MAKING A SUNFLOWER SUNCATCHER

Sketching a Sunflower

I am making a sunflower suncatcher and the first thing I did was to sketch a sunflower which I then used to make a pattern.  Here is my drawing:

Cutting the Pattern


The next job is to cut the pattern.  To do this I traced over the drawing which I had placed over a layer of carbon paper and thin card.

Once I had traced the sunflower I took the original drawing and traced over the pencil lines with a black marker pen .  This thick black line represents the solder line.  Then I numbered each of the pieces on the drawing and also put the same numbers on on the copy I had traced onto the cardboard.  This is essential so that I can match the pattern pieces to the drawing.  There are 22 pieces in total making up this sunflower.

Cutting the Glass PIeces

Next I cut the pieces of glass to make up the sunflower.  I selected hammered glass for the centre of the sunflower in a dark amber and it gives a nice textured feel to the middle of the flower.

I  cut the petals from yellow water glass and slipped in the occasional petal in amber restoration glass which helps to give the appearance of depth and shading.  Below is the sunflower cut out and held in place by horseshoe nails which is the traditional method for keeping the glass pieces in place.

In my next post, I will tell you the next stages in the making of my sunflower suncatcher - through to its completion.

Jackie