Inspiration

1-2-3 Alphabet Soup Make your style personal and creative. Use numbers and letters to personalize your home dcor. Various fonts, sizes, colors and unusual applications create striking results. Initials, monograms and words add depth and sometimes amusement to a bare wall or boring box, and will always require a second look. Numbers are also popular. A house number, significant date, anniversary or just a favorite number (mine is 16) all add a personal touch to everyday projects. Todays numbers appear clean, fresh and new again. Combining new project ideas and vintage pieces, can be show stopping when displayed together. Whatever you create, youll be #1, and get an A for your efforts. Drawer Pulls / Knobs A quick and easy project that everyone can do. When added to a piece of furniture, drawer pulls instantly give a room personality. Initials or monograms are fun and creative and will be unexpected. Another quick idea is to add the knobs to a wood board and instantly you have a creative clothes rack. Letters like B-A-T-H or W-A-S-H will liven up bathrooms and laundry areas and create an unexpected second look! Glass Magnetic Letters A quick and fun

Spring projects are popping up all over our artist gallery. Likewise, magazines and home d cor stores are filling up with familiar springtime subjects like butterflies, flowers, eggs, bunnies and chicks. Each of these Easter symbols has a special meaning (and since our Facebook fans have told us they love Easter), we're devoting extra effort to this colorful holiday. Butterflies Butterflies are a popular spring subject in home dcor, fashion and art ( Pier one and Artful Home have some amazing butterfly items for inspiration!) The butterfly represents change, resurrection, transformation and celebration. A butterfly brings a sense of freedom and joy to any project. Check out Delphi's new Artist Trend page to see some amazing butterfly projects from Delphi's Artist Gallery. Easter Lilies Easter Lilies are arguably the most popular Easter flower. The white blossoms represent purity and new life. Daffodils and tulips are also popular spring flowers. Their colorful blooms ar e a welcome change from the snowy winter landscape. Easter Eggs Easter Eggs became a popular Easter symbol in Medieval Europe. Eggs were forbidden during l

From fusing to stained glass, etching or mosaics, glass bottles are ready to be reused in spectacular art. Find creative ideas below from D elphi customers and artists like you, to get started. Cathedral Glassworks of BC, Canada designed the panel at right featuring a client’s favorite label by cutting a bottle in half and soldering it into a vineyard design. 2010 Online Art Glass Festival winner Pamela Buerger of Fenton,MI designed the panel, left, “Wine Anyone” with a glass bottle cut in half and incorporated into the design with a piece of red glass plated behind it to give the illusion of a bottle that’s always full. The 3-D Dragon sculpture, top left, by artist Steve Landrum of Mountain Home, AR was created from bits of bottles, paired with stained glass to create this fantastic sculpture with unique curved surfaces and contours. Artist Ramona Mauch of Exeter, CA captured our imagination with her 2010 Online Art Glass Festival 1st Place Sculpture, shown right. She created this fantastical creature from recycled bottles that were disassembled, then pieced back together to form this unique character with legs that hint at the origin of the g

You may never feel the same about a jar of jelly ever again. Linda Kester Hamilton has always had a creative soul. She currently works as a graphic artist from her home, and is a small-time producer of DVD productions using photos, mementos, film clips and new photography. She also does intricate beadwork and dabbles in a variety of other media. After moving last year from the central coast of California town of Aptos, to Alamogordo, New Mexico, she found the change in local recycling facilities alarming. She began to hold onto things she would normally recycle or throw away, namely her wide mouth jars and lids. "I remembered a teacher in high school had shown us how to make candle sticks using the same method I use today," Linda said. "Now, there are more modern crafting supplies to get neat things accomplished and I am very thankful for that." In high school, she remembers cutting lace from her canopy bed set (hoping her mother wouldn't notice) to add texture to her candle holder projects. Aside from reusing her bottles, (her bed lace) and other recycled materials for texture and embellishment, Linda also fills her jars with shredded tires to add weight. This is

Of all the art mediums, glass is perhaps the most beautiful way to capture the magic of Mardi Gras. Glass artists in New Orleans, and across the US and worldwide, are embracing the holiday and creating some incredible projects. The Mardi Gras celebration is full of color and symbolism, and provides inspiration for bold, eccentric art. Delphi Artist, Julie Haan, whose talent extends into fusing, stained glass, mosaics and beyond, created the awesome projects you see in this post. Her inspiration? The rich history behind one of the world's most beloved celebrations. The actual phrase Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday in French. Its a long lasting European custom for people to overindulge before the sobering beginning of Lent. Some scholars believe the original roots can be traced back to ancient Roman times during their springtime feasting. In the United States, the Grand Capital of Mardi Gras is New Orleans, where celebrations have been going strong since the early 1700s. Mardi Gras is February 8, 2011. In the United States, the Mardi Gras tradition was established by krewes or private clubs. Today more than 60 krewes plan the parades, the balls and outrageous c

@font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } A few weeks ago I attended an arts festival in Tampa. And while I was pleasantly surprised to see so many glass artists showing, I noticed that many of the artists were displaying similar items. In fact, the show could have been called the Dichroic Cabochon Show. There were trays and trays of these cabochons at every booth, and while they looked beautiful sparkling in the sunlight, I wondered how many were actually selling. Artists making projects to sell at shows, giftshops or online, should try to diversify their offerings. Go one step further and offer something a little bit different. Flip through fashion magazines, peruse mall storefronts, and log into craft site forums to find out whats really selling. Here are some interesting pieces I found online (that I would love to wear!) There are so many possibilities with Dichroic glass; dont get stuck in a cabochon rut! Looking to purchase dichroic glass?

