I want to take a moment to wish a very happy Mother’s Day to all those out there that fit that role! I especially want to wish my mom a Happy Mother’s Day with this piece.

This is I piece I worked on for weeks in my sculpture class. It is three different panes of glass in a wooden stand that has piece of blue glass attached to it. The first pane of glass (the one placed in the back) is a beautifully colored glass, its is green with swirls of blue. The next two ones of glass are clear with designs sandblasted into them. The second pane (the one placed in the middle of the three panes) has two flowers sand blasted into it. The flowers are a snowdrop, the flower of January, and a carnation, the flower of November. These two flowers are the birth flowers of my older brother and myself. The third pane (the one placed in front) has two flowers, a butterfly, a dragonfly, and the words “A Mother’s Garden” sandblasted into it. The two flowers are a cosmo, the flower of October, and another carnation, the flower of November. These two flowers are the birth flowers of my two younger brothers. Butterflies, specifically monarch butterflies, are really important to me and dragonflies are really important to my mom which is why I included them in this piece. The base is made out of wood that I painted black and than attached different pieces of blue glass to.

A fun side note about the flowers is that out of all three of the months, November is the only one that doesn’t have 2 different flowers which is quite ironic since it’s the only month that 2 of us were born in.

I wanted to make my mom something special for Mother’s Day to show her love and appreciation but I also wanted it to be something that involved my brothers and not just myself. I got the idea to do this garden image from the previous flowers I was sandblasting into glass and the fact that I already have painted my brother’s birth flowers to decorate my room in my apartment. As soon as I came up with the idea I went to work. I got the two panes of glass and cut them with the help of my professor Stephen Colley. Then I ground them down so the edges were smooth and there was no rust of getting cut. It took me an entire 3 hour class session to grind the two panes. Then I put tape on the panes, drew the design I wanted on, and cut the parts I wanted to be sandblasted out with an exacto knife. Then I sandblasted both panes, remove all the tape, used acetone to get the sticky residue off, and washed and dried them. Then I had my professor help me cut a stand for it and then I painted it black. Then with the help of my professor and another student I picked a colored glass pane tp go behind the two panes and the glass to go on the bases. That glass was then cut and I ground it all down so it wasn’t sharp. I used super glue to glue the pieces of the glass to the stand and the three panes just slide into the slits in the stand.I completed it the last Tuesday of the semester and I set it in a safe place separate from the work areas to keep it until I was able to photograph it and then pack it up. The last Thursday afternoon of the semester I went into the studio to take a picture of it and pack it up but much to my and my professor’s dismay I found the front pane broken.

I don’t know how it broke or who broke it because no one reached out to my professor to let him know that it was broken. When finding it I was quite frustrated but knew I had to just take a deep breathe and then get to work if I wanted to redo it in order to be able to give it to my mother for Mother’s Day. So that’s exactly what I did. My professor helped me find and cut a new piece of glass. I ground the piece down, redid the tape, redrew the design, and cut the design out again. I had stayed up until 1:30 in the morning to redo all of this and then the next day I got to the sculpture studio early to do a bronze pour and then I re-sandblasted the pane. Again I had to remove all the tape, use acetone to get the sticky residue, and wash and dry it. Then I put it together, took a picture, and then very carefully packed it up to bring it home.

Though this ended up requiring more work than I had expected I’m very glad I did it. It’s a very beautiful piece and my mom absolutely loves it. I’m always happy to put in the extra effort for the ones that I love and I’m glad I was able to fix it in time to give it to my mom. I still have the original broken pane and I will try to figure out something cool to do with it next semester so it won’t go to waste. I’m always very proud of myself for being able to recreate the original pane almost exactly despite the limited time I had to redo it.

I hope all the people out there that fill the mother role and an amazing Mother’s Day and I thank you for all that you do! I’m very lucky to have a mom that loves and supports not only me but my art as well. Love you ma, Happy Mother’s Day!