A Gallery Glass Front Door that Speaks for Itself!

 

Jenifer blew me away with this one. Not only did she craft this fabulous front door and sidelights, but she drew the design. Wow! I love the abstract sun and rays breaking into rainbow colors. It makes quite a statement. The movement of the design is so beautiful, it brings tears to my eyes. Graceful lines are not easy to accomplish in a doorway and sidelights, because the sections are so far apart. Jenifer's talent for design is admirable. I wonder if she has formal training. If not, we can all eat our hearts out. Her natural talent is hard to beat. Here's what she says about the experience.

 

 

"I wanted to share a project I just finished on my front door. It is about 7 feet tall and 4.5 feet wide and so the pieces are rather large. I went through over 50 bottles of Gallery Glass to finish it. It took me about 4 months to draw, cut the Plexiglas, lead and then paint the three pieces."

 "I decided to paint on Plexiglas for a few reasons, one being there was no way I was going to be able to do all the work needed with it up in the wall. Two, I wanted the extra insulation that Plexiglas gives, which was the original reason for doing this--to add insulation to our rather large front entry way.

 

When I asked Jenifer if she drew the design, she elaborated some on the designing phase of some of her projects. I decided to include them with her story because (1) they are wonderful and (2) allowing you to see her creative process may prompt you to realize that your own efforts could turn out equally as well. Here are some of the steps she went through to complete her door design.

"Thank you so much for your praise. It is my own design. I based it on about three of my favorite art nouveau stained glass pictures. I wanted a sun burst that's rays turned colder as they moved away from the sun, but with pretty swirl --and since the piece was going to be so large (again, my door is over 7 foot tall) I needed a lot of detail work inside the sun and rays. "


"After doing the drawing, which took me about a month of tweaking to complete, I cut the Plexiglas and leaded the top piece first. The leading alone took a week. Coloring took me about three weeks. The side pieces ended up being about 84" tall and took over a month each to complete. All in all, I went through three large bottles of leading and over 50 bottles of Gallery Glass paint."

 

"This was, my first time to do the leading and painting. What a challenge! I learned the hard way that unless you have enough color to finish a whole working area, just don't! I am sure it's a rookie mistake, but I learned how to cut out my mistakes with efficiency. The doorway was a labor of love (and required a lot of patience from my husband). I am honored to be included in the Gallery Glass blog. I enjoy reading stories of others around the world who have contributed to the site. And I spent a lot of time watching the Gallery Glass videos on technique and application--over and over--every time I made a mistake, actually."

"This was not my first project to design. I have made mermaids (right) for my daughters and mother, and then a smaller sun for privacy at a rental we lived in. (above)"

"I was planning on doing another project in my dining room, but decided that since the space to be filled is a 5'x4' section, it is too simple of a plan. I expect to redraw it with TWO swirling peacocks, some day. Also here are some pictures of other designs that I never got around to actually making."