YAY! Studio time!!

Finally a little studio time today! YAY!

 The first layer of sage green glaze is on these for a commissioned set of wine glasses plus some vases.

 Plus all my usual favorite colors are in the works!  The first round of glaze is on these, more tomorrow if I get the chance.

Dinner was zucchini, yellow squash, yellow and purple fingerling potatoes, onions, mushrooms, garlic, and chicken with herbs and pepper.  Then I added Parmesan and sea salt just at the end when it came out of the oven.  Delicious! And perfect for these last days of March that have started with ice on my windshield each morning.  Spring is coming, really it is! 

Now, how many days will it take a single woman to eat all that?  LOL!

Happy Creating,

-Carmen Rose

Back in the Kitchen Again

It's that time again, kids! I've sent lots and lots of glass through the dish washer. I got out all my colors...

Seems like every surface in the kitchen has disappeared under glass...

or glaze.

My paint brushes are all ready, so are the little spongy things.

It's taken a long time, and quite honestly I didn't know if it could be done in a tiny little apartment kitchen...

But I'm giving it my best shot!

Happy Creating!

-Carmen Rose

Updating the Kitchen

I played catch up at my house today. I don’t have much to show for my day but I was SO busy yesterday that I welcomed a little peace and quiet today.  Plus I have some physical things happening right now that seem to be sapping my strength.  Just catching up on email took some doin and I still have a few I haven't worked through yet. I did get a little nap though, which was lovely. And… I have a few kitchen details to share. I really should save this little detail for last, but it’s my very fav, so here goes.

Ages ago when I reworked the bathrooms, I had floating shelves made. In the small bathroom I painted them brown, and in the larger bathroom I painted them black.  And I ended up with two extra floating shelves that hadn’t found homes in the house yet. So when I took a look at one of the problem areas of my kitchen, I decided to try putting a shelf there.

This is what it looked like when I met my kitchen for the first time. It was a little messy but I didn't care, they were preparing to auction the place off. Now see how the cabinets end on the left by the doors instead of going all the way to the wall? That always puzzled me, why did they do that? We keep those french doors closed because the dogs don't have run of the house, and because we don't heat the whole thing. So... that left a very odd looking configuration of cabinets. We ended up keeping one of the dog crates there, but that didn't answer the question of what to do in that wierd corner. So this is what I did:

It works, right?  At least for now.  It needs a light, that's on the list.

The framed piece is a photograph I took 3-5 years ago.  Those beautiful trees in the foreground were bulldozed to make way for an overlook on Warm Springs Mountain in Virginia.  It was sad to see them go but the overlook is a beautiful place to stop and consider the beauty of the valley spread out below and the rippling mountains in the distance.  I love that place and places like that in the mountains.  I call that photograph "Last Stand" because those trees were sacrificed for "progress."  The vases are both ones I painted.

The cookbook shown there is my recent Christmas present to myself, it's by Ina Garten.  It is the first of... six I think?  Yeah, those cookbooks are such a work of art that I wanted to display it as if it was a small framed painting.  "Hey, why not?!"  (She says that on her show a lot!)  That reminds me, I need to get my birthday present to myself ordered, I think I'd like another Ina Garten cookbook!  =)

Drop me a comment and let me know what you think!

Happy Creating,

-Carmen Rose

New Glazed Glass

I've been in full tilt production of glazed glass recently to prep for some holiday shows. I've been a little behind about documenting the work with photographs. So this is me playing "catch up!"

Click on an image for a closer look, there is a wide variety of colors and shapes here.

The largest ones: $44 - $47
I reclaim glass and glaze it, I'm not actually blowing glass or creating the shapes, just redeeming something that would otherwise be headed for the landfill or recycling. There four are $29 - $44
This one third from right is interesting with the frosted glass, I haven't done much with frosting but I think I'll be doing more now! $24 - $44
Again with the frosted gradation of color along with the frosted look on first and second from last one here: $27 - $42
Last one on right one of my favorites, I've always loved turquoise and purple together. $19 - $36
These are the smallest ones, for some reason the little ones are always my favorites. There just isn't anything much better than one of these little buggas with a few blooms from the garden on the table in the summer time! $16 - $19
I've got more glazed glass in the works, photos to come. Is there anything better than playing with color for a living? I doubt it. I really doubt it.

