Sunflower

One of Mon’s favorite flowers, I wanted to make her a sun catcher for the kitchen. A fun little design, the hardest part was breaking the long slivers of glass for the petals. And it wasn’t really that hard. Made the center out of orange glass nuggets. 90 pieces excluding the center.

For a 2017 commission, I changed the center to a beautiful rough-textured Spectrum brown glass that shows through with oranges in the light. Also, after completing the first of two panels for the commission, I changed the original pattern to smooth out the perimeter and center the flower. In doing so, I modified the clear background to a single ring instead of the original double. This meant fewer pieces but deeper griding and foiling. They both turned out beautiful… I like the clean lines of the new pattern best.

I also incorporated a strip of 20 gauge wire around the perimiter which includes the hanging hooks. These 8″ panels should stay strong for the next few hundred years, hopefully.

Later on, the demand for a smaller suncatcher resulted in a 5″ flower. Equally cute.