Cynthia Jewell
Colbert, WA

This is a candle box inspired by the movie poster for "Casablanca". The general shape is reminiscent of theater wall sconce shades used during the 1930's and 1940's. The light glass on the face of this piece represents a Moroccan façade and allows the candlelight to pass through (cream colored opaque wispy). The keyhole shaped opening is a feature I found to be common in photos of Moroccan architecture. I also noticed that it seems common to be a lot of ornate scrollwork on the wall immediately adjacent to this unique doorway. The metal filigree wings were suited perfectly for this and can be located at the upper corners. The word "Casablanca" was cut from a sheet of copper and tinned with solder. I used a copper patina on the front of the candle box but I painted the camel with a metal copper paint to avoid losing detail by tinning with solder.

The doorway opens to a desert scene featuring the camel. I thought it was appropriate for the camel to be standing on or near sand dunes. These were built from two different kinds of glass. The camel rests against an opaque brown and tan streaky, while the central sand dune is made from a tan and white streaky cathedral glass. The moon is made with a yellow and white streaky cathedral glass and a blue/rose/white tri-color iridescent glass represents the night sky.

I decorated the top of the structure with the red jewel and surrounded it with dark purple with white wispy glass and red cathedral glass to suggest draped fabric at the top of the building. Images of the desert seem to always include a lot of fabric draped over the people, and it seemed to be a nice way to frame the scene. The sides of this piece angle back at a 45 degree angle and are made from an opaque tri-color red/orange/yellow glass and some more of the red iridescent cathedral glass. The walls of the box are made from opaque red glass. Almost all the glass I used for this came in sample boxes so I am unsure of the exact manufacturer. The finished size measured at the widest parts is 11 ¾ inches tall x 9 ¼ inches wide x 4 ¾ inches deep.

It took the first two weeks to formulate the idea. In fact I had pretty much decided that I wasn't going to be able to accomplish this task and I had almost given up. I was struggling with trying to place the camel. It seemed to me that I had three choices; a zoo, a circus or the desert. I really didn't want to create anything with a Christmas theme, nor did I want to work on something for a nursery. It seemed in poor taste to blow him up into pieces and I felt that I didn't want to make any kind of political statement with this. I researched travel books with any photos of camels to locate exact regions where they exist. I browsed through poster shops looking for images that would tie the three required elements together. The idea hatched after that. We have decorated our family room with movie posters and I wanted to put some kind of low lighting on the wall behind the television. This project has tied in beautifully with that need. I began working on the pattern design after work on Thursday, January 23. I began cutting glass on Sunday, January 25 and finished the piece on the following Wednesday night. I think I have approximately 20 hours of work invested in this piece, not counting the weeks spent pondering. I am proud of myself for not giving up and because I like the way it turned out. Not bad for just learning how to do this last September!