Design of the Month · September 2009

"Kokopelli"

This design was commissioned for a man who loves Kokopelli. His wife ordered it as his Christmas gift.

The Kokopelli is a fertility god that has been a source of wonder in the southwest, where the first petroglyphs depicting him were carved at least 1000 years ago and perhaps as long as 3000 years ago. I found a Kokopelli image online, added it to Glass Eye 2000 as a background, then traced it and removed the original image. After that, I drew in my lead lines, resized the panel to the required dimensions and added the color that the client specified. I decided to use clear glass and curved lines to accentuate the curves in his body. A color copy was emailed to the client for the final approval.

I used the copper foil method for this panel. I printed one full-sized copy of the design and an 8½" x 11" colored and numbered version to use as a reference for my glass placement. I reversed my pattern so that the finished piece was exactly as the sample shown to the client.

I have been using Glass Eye 2000 to design all of my panels for over three years.  Before Glass Eye 2000, I would draw all of my patterns by hand. I download the trial version to see if it was as good as I had heard it was. After playing with it for a couple of weeks, I made my purchase. It has been one of my best business investments. My customers are always amazed when I show them my interpretation of their idea in full color. Also, it's lots of fun to experiment. That's how new ideas form!

~ Angela Smith

About the artist

Angela Smith has been actively committed to the arts and crafts business for more than three decades. She and her sister, Cynthia Fardan, who serves as her webmaster, have successfully run an arts and crafts business for several years. For Angela, art has been a lifelong passion that has included photography, ceramics, jewelry, gourds and finally stained glass. In 1997, she took a class in stained glass. At that time she was working for someone else so she worked on different projects on the weekend. It wasn't until 2005 when her job relocated to another state that she decided to work with stained glass full time. It has almost been four years and she states that she has never felt so free and content working at what she enjoys. Angela has a website and can be reached by email.

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