Art Glass project from Anselm

We are building a family cabin in northern Wisconsin and some of the interior work is being done while we are gone.  They are assembling a loft in the great room using more than one hundred year old barn beams.  The loft will need a railing and I had drawn a design that mimics the lines of a birch forest.

The last time I was in Kenya my daughter Ella, took me to Anselm Glass at Kitengela, in an arid rural  suburb of Nairobi.  The railing that I designed and discussed with Dan at Creative Metalworxs in Durand, WI was to have glass panels that represented some of the trunks of birch.  Anselm could possibly custom make these panels.  So we went out to Kitengela, riding the spine jarring rodes to discuss with Anselmo the owner, the design.  A day later he sent  samples via email for us to give feedback on futher production. We plan on five panels, each about 4 inches wide and 30 inches tall.  

The first sample.

We weren't entirely thrilled with the blue (that was my idea); it brought too much color to the trees.  When we went in person to see the samples we were also able to watch the process of how each panel began as molten glass.   Yata suggested that rather than the blue being added to the raw 'clear' glass that we add white.  Along with that will be added black frit, specks of black glass to mimic the black on white elements of a birch trunk.  

We are going on vacation with our family to the Seychelle Islands this Sunday for a week. When we return Anselm will have out glass panels ready for us to package and take back to Wisconsin, in our luggage.