I recently designed a custom art glass mirror for a client that would accompany a bench that I made for her. Both pieces have an Asian flavor as they collect historical and contemporary Art from Japan. In the examples that I showed to her were fused art glass tiles that I mounted as a border around the mirror. I later designed the frame to incorporate the same woods that were in the client’s bench. The photograph of the Apple Blossom Mirror shows the result of combining fused glass on top of the mirror, so that light is reflected back through the art glass.

My work as a cabinet -maker over the years helped me to investigate the use of stained and slumped glass as panels into doorframes. This work led to the clock cabinet series with fused glass panels in the back wall and doors. I have used quartz and spring -wound mechanisms with pendulums moving behind the glass. Both wall clocks and custom clock cabinets offer art glass options that reflect the mechanism in the interior lighting.

The Clock Tower piece represents over three months of work, since much of the fused glass was slumped into molds for a relief surface. It belongs to a client that is a collector, which means that he wanted an original clock cabinet design. The weighted clock mechanism suspends inside the glass panels, which depict fossils, and anthropological scenes from historical time. The base surround is built as an acoustical sound chamber to mellow out and resonate the chimes that bounce within the tower walls.

If you have a functional art idea that needs some creative embellishment involving wood and glass, please contact me.