Kathryn Maier
West Palm Beach, FL

In designing the panel for this challenge, I wanted to do something fun, something to make people smile or even laugh outright. Enter Cleopatra, Queenof the Camels. Cleo's crown is a circlet of branched foil overlay with a central crest of a camel unrampant. She wears a jeweled earring and a necklace with a special three-dimensional butterfly clasp. She loves flowers, but not bees, and dreams of meeting the perfect mate this Valentines Day.

Construction Details:

The panel is 16 by 20 inches. I've used copper foil overlay over Spectrum's Mimosa for the crown. Cleo herself is a mixture of five shades of amber glass,both streaky and solids. The leaves are a mix of Spectrum and Kokomo glass, the flower petals are Uroboros, with a blue-green Kokomo background and darkamber with gold Spectrum border.

The side pieces of Cleo's crown are Mimosa glass covered with a copper foil overlay and then soldered. Her earring is backed by a base layer of orange glass so the jewel sits higher than the surrounding glass. Several other pieces have been tilted and soldered in an elevated position for a more dimensional look. These items include: Her top teeth, the bumble bee wings (one bee on Cleo's nose, the other delving into the bottom flower), two of the darker leaves at bottom right in the main picture, petals in two of the blossoms, and the filigree-covered butterfly clasp to her necklace.

Use of the theme items:

Camel casting--central crest of Cleo's crown

Faceted red jewel--earring

Wing filigree--butterfly clasp of her necklace with the filigree backed by the same glass as the necklace.