Design of the Month · November 2012
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"Cornucopia"
As you might have read in last month's article, I have a problem with birds entering my entryway and not being able to find their way back out. So I am designing a series of "seasonal" windows to cover a high entryway window that the birds were confusing for the exit.
My second seasonal window involves traditional Thanksgiving themes. I had images of these (a cornucopia, a harvest moon and stalks of wheat) on my computer. I added each one to my design as a background image, resized it as needed, traced it, and then removed the background image. After creating each traced object I would drag it to the edge of my work area. I did this to prevent line and knot overlap between the current element and previous elements.
My original wheat stalk image had only a single stalk, and I wanted two stalks in my design. So after tracing the single stalk, I then copied the original and pasted a second stalk into the drawing. I had to flip the new stalk horizontally to achieve the crossing stalks effect.
Once all the background tracings were contained in a single Glass Eye 2000 file, I moved them together to assemble the design. I used the Group and Ungroup commands to help with the assembly. This prevented elements from joining unnecessarily and allowed me to fine tune element placement until I had exactly the design I wanted. Once the elements were in place, I ungrouped each one and then eliminated any unwanted or overlapping lines.
~ Ralph Labry
About the artist
Ralph began his glass training by taking a foiling class in 2001 and then a lead came class in 2002. Ralph began using Glass Eye 2000 in 2004 and since then has been able to improve his skills by designing and making pieces for family and friends. He has enjoyed helping them unlock their imaginations and dream up designs using colors that they never imagined existed.
His favorite design themes are focused on nature and its beauty, but he has also made pieces using prepackaged bevels. Ralph has completed projects involving flowers, animals and star formations photographed by the Hubble telescope. Ralph enjoys working on large-scale projects because they allow him greater opportunity to display nature while being creative with a huge array of glass colors and textures. You can contact Ralph via email.
This pattern may be used to make one or more artworks for sale or personal enjoyment. This pattern may be printed for personal use only and may not be sold or given away in printed or electronic form.
Each month we feature a project designed using Glass Eye 2000. Do you have a project to share with the world? Contact Dragonfly Software and your creation might be our next Design of the Month.