Cutting It Up

Today I did it. I went out to the garage, cleaned off my work table and played with my new toy--my glass cutter. The past couple of weeks I have been buying glass. Lots of glass. So much, in fact, that I really need to invest in some racks. But since I haven't, it sits on my table wrapped in paper and plastic. I'm not even sure what colors lie under that paper. But it was time to find out what I had and time to cut it up!

After going through my packages, I am drawn to my pastels. They remind me of spring. And the creative juices start to flow. I decided to begin with the pinks. I got out my tools and went to work.

Besides a few triangles for my Texas Stone, this is the first time I have ever cut glass. Since I am cutting for my mosaics, I wanted to cut a bunch of squares that are the same size. It seems simple enough--a lot like my rotary cutter on fabric. But I quickly learn it is much easier to drift off my ruler on the glass than it is on fabric. And instead of consistent strips, I end up with strips of varying sizes.

But I was learning a new skill and knew I would be facing that dreaded learning curve. So I just kept cutting...

And worked my way through parts of three different sheets of glass. I really liked the mix I made...

...but when I was through I wasn't sure if it was really worth the effort. I have bought pre-cut mixes before where I loved the colors--and I am not sure I saved enough to make cutting it myself worth it.

But all those thoughts left my head when I started working with the glass. First I started working on this frame:

I had prepped the frame's base earlier, and it was just waiting for the glass:

As I laid out the glass on the wood, I just wasn't happy with the pattern I was creating with the glass. Something was missing. And then it hit me--I needed triangles. Ordinarily this would be a problem if I was using a square mix. But not tonight. I just selected a few squares and took them out to my cutting board. An viola! Triangles. And a pattern I loved.

And once I was done with the frame, I moved onto a lazy susan which also cried out of triangles.
And at this point I knew I loved cutting my own glass.