On September 13, I blogged about a commission I was creating as a gift from a husband to his wife, celebrating her birthday, the birth of their daughter, her exciting new job and a big move to a different part of NJ. As we developed ideas about the commission, she spoke about her love of nature and how much she enjoyed the beauty of light shining through leaves, especially as they changed color in the fall. As we talked, I pulled out a sheet of glass, similar to this one, and shared with them that what fascinates me about glass is the way light changes as it passes through. Sometimes with a sheet of blue, green or purple glass, it can look like light passing through water. In this case, the glass I selected for the leaves of their tree looks like sunlight shining through fall leaves. Within this sheet of glass, there are sections of yellow, orange and red-orange as well as different densities so, in some parts, the light floods through and, in other spots, the glass appears more solid. Through a process called selective cutting, I am creating the leaves to vary in color and density from leaf to leaf; some of them have that dappled effect of the light shining through. It’s coming together beautifully but since the leaves are small, and the branches that hold them are likewise tiny, and the sky sections that form the negative space behind it all are even more minuscule, it’s a slow process! There are over 100 leaves and each one is different; I’m lucky I love what I do. I’ll be posting some “work in progress” photos to my Instagram so if you want to see how it’s going, take a look over there.