Unsatisfactory Results

After Katrina, as I was cleaning debris from our yard, I found stained glass shards everywhere. White beach sand had washed all the way across the Bay to be deposited on our hill. Early every morning, the rising sun would set this sand on "fire" with the lovely colors of the stained glass shards that were scattered about. It was like a rainbow that had shattered and rained down to settle in the sand. I decided that this was some sort of "Divine Sign" and that I should do something with the glass! (This had nothing to do with me being a compulsive saver of things that may one day be an art project.) I had no idea what since I had never worked with glass before..I just had to do something! With every walk about the yard, I gathered glass. Glass of all colors and shapes were piled in boxes, bowls, buckets..whatever was handy. I was hooked..I had to experiment with glass work!

Sometimes things just do not work out the way you have them planned inside your head. Being an artist, I have visions of how an art piece should look..or at least how I wish it would look. These visions and the final piece do not always resemble each other at all. This is the case of the latest piece that I attempted. As a gourd artist, I thought I would use the glass shards as inlay in a gourd (to be used with a candle). This was harder than I thought. Always before, I would only cut deep enough into the gourd to allow for stone inlays to be secure..here, since I wanted the light to shine through the glass, I needed to cut all the way through the gourd. No problem here..gourds are relatively easy to cut! I used the glass just as I had found it..just as broken pieces, drew

around them and cut the holes. Looking good! My problem arose when I

was inserting the pieces..they did not want to stay put! I tried the glue gun..no go. It was too awkward and messy. I tried carpenters' glue..too runny. I tried epoxy..hmm..almost stuck my fingers to the gourd! Then I tried "Liquid Leading"..this held them in but was quite lumpy. Not the look I was going for. So I painted the whole gourd black to hide the leading and in the process lost the "gourd" look. Anyway..the finished product is definitely not what was in my mind's eye. This is ok though..I will just try again. I have a never ending supply of gourds growing in the yard and buckets full of glass. Something might work!! If at first you don't succeed..try..try again! Perhaps persistence will pay off eventually! And oh, just so you will know..I have a battery operated light in this one..I don't want to burn down the house!