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Spectral1um — Solder tree against glass dusk- my 1st commission
#dusk #glass #glassart #poplar #sky #stainedglass #sunset #tree
Published: 2019-05-25 11:14:20 +0000 UTC; Views: 421; Favourites: 23; Downloads: 0
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Description
I had wanted to make a stained glass piece of a tree for a long time, where the solder lines are the branches of the tree, and the glass is the sky behind the tree. Making the solder lines a feature of the image rather than just a way to connect the pieces of glass was important to me early on.So when I had the chance to make this design as my first commission, I was so excited! It will go into a grandfather clock, made appropriately enough by my grandfather.
This is also a companion piece to www.deviantart.com/spectral1um…, and each piece will go either side of the clock face in the shell which sits atop the grandfather clock.
I photographed it this way, with the light in front of the glass, to emphasise the solder lines and the texture of the glass.
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Comments: 21
Hello, I'm from ProjectComment
For a fist commission, this has a lot of heart in it.
I can tell worked a long time on it.
I really like how you used the limbs of the tree to cut the diffrent shades of the sky.
And the mixing of the last two blues is so nice.
But I think you should try taking your next photo without a upper light above.
The top has a shine to it, and the top needs to be dark.
It's still vary good. Thought I do think the fram should be thicker.
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Hi, thanks a lot for commenting! I haven't visited DeviantArt for several weeks now, but it means a lot to me for you to comment.
My first commission has a lot of heart in it because I made it for my father. It is a proper commission in the sense that it serves a purpose (it will go, alongside a companion piece, into a grandfather clock made by his father, my grandfather), and I took care of project management for budgeting, timescales etc.
If I could add multiple photographs to DeviantArt I would, but you're right, ideally I would have photographed it back-lit, rather than with the upper light shining on the front of the glass (however, it is important to show the texture of the glass, which is really beautiful, and motivated me to make something good from it).
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Hello, commenting on behave of ProjectComment ´s Big comment contest.
Wow, I have no idea how this kind of art is made, but the idea of combining these materials sounds very interesting to me.
Personally, I think that you captured the shape of tree and branches well. I don´t know how hard it is to "bend" the branches, but it looks to me that you did a good job. My only suggestion is to try avoiding too horizontal branches (like the two lowest branches), because that perfectly horizontal branches like these are quite rare in nature. Notice the upper branches - they´re bend, pointing to all directions... I think that this kind of branches looks more realistic.
As for the stained glass background, I love that. I think that they create interesting colours combination which reminds me sky at the sunset, with redder colours close to the ground, while the sky is dark blue. To me, this combination looks very appealing.
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Hi, thanks for your comment! I haven't visited DeviantArt for a few weeks, but I'm very happy about your comments.
I suppose I had to make a compromise with the lower branches- either the branches be straight, or the change of colours in the sky be wonky, so I chose the former compromise!
When I went to the store to buy the glass, I found a gorgeous streaky red glass which I was sure I had to use in this piece somehow. Red glass is more expensive than any other colour of glass because gold is used in the creation of the red stain, but it was worth every penny!
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You´re welcome.
I see, that makes sense. The red glass looks truly beautiful here.
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I came from the group ProjectComment.
I'm in love with your stained glass art. I once did one in my art class back in 2016. The tree look so real. Nice choice of color for the background. Keep up the good work. Your grandfather must have been proud of you for doing such art for his ''grandfather'' clock. You're such a great artist. The details looks pretty good to me.
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Hi, thanks for your comment! I haven't visited DeviantArt for a few weeks, but your comment means a lot to me.
Sadly my grandfather died many years ago, and never got to finish his clock the way he'd planned, but this is why it will be special to add some stained glass as a finishing detail, and make the clock a work of 3 family generations.
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Sorry for your grandfather's passing. It's hard to lose someone and I can understand that. And you're welcome for the comment. Glad my comment cheered you up.
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Hi there! I'm from ProjectComment and I loved this piece, so I thought I'd give my two cents.
At first, I thought this was a painting you did until I clicked on it and realized it was stained glass. I really like this as I don't normally see stained glass art much in my area, so this was refreshing to see. It's interesting the colors you chose for the sky in the background, but I feel it sets the mood nicely. I'm not sure if it was intended or not, but it looks like there is a darker cloud in the pieces of glass in the upper right. If by accident, that is impressive. Moreso if intended to get the glass to the right shape. The colors toward the bottom throw me off a bit as you go from a purplish to light blue before going into the dark blue of a night sky. The rest of the fading is nicely done and I overall appreciate the work you've done.
Thank you for sharing this piece with us and I hope your customer was pleased with the art you have created! You deserve praise.
Edit: forgot to add about the soldering- It molds as a tree might do. I can see knots and the uneven surface works well with the solder. There are a few spots near the top that might have needed to be a bit thicker (but maybe that is the lighting in the image) but it looked like a shadowed tree. Well done!
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Thankyou for your feedback!
The dark blue glass, and the light blue glass, is monochrome, so unfortunately the area in the upper right must be affected by a shadow behind the glass, rather than being a neat imperfection on the glass giving the effect of a cloud. I chose the purple and the red glass for their streaky patterns, to add some depth to the sky, but the areas covered by the purple and the red are a bit chunkier than a real dusk sky, when the sun is beyond the horizon and you can see a little sliver of red sitting on the horizon.
The soldering job involved a little bit of luck. I had been unsure whether to use some opaque glass for the trunk of the tree, seeing as its a little bit thicker than the branches and would need something to reinforce the solder join. But opaque glass is a pain to markup, so I stuffed the trunk with copper and tried out some solder-art for the very first time.
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Thankyou! The commission was for my father, but it was an opportunity to practice project management for a professional commission, in terms of design, sourcing, time-scale etc.
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Yeah, I get it, still good job.
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Oh, WOW!! It's a fantastic masterpiece Spectral1um!! The soldering lines creating the tree are very well done and blue of the sky...starting light than going darker. Just an AWESOME piece Spectral1um.
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Thanks Allen!
Because this was a "commission" for my father, it was the first time I sourced my own materials. For all my other pieces I have been able to use offcuts left over from previous projects by other people at my workshop- making something nice from leftovers was part of the fun!
But for this piece I went about it like a professional commission (design, sourcing, time scale etc), and so I really enjoyed the process of selecting the best glass for the project. The purple and red bits of glass are streaky- red glass is more expensive than other types of glass because gold is used in the colorization process, but the beautiful streakiness for the horizon was worth every penny!
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It sure was and if I may be bold by saying it puts you in the masterclass! 
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I think it looks great. 
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Thankyou very much, but the commission wasn't really a very big deal- actually I was commissioned by my father!
But I started out the project as if it was a genuine commission, then ending up getting side-tracked along the way.
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