Thanks to each of you for dropping by my blog. I've started lists in the side bar of visitors to my blog and the countries or states they visit from, this fascinates me and makes me feel that this big world of us is just a little smaller than it used to be. So here's to connections across time and space. Thanks for visiting my blog, wherever you hail from, come back soon! Never can tell what I'll be into next!

More Painted Glass

I'm really pleased with how this set of wine glasses came out, set of six for $90. I had two and one set is already gone.
Two bubble bowls: 5 inch: $19, and the small 3 3/4 inch: $18
More bubble bowls and a bubble vase. The 8 inch one with the neck: $24, 5 inch bubble bowl: $19, and the small bubble bowl: 3 3/4 inch: $18
A series of tulip vases in cool colors: Large 10 inch: $42, Med 7 inch: $29, Sm Med 5 3/4 inch: $24, Small 4 1/2 inch: $19
I'm behind on blogging the things coming out of studio B, but I'll catch up soon enough. Happy Creating! -Carmen Rose

More Glass

Hand Painted Art Glass coming out of the studio now:
Non toxic glazes, dishwasher resistant

This is a series of straight shapes in orange, blue, green, magenta and purple.
Hurricane: $26
Bud vase: $22 (sold)
Decanter Lg: $42
Hurricane: $27
Decanter Sm: $28

Three vases in lime and emerald green, purple and orange.
Large: $36 ~ Med: $29 ~ (Small: $19 - sold)

Set of Cylinder Vases in green, turquoise, blue and purple.
7.5 inch: $26
9 inch: $29
10 inch: $32

Another Bathroom Facelift

Our small bathroom had a bad case of ugliness so we gave it a little facelift. Nothing major, we didn’t move any of the big stuff.

Vintage 1975 blue shower, blue vinyl floor with glitter in it. Can't believe anyone ever manufactured that stuff.
The light and mirror get the award for the worst things in the room. And the sink... well... it is what it is.
So I went shopping and when I got home it was time for the real work. First, that med cabinet was out of there, it had been installed way too high on the wall and I wanted it lower. Which wasn't as simple as it seemed like it should be. Never is.
Some fancy drywall patching, a coat of paint and the new light fixture installed and it's already looking like a different room. There he is, looking pleased with his work! And I love the extra space inside this mirror/med cabinet!
I put down a new floor, vinyl tiles go down fast and are pretty easy to cut if you have the right cutters. Hubby put the baseboard back down and that finished up the floor.
On the window I used a piece of vintage textile from my collection and it fits beautifully on the window. I hung it from a tension rod on clips and the hand work on it is a nice detail and a touch of color in the room. A new white shower curtain, and a nice new extra long towel holder. (curtain rod)
I painted the vanity "Italian Leather" and was surprised with how much I liked how it turned out. Removing the old hardware and patching the holes and some new hardware from the Restore and it's a big difference. A new GFI outlet and white switches and plates were more nice details.
We visited our friend John Sproul to make some bracketless shelves in his woodworking shop and for the price of a sheet of MDF we built some serious shelves. Hubby is putting the finishing touches on them after he'd attached them to the wall.It didn't take me long to fill those shelves after the paint dried. Three of my hand painted vases look great here, and a landscape photo taken from our front porch when we lived in the artist/witch's house. Of course there is a bowl of beautiful soaps. The fleur de lis are a theme with me, have been for a very long time. I don't know if that plant will make it there or not, I guess we'll see.

I found this great clock at Big Lots and it even has storage space inside which tickled me pink.

There are a few more details I will to attend to at some point in this room but for now I'm really pleased with how it is turning out.

Flickr Photos

I’m working on revamping my website and in the process I’ve created some flicker slideshows that show some of my photos of media I work in. Here are some photographs of the hand painted art glass that I do. I hope to have the site ready to launch before long, we’ll see how it goes.


Art Glass

More Art Glass

Seems like there should be a way to embed those slideshows in the body of this post but I haven't figured that out yet. (Thanks to Melody Johnson who showed that it could be done! So I came back and edited this - thanks Melody!!)

Check out some of my other flickr photos if you'd like here. At this point there are photo sets of cakes, decorated sugar cookies, art glass and wedding cakes that I've done.