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Etsy Treasuries!

Wow, Szal Design has been a popular target on Etsy today. So far we've have had our items featured in 3 treasury listings in the span of a few hours, which is quite incredible! I've listed the links below. Check them out!

Create warmth by mieke van gameren, featuring our amber bullseye.

Blue Picasso by SimplyCottageChic, featuring our Genesis lamp.

phlox it... by Kylie, featuring our phox bullseye.

A BIG thank you to all those who have supported Szal Design by featuring our products in Etsy treasuries! It really does help the bottom line of all Etsy shops.

6 hours ago

Pergola Time!

A couple years ago, I designed a pergola for this house in Newton, MA, and this fall I have been given the chance to construct it. Needless to say, I am quite excited about seeing this 2-tier, six column pergola completed.

Its design is based upon a desire to connect the garage to the main house, as well as enhance the existing brick wall, and provide a support structure for the growing rose bushes.

The front edge of the pergola extends the edge of the roof line of the main house to the garage while the back edge of the pergola parallels the brick wall running in between.

The design was also conceived with the assumption that the concrete walkway connecting the back door of the house to the garage and driveway would be replaced with something nicer. As it is, there are quite a number of odd angles. Though probably original to the house, it clearly was not designed with any thought.

For the foundations I have used 8" forms extending several feet into the ground, which should help prevent any shifting due to freezing and thawing. I've set 1/2 inch anchor bolts in the top of the piers. These bolts will accommodate 4x4 one inch galvanized steel   standoffs, on top of which the 6x6 posts will be set.

I'll post better photos in a bit, but these will have to do for now.

Free Shipping in October!

That's right! You will receive FREE shipping on ALL items in our Etsy shop if you order this month! All you have to do is enter the coupon code "OCTOBERSHIPSFREE" upon checkout. Happy fall!

Working with glass

Glass is an interesting material, to say the least. It is a hard and fragile, and yet as an amorphous solid it is slowly moving as gravity pulls on it— just look at the window glass in old homes. Glass is also quite flexible, and can bend significantly. Glass is also a wonderful material for the use of color due to it's translucency. Color may be viewed on the material itself, and also projected onto a surface by a light source. Glass may also be formed in several different ways— cast, blown, scored and then broken, or cut with a water jet.

When working with glass, the question is not if you will injure yourself in some way, but when. Whether you are working with molten glass or trying to avoid tiny shards of glass, there is a high probability of being hurt in some way, regardless of how much care is taken. I've taken splinters of glass in my fingers and have been cut on the edge of a sheet of glass (with a square edge) countless times. However, for me the dangers of working with glass are worth it, as the end product is always much cooler than I imagine when it is being designed.

Art Glass Miniatures - Bullseye

These mouth-blown glass bullseyes are another aspect of Szal Design's Art Glass Miniatures. Since the glass is made by hand, the diameter varies from between 3 and 3-1/4 inches. The edge of the glass is smooth, since the lip of the glass is folded over on the back by about 1/8 inch. The back is fairly flat, while the front gets thicker at the middle and has a glass "stump" of varied shape where the bullseye was broken off the blow pipe. Since each bullseye is made by hand, each is different, but the color and feel of the piece remains the same. There are 12 different colors, and each bullseye comes with a five and one-half inch hanging loop, through a drilled hole at the edge of the bullseye. When compared to the randomly designed miniatures, these are opposite in nature— simple and elegant.

Art Glass

Szal Design Art Glass currently encompasses two areas. The first is the design and creation of custom leaded glass panels— windows, skylights, interior partitions, and other types of panels. I started working in leaded glass in high school, and was able to pursue it during college and after. I use only the finest materials when creating my art glass, including a commitment to using only mouth-blown glass. While I have primarily made abstract panels, I am happy to work with my clients to create the perfect art glass panel for their needs.

The second area that Szal Design's Art Glass encompasses is that of art glass luminaires. The current series of lamps is named Prana, and comes in 13 inch, 24 inch, and 51 inch heights. The initial concept for this lamp was to create a contemporary art glass lamp that used an entire sheet of mouth-blown glass. This design became the 24 inch lamp. The 13 inch lamps each use half a sheet of glass, and the floor lamp uses two sheets of glass. The lamps feature a square column of mouth-blown glass with an exposed upper lip of glass on a solid wood base. The exposed glass lip is the end result of the making of the sheet of glass, and is quite smooth. Internal cross-bracing maintains structural rigidity of the lamps. The lamps are available in a variety of different glass colors and base woods, and can be seen in great detail on my website and at my Etsy shop.