Eye-ing spring

Last week I went to 'camp'. That is what it felt like to participate in the Road Scholar Program at Cedar Lakes Conference Center in Ripley, West Virginia.
My husband was taking the wood turning course and I took stained glass.

A few weeks before our courses I saw a scene out my bathroom window; bare limbs reaching for the sky, and one amber-colored leaf, hanging on.
I brought this idea with me and to my delight, I was able to create a stained glass design from my idea:

Once it was completed, I saw the leaf looked like an eye and came up with the name for the piece: Eye-ing Spring.
It is not yet hung up. I'm waiting for cup hooks to hang it in another window.



I had time to make another piece. I wanted to do something in the sun-moon-stars theme. This is a sentimental theme for me. When my brother, Wilson, was a young child my mother was explaining relationships to him. 'You are my son...', she said; and he completed her thought with 'and Cynthia is your moon and David is your stars'. So profound for such a young person.
I found and executed this design:

One thing I love about this design is that it looks wonderful with the light shining through it but also see below where the decorative solder can be seen.

The entire experience was wonderful. I left feeling accomplished, relaxed and creatively stimulated. We walked everywhere all week from dorm to dining hall to classroom. Yoga every morning increased the 'monastic' feel to the experience. I can't imagine not returning to Cedar Lakes, maybe for more stained glass or perhaps one of their other incredibly interesting classes.
The instructors were dedicated and friendly with each other which made the group feel more cohesive, even though were were taking six different classes.
I'll give a plug here for my instructor Stephanie Danz ... more about Steph.... and even more.
Stephanie first had us all make a simple piece. An Apple. Although one person wanted to make a pear instead. And another wanted to make a green apple. This project taught us all of the steps to make a finished piece. At that point we were let loose to pursue another suggested project, a fan. But many started on a project they chose themselves. A design, or idea for a design, they brought with them or something they found in a book, there were plenty to choose from.
I started designing my eye-ing spring piece right away. I'm very satisfied with the result. Steph and her assistant Deb helped with the selection of glass for both pieces. If not for this help I think I would have spent a long time finding just the right pieces of glass for my projects. It is a little hard to see in the pictures but the moon is made from a beautiful piece of iridescent glass which Stephanie found for me.