This glass panel was designed and made for someone who has a lifelong connection with the Ley. As I've never been there, I had to make sure I got it to "feel" right! I did a lot of internet searching, and talked about how the place looked with people who know it well. This is the final design:
Starting from the bottom, we have the sea (Start Bay), the shingle spit, the freshwater lake with two grebes, and a sky with giant hogweed silhouetted. Although it's possible to see rare species such as Cetti's warbler and bitterns at Slapton I didn't include them as they tend to stay hidden.
Here are two pieces of the panel ready to be fired in my kiln:
I really enjoyed making this one, starting from no knowledge and learning a lot about the Ley in the process. And here's a close-up of the 'shingle' and 'sea' pieces:
After lots of hours spent scratching paint, two firings of 12 hours each, then cutting and soldering the lead (plus polishing!), it was done. As I couldn't find the right pink for the sky, I went with blue - and now I prefer it.
One more for luck:
Next, I'm doing some glass paint tests to see if I can improve the firing results. There'll be lots of little mini-glass-pictures!
Vicky xx
