Fun with Alpaca

So, I know a guy who knows a guy whose daughter has alpacas.  For 20 bucks the little Future Farmer of America sold me a garbage bag full of alpaca fiber, and what fun I've been having!

I took the raw fiber that looks like this:

and combed it with my handy new wool combs:

then dyed it a fun purple:

and created my fun little felted wool soaps!

This is soooo much fun.  I learned everything online, and there are tons of how-to videos on You Tube.

Glass Tree Mosaic, Post 5

115 leaves done.  1.5 million more to go.

Not really, but it sure feels like it.

So much glass......

Here's one of the butterflies for the project.  The photo doesn't really do it justice, though.

Glass Tree Mosaic, Post 4

More photos of some completed leaves:

Mixing of the bottle glass is working out well, despite what I've read.  I'm experimenting with even more colors this week.  This project has my creative gears in motion, and I've been thinking up all kinds of new projects to work on once this job is complete.

We also had a site visit this week.  I hadn't seen (in person) where the mosaic would be installed yet, so the 3 of us met up with Kevin of The Lawrence Group.  The space is amazing, and the wall color completely compliments the organic greens and browns of the bottle glass.  On the opposite side of the installation wall, are huge 20 foot windows.  I can't wait to see the completed installation - especially at mid-day with the light from the window piercing the glass tiles.

Here is a direct link (via the Lawrence Group) to the building with some amazing photos: Go to photos

Glass Tree Mosaic, Post 3

More on the templates......

Here's a photo of some of the tree section laid out in the templates. Eventually this will be cast in glass from crushed beer bottles.



A quick clip of how we received the templates:

Glass Tree Mosaic, Post 2

Finally......

Work has been underway for the recycled glass tree mosaic for about a month now. Mitch and Victor have been hard at work smashing and crushing the beer bottles which will make up the tree section. We had been waiting quite a while to get the templates back from the laser cutting crew, so that I could start creating the tile pieces in the kiln.

I received my first installment of templates this week: the leaves.
Each template is cast with crushed wine bottle glass of varying color. I've been doing a bit of experimentation, and despite what I've read can't be done by mixing colored bottle glass - it seems to be working. Granted, a lot of the glass is crushed to virtually powder so that may have something to do with the coefficients working together since with recycled bottle glass the coefficients are unknown. I'm sure I will have some failures at some point, but for now I'm riding the wave of success......

In the first fire, the glass leaves turned out well overall. However, I found that every tile will need a second firing because there are small gaps and the form changes slightly with settling/fusing. No big deal, but it does add a little bit of extra time to an already tight schedule.

For the second firing, I've added more glass to the vacant areas and other spots. I'll know how it all turned out in another 24 hours.

Glass Tree Mosaic, Post 1

I am very happy to announce that Jelly Girl Designs, in collaboration with The Bleu Monkey and St. Louis Sculpture Factory, has been given the opportunity to help design and install a very large mosaic of a glass tree (commissioned by a local university) made ENTIRELY of recycled bottle glass!
I'll be posting our progress here for the blogosphere to see. We only recently got the news that our bid was accepted, but already I've started working on large tile pieces that will make up the trunk of the tree - which measures 5 feet across. More than 50% of the bottles will be Schlafly beer bottles, thanks to friends who both work there and love the beer (Mr. Peanutbutter donates his fair share, of course!). The remainder of the glass will be from miscellaneous wine and spirit bottles from my inventory and donations from friends and local bars.

I am so excited about this project! What a great way to show the public and the young minds at the university, that there is diversity in art. Moreover, and most importantly for me, is that beauty can come from the most unexpected places - recycled glass!

I'll be posting more photos soon, and hopefully a mock up of the tree design.

I now pronounce you...

So, I made another set of the super cool Mr. & Mrs. wine bottle glasses. Since I didn't have a photo of the originals, I'm posting this one.

And, a little shameless promo for me (I do have to put my kiddo through college, ya know):

These glasses make great gifts and are available at my etsy store!