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Thursday, January 19, 2012

The story behind the glass.

Surprise!  I’m back!  I have so missed you guys.  Even though it seems like I have been lost to the MY Town Friday Shoot-out,  I’ve been here, lurking.  Watching all your posts and making an occasional comment; keeping track of the topics, but not finding the ambition to actually post.  This last week when glass showed as the next topic I felt a surge of interest, of energy, and the next few weeks are all topics I can see myself showing so I thought it a good time to come back and rejoin the (world) group. 
 
salahallbath (9)Lets talk GLASS - Over the life of ‘Flowers’ I have posted two times about the apartment in Rio.  Both times I mentioned the windows but didn’t really talk about the why and how.  Now I’d like to go there with you.  
Because we looked specifically for an apartment that needed to be refurbished, we found one that was in pretty sad shape.  The apartment had nice large windows in each room but being limited by a ‘normal people’ budget, the view from those windows is a blank, salahallbath (22)rather unpleasant looking wall of the neighboring building.  When making our plan for modernizing the apartment it was apparent that we would need to change out the old metal windows and one idea led to the next and we ended up visiting with a small company in Friburgo to find out how much it would cost to have special glass made for the new frames.  The idea was to make the windows with scenes from around Rio, creating our own view.   The dining area would have an Italian look, tiled steps with old pottery. The small living room would have four panels made of scenes from photos of of Rio, connected by oceans waves which surround the city.  The Master bedrooms has what started out to be a woman lying on the beach (a line drawing of mine) but ended up looking like an abstract of the country side – I am sure it is much more appropriate for a bedroom.  
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Fernando took my photos and drawings, recreated them on heavy paper the size of the windows, cut out the negative space and after we approved the drawings attached the drawing to an extra thick glass and sandblasted the designs to our specs.
[CRISTAL arte decorativa em vidros, by Luiz Fernando Paiva: Alameda Barao de Nova Friburgo, # 129, Olaria: (22) 2522-9578]
I thought it would be interesting for you to see how this process happened.  Camillo and I stopped by the Artisan's shop and ask if I could take photos… I was a bit disappointed, there were no projects in the works so I could show drawings taped to the glass – that sort of thing, but they did allow me to take a photo or two….There were a lot of finished orders, I wasn’t able to get good shots for you – they were leaning against other windows and had lite and reflections, but here is small sample of his work if you are in need a decorative window or two.
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12 comments:

  1. Wow, your glass windows are so beautiful and very unique! I would love to have them installed in my home too, if I can find such workshop here.

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  2. Clever thinking and a beautiful result. I'm fortunate to have outlooks I love but if ever I didn't yours would be the perfect solution. The results are true works of art, aren't they?

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  3. want an apprentice? Some one to sweep up the shards, and then impart your skills?

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  4. One word..............B~E~A~U~T~I~F~U~L!!

    The description and the photos are fabulous as always Ginger!!

    Love ya!

    Reggie Girl

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  5. It is so good to see you back on FHSO! And what a fascinating return! I love your apartment in Rio and the creative way you approached the lack of a view. But showing us where and how the glass was made was a masterful touch.

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  6. Glad you are back also. Yes a very unique solution to that view. Pretty interesting to see the way it is done. Great job gal.
    QMM

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  7. Welcome Back! Love the glass and the whole idea of refurbishing a place so uniquely.

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  8. Glad you came back to show us such interesting glass! I would love to have a widow with this decorative glass!

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  9. Ginger, I am so happy to see you posting for FMTSO. I can relate to why you haven't posted in awhile. I feel the exact same way, and same as you I have been lurking in the background making an occasional comment.

    I absolutely love your glass. It is beautiful and so personal. I wouldn't mind looking at that from inside my own house. You did a fabulous job with your drawings and putting it on the glass.

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  10. Wow that is really unique! Never seen anything like it in a private home.

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  11. Gorgeous windows and an amazing solution to a design challenge!

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