I love listening to the stories our customers share with us, especially during the holiday season. It seems this year there is a reoccurring theme. Snow globes. Water or snow globes are a huge decorating trend for holiday 2010. I remember fondly my very first snow globe, given to me on Christmas Eve, 1961. Right after the Christmas Church pageant, I was awarded an Away in the Manager globe for remembering all my lines in the play. I also remember, with a smile, the last episode of the TV show St. Elsewhere when the autistic son, looked into his snow globe, shook it and the entire hospital came alive. Did you know that water globes (The correct name, snow globes-came much later) have an interesting history? Water globes first appeared in the late 1800's in France and are believed to be derived from the concept of paperweights. The first water globe was a palm-sized glass globe featuring the Eiffel Tower as the center piece with a ceramic base. It was introduced to the public in the 1889 Paris Exposition and became a great souvenir item. Snow globes spread across Europe from France to Germany, Austria, Poland and then England. Figurines, clocks, dolls, medals and wedding flo

"Quick! I need a last minute gift, and I need it now." What should I do? What should I give? I have no time left, and I will not go to the MALL one more time. Sound familiar? Is this just a repeat from past years? Do you want a simple solution? Let the Delphi Elves help you eliminate the stress, the frustration and headaches and achieve Ultimate Holiday Bliss. OK maybe, thats pushing it a little far, but we do have some awesome gift ideas that you can create in fewer than three hours in most cases. I have selected some of my favorites to give and receive.

"Nothing says lovin' like something from the oven. Remember that phrase? Holiday 2010 is all about memories, and making special gifts with appreciation for the recipient. And nothing brings back memories at Christmas like the Gingerbread Man (now complete with an entire family). From enjoying the cinnamon aroma while baking, to decorating each one with care and arranging them just so on the plate, these cookies bring love and joy to the baker as well as the cookie eater. Recipes have been passed down from generation to generation, grandparents to great grandchildren, neighbors to neighbors and now even to strangers on Facebook. In 2010, look for the new Gingerbread Man cookie to be wrapped with precision, tradition and preservation. These beautiful golden brown cookies, with hints of red, look great on your table, as a snack or as a centerpiece. When grouped together, it makes a simple, yet elegant Holiday statement, evoking the memory of our first Gingerbread Man cookie. He makes us smile. He makes us laugh. And he makes for wonderful storytelling with our children and our childrens children. Try making a long-lasting Gingerbread Family and share a wonderful tradit

As a proud Dad of an MSU grad (2008-Son is actually working in his field of study) I have to tell you about what we have developed at the Delphi Glass Studio - pre-cut glass logos and mascots of Michigan State University. They are wonderful and easy to work with. We have had many of our in-house artists create different projects using these pre-cuts. I plan on using five white "S" pre-cuts, five green S pre-cuts and five mid-size Sparty Helmets on a small evergreen tree on our foyer table for the Holidays. This will be a quick and easy way to show our Michigan spirit. (Also, I just found out, to celebrate 8 in a Row we have put all the shapes on sale!) Stock up now, while they're on sale, before the holidays. This is the perfect gift to give any Sparty Fanatic. Check them out on the Delphi website. For those of you asking for other schools, I am working on that now and hopefully soon we'll be announcing several more colleges. Keep watching and reading my blog. GO SPARTANS! Project image created by Delphi Artist Val Oswalt.

Deck the halls with boughs of holly is really more than just lyrics from a popular holiday song. Each year my family and I always try to do something new and creative that will make memories for years to come. When I started my search internationally on whats new for Christmas 2010, I noticed a very obvious trend appearing all over. The round shape of the traditional ornament is very much in vogue. The real difference however is creating unique, one of a kind glass orbs to be enjoyed and admired. This year for Christmas 2010, we have a very special project that your entire family can assist in making. These beautiful GLASKOLBENS will be cherished and admired by friends and family alike. Ideas and suggestions for displaying your Glaskolbens 1. Arrange a variety of colors in your favorite bowl and instantly it becomes a show stopping centerpiece. 2. Nestle clusters of orbs in fresh greens and place in a horizontal line . (Your fireplace mantle is a perfect spot or a wide window sill.) 3. A small tabletop Christmas tree adorned with Glaskolbens and faceted crystals or jewels is a wonderful focal point in your foyer or buffet table. 4. Consider using gift tags