to think that my work is now a part of the history of the Cape Meares Lighthouse.
To learn more about the Cape Meares Lighthouse click here.
Barrett Art Glass
315 Riggs St NW
Salem, Oregon 97304
503 551-5850
e-mail:Lynda@BarrettArtGlass.com
last updated March 17, 2009All glass images are the property of Lynda Barrett. They cannot be used without permission.
