Daniel was working with a customer when I stopped by so I browsed around. He had some lovely large stained glass panels including this lovely window panel of wine, cheese and wineglass, featuring the bottoms of actual wine glasses in the top portion of the panel.
(c) Daniel Yerdon, wine, cheese, wineglass, used by permission of the artist. Photo by SZing.
Isn't this a lovely panel? Would be a delightful addition to a wine or cheese shop or a cozy restaurant in my opinion.
artwork (c) Daniel Yerdon, photo by SZing, used by permission of the artist
Spontaneously decided to take photos so I could share them here, so no preparations were made for better exhibiting or lights, but his website shows much better photos of his lovely works. I love the serenity of the heron. Unfortunately, the lighting didn't work out for the photograph of a large mermaid panel that I especially liked. Glass can be quite challenging to photograph I've found over the years and almost impossible to not have some glimmer of light show on it.
photograph (c) SZing of Daniel Yerdon in his studio
This is Daniel. He was so very friendly and willing to share his work and story with me. He told me he is a K-5 math and computer teacher during the school year and his studio is open from 4 to 6 or 7 p.m. during that time frame. During the summer, he opens the studio from 11 a.m. to ummm, I think he said 5 but it might be 6 p.m. He said he teaches some classes and has students who come by (one came in while we were chatting) to get his advice and assistance on various projects.
photo (c) SZing
photo (c) SZing
photo (c) SZing
Daniel works in both leaded and Tiffany-style stained glass and also does fused glass, particularly jewelry. He uses COE 96 glass as his preference. In his shop, he also provides supplies to local glass artists if they require assistance getting specific items. (So good to know since I, for one, usually only like to order if I'm getting a lot of stuff at a time.)
(c) Daniel Yerdon. Small glass faces made into jewelry. Used by permission of the artist.
Aren't these little faces adorable? I just love them.
Daniel and I discussed the continuing popularity of dichroic glass. It can be quite mesmerizing.
GLASS SCIENCE LESSON FOR THE DAY:
I've always found it quite interesting and love explaining to students how a single pattern of dichroic (dichroic material causes visible light to split in distinct wavelengths i.e., color) glass might have as many as 50 layers of micro lasered metallic imprints on the glass the sum total being less than 30 to 35 millionths of an inch--about 760 to 890 nm--that's nano meter. 1 nano-meter is 10^(-9) meter or 0.000000001 meter. PRETTY THIN, which is why it is technically called thin-film optics.
The process is apparently quite involved and quite expensive--1/4th pound of dichroic glass (a fairly small amount for a glass artist) can cost $50 or more (retail). The difficulty in making the glass is the reason dichroic glass itself is so expensive and the process requires very specific laser equipment and technological know how. There are a few suppliers providing a fairly large array of patterns, but it isn't something that anyone could go into the kitchen and create. I acknowledge here that I am most certainly simplifying the process excessively but I want it to be easily understood by the lay-person, so my apologies to the experts out there who might take exception to this explanation.
Anyhoo, Daniel uses a lot of dichroic patterned glass in his smaller jewelry piece. Here is my very favorite piece which I discovered in his shop yesterday.
(c) Daniel Yerdon, Dichroic Gecko necklace. Used by permission of the artist. Photo by SZing.
Isn't that just the coolest piece of jewelry? Gorgeous and fun. If I were still living in New Mexico, I'd be wearing that with a black turtleneck this winter!!
If you happen to be in the Ocala area, I highly suggest a stop by Daniels shop. And to Daniel, I say, THANKS for letting me share your work and taking time to visit with me. I hope we'll be able to do some artwork together and I look forward to the possibility of teaching at The Glass Studio.
