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| Joe Swistok's Glass Art |
| It was somewhere at the end of October when I showed Joe pictures of the Aerangis biloba, asking him if perhaps he could use the Orchid as pattern for another Glass Art piece. He had previously made a beautiful piece depicting Cookara flowers. This page shows how Joe created a wonderful Stained Glass panel based on the Aerangis, a truly original work. Looking at my webpage and at Aerangis pictures online he made the first sketch, see his idea taking shape in the scanned file on the right. |
| First stage- studying suitable shapes for delicate glass cuttings |
| Next - tracing the flowers and creating a pattern |
| Preparing the individual glass flowers, soldering and then position them in three-dimensional fashion on top of the beveled glass background prepared previously by Joe. |
| The next pictures show how the sprays of individual flowers were fastened to the background by soldering them to special copper wire loops.... |
| .....the sprays were then held in place by additional screws anchoring them solidly to the frame. |
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| One of Joe's surprises, he also made a cat which he inserted into the panel, the cat appears to sit peacefully in the window. |
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| Two individual pots of the Aerangis biloba plants, showing the split leaves, are hung at the top of the panel. |
| And here is the finished Glass Artwork hanging in our house in front of the window. I am still waiting for better light conditions to show the panel lit up from the outside, but one might get a good idea here how beautifully the panel displays. The right picture below shows the three dimensional character very well. Also, please note the fine wire which was used to fashion the stylized spur of the flowers. |
| And another picture, in this one the light is placed in front of the panel. This is a piece which is and will be enjoyed for years to come. |
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