Creating Chandeliers

The lovely transparent nature of glass makes for a highly complex and expressive canvas in which I am able to infuse movement into every brush stroke. Exotic flowers and birds are a favorite subject because they bring the sounds, smells and sights from my travels through warm lands into each of my illuminated painted glass creations. I use my hand cut, hand slumped glass as my canvas and the resulting illuminated paintings are like a glimpse into another world.

My special painting technique makes my flowers and leaves look as if they will pop right out of the glass. There is an amazing 3-dimensional effect to my glass paintings that captivates viewers and makes them feel as if they have a blooming flower garden that is ready to burst out of the glass at any moment. Every time you look at my illuminated painted glass gardens, you will see something new.

My elegant hand painted glass chandeliers first start with tin rolled glass that is cut by me and slumped in a kiln. For those of you who are not glass artists, a kiln is basically an oven that heats up to temperatures well over 1500 degrees which allows the glass to bend into the shape that I want and then soak for a period of time at a specific temperature to re-stabilize. The re-stabilization of the glass is the annealing process. I then cold work my glass which involves grinding edges and sand blasting.

I paint with brushes on the inside of the glass in reverse (which is how this art form is known as reverse glass painting) with special paints that work with the surface of the glass. Though there is a lot of work that goes into each hand painted chandelier it is my special painting talent that makes each piece a high art form. I have been painting seriously for the last two decades. I went to college for fine art and at that point I was already very advanced in my technique even though I was only seventeen. My techniques and my style in painting have been developed over many, many years.

Through the past few years I have been on a tremendous journey not only with my painting techniques in my chandeliers but also with glass and iron working. My journey in blacksmithing first started out at the Ardenwood Forge which is part of the historical ranch in Fremont, California. These days my smithy is The Crucible in Oakland. I am also a member of Public Glass in San Francisco.

My iron fixtures are all hand-forged and custom to the glass bowls that I create, they are not mass produced fixtures that you see in big box stores. My iron fixtures are simple and elegant and frame my hand painted glass chandeliers well. They are exquisite and I am very proud of them. They show off the artistry of my painting technique which is what makes this functional art form interesting. When I wire up my fixtures I use only the best UL Listed parts.

I am forever amazed at the wonderful and gracious people that I’ve met along the way who enjoy this very old but rare art form. You keep me creating more pieces!

Flat glass waiting to be cut