River nightlight--in progress

August '19.
Allegra: I'm using the fire as a nightlight. I keep having to change the batteries though.
Me: What do you want for a new one
A: My favorite color is blue.
I cannibalized a blue vase for the glass, painted it and the wood, and ran Christmas lights through it.

The glass

The wood--prettiest thing I ever painted

Finally bought myself a ratchet/clamp, coming in handy here

Close-up of how they fit together

Used the rest of the lights for leaves on a tree. Painted the edges of the glass to make them safe.

"Trophy"

The idea behind this one is that it used to be beautiful, and then someone killed it and stuck it up on a plaque, most of the scales sloughed off, silver blood still staining them.

FINALLY hanging on the wall

Detail of the glass work

"Trophy" in progress

Started in ~February '19, completed in September of the same year. This sucker was difficult. I painted it and glued down the pieces with the intent to solder the seams, learned how to solder, and pulled them all up. Then I wrapped them all with foil (took me about 3 episodes of Supernatural), glued them to a piece of foil wrapped around the wood so they'd keep their shape as I soldered, and actually did the soldering. Then I pulled it off the foil so I could tin the edges, stuck it on the wood, melted the seams until it took the shape it had somehow got out of, and glued it down. Whew. Then just to mount to the wood and stain the wood (yes I know, should have done it the other way around, I was having trouble with the stain and didn't think it was going to happen). And of course initial it.

Original work--all of this had to be redone

Solder job!

Attached

Woodburned initials!

Next week, the finished product.

Blue snake

Snek!

That rock took some DOING. It's foam with about four layers of paint on it.

Blue snake--in progress

Jan-Feb '19. snek had to be propped up in order to paint and glue it. Natural bark left unpainted. The idea is it's shedding a skin to reveal the glass scales. I do a lot of sneks. Wood lends itself to the shape, funnily enough.

Propped up on a convenient piece of wood

Now on a box of Van Gogh glass, and duct taped

Moon

It's intended to be looked at in the center of a room, so it can be walked around.

Left side--glass

Right side--shell

What it looks like head on

Moon--in progress

Dec 18-Jan 19
Laying out the glass/shell first to see how it would look, then having a lot of trouble getting the pieces to stay together long enough for it to dry.

Glass, just looks like shell

Held down with a heavy-duty clamp

just straight up duct taped it