Fused Glass Safari Wall Sconces
I designed these wall sconces for a fellow who was a big game hunter as an addition to his new trophy room. The focal point of these fixtures are the horns - a souvenir from one of his treks to Africa. Since I wanted to "get a feel" for where the pieces would be going, I volunteered to pick up the horns. The room (under construction) had a distinct feeling of "the outdoors" - slate tile on the floor, rough-hewn granite counter top, and a muted saffron color on the walls, without much natural light… a real "man cave"! Stone and steel were selected to compliment the horns and glass, and blend with the surroundings in which the fixtures would be installed. Taking care to design a steel back plate in which I could mount the horns without damaging them, I came up with a simple solution - the horns rest in circular rings, and are completely removable. The "giraffe" theme of the fused glass adds a bit of liveliness to the room, and is in complete alignment with the overall ambience. Sitting in the soft light of these fixtures allows the gentleman to re-live his adventures time and time again. Custom lighting requests are always welcome (with or without horns)
Function
- wall
Material
- glass
- steel
Base
- metal
Meet the Maker
Karla Ely
Karla Ely Glass
The mainstay of my shop is fused glass creations…. this can be a stand alone piece of glass, a mixed media composition (sculptural or wall-hung), or a functional piece of work (light fixtures, plates/trays/bowls,inserts for doors or cabinets, etc).
I most enjoy making custom pieces for folks… Because I am intuitive, after a short conversation I am able to "get that person" and design a piece that is "theirs".
While many glass artists began with stained glass and later transitioned to fused work, I have 20 years experience working in fused glass. I prefer fused glass for the following reasons:
- it is STRONGER than stained glass. Art glass is 1/8" thick; a stained glass pieces consists of a lot of 1/8" pieces of glass soldered together… which means that it is thin and with all of those joints, it has the potential to come apart.
Fused glass, on the other hand, is a SINGLE piece of glass; while an individual composition is comprised of as many (or more) pieces than a stained glass piece, everything is assembled in the kiln and fired into a single, final piece. Additionally, fused glass can be made as thick as you want…so, depending on the application, multiple layers of glass can be fused together (think "glass sink"). Really thick pieces are more expensive to produce because the firing process (bringing the heat up, ramping it down, and annealing) takes far longer - it is not uncommon for a firing process to take 20+ hours with a thick/large piece of glass.
Stained glass pieces have distracting solder lines which can detract from the overall design composition - fused glass has none of these distractions!
With fused glass, you have a larger "palette" to work from. You can "make your own glass" by pre-firing different glass together (to make polka dot glass, for example) and then cut it up for your design.. glass can be fired over and over in most instances.
All of my designs are from my own original drawings; if you have something specific in mind, I would be happy to work with you to create a working drawing for a project.
Technical excellence is evident throughout my pieces; I am a perfectionist when it comes to my work, and am willing to do "whatever it takes" to have a design materialize into the physical.
Customer Reviews
Pamela Buckhave
Oct 4, 2021Karla was so personable and caring. We had lost our dog after 15 wonderful years, to have this beautiful piece of art of him is beyond meaningful. Karla even used some fur of our beloved baby making this art piece so meaningful to us. I can’t thank Karla enough??
KEN REINHARDT
Oct 29, 2020What a fantastic person to work with! I'm really impressed with her and her work. Thank you
Dennis DuBreuil
Jul 29, 2019Karla, was friendly, professional and very commutative. She is a very good artist that I would use again and highly recommend her.
Janice McKee
Jan 3, 2018This is my first time on Custom Made. I reached out blindly in search of how to best help a friend who had recently lost his sister. I had no idea what to expect and giving only a vague idea of what i hoped to achieve. Karla contacted me almost immediately with an in-depth reply asking pointed questions, trying to narrow down my request. From that moment on, despite my cloudiness and confusion, Karla's ability, artistic vision, and supreme kindness led the way. She devised the absolute perfect plan and carried it out with a speed and professionalism that astounded me. I am overwhelmed at what she created, and the entire process since first finding your website. I feel a bit of divine intervention in how it all happened. I am so grateful to Karla, and to Custom Made, for creating this opportunity to honor his sister, also an artist. The finished project is one my friend will cherish, and this experience i would cherish as well. Karla, you are an amazing person and artist.
Nancy Deal
May 11, 2016It was a pleasure working with Karla. She asked great questions so she knew exactly what I wanted. I am so pleased with the letters she made for me. They will make my project look better than I could have expected. I would highly recommend her for any of your projects.
