An Unexpected Visit And a BUSY Night

Another week brings us some news to pass along to you. We'll be attending the "Franklin Christmas On The Bayou" this Saturday on Main Street in Franklin this week. It runs from 12 noon to 6pm and looks as though it will be a fun event. If your nearby or looking for something fun to do on Saturday, Nov. 14th be sure to drop by and say hello. Food, music, fireworks, crafts, and a lot of people will be there. We'll be in the blue tent with all the stained glass. Click here for more details: "Franklin Christmas On The Bayou With A Trail To the Lampposts" If you stop by make sure to say hello and let us know that you read about it here in our Blog.

Ok, let's get started on what happened in classes this week. Cheryl made 4 box bottoms this week and has 5 left to go. The problem with box bottoms is that you can't start them one week and then finish them the next. The mirrors on the bottom of each box need to be washed and dried as fast as possible so that means we have to finish what we start. Four boxes in one night is VERY good. There are only 8 small 1/8 inch joints left to solder so that the tops are attached to the boxes so these will certainly go home next week. Oh, and Cheryl gets extra kudos for getting the feet attached all on her own. She made a tricky process look easy.


Louis began working on his firs stained glass window- It's a pair of Angel Fish which is hard to see in the first picture since only the ground is cut but mark my words, next week you'll easily see what this window looks like. We just need a little more detail to show.


Steve's window is a bit easier to pick out because his detail is confined to the back and the legs of his Turtle and we didn't cut that section of his pattern out yet. Nonetheless, both windows are coming along great for Steve and Louis. I can't wit to see what they look like after the next class.


We weren't sure how things were going to go when it came time to cut the pearls into Patty's background but all in all it went VERY well. Not only is it all tacked together but she's also got her border cut and ground. It's at her house right now and will be wrapped when she comes back on Thursday and then begins soldering. She wasn't sure what color to make her border and we played around with pink at first but in the end we all liked the green better. I think it was a good choice. We also did a quick readjustment to cover one small break that was unplanned. I don't think anyone can figure out where that break was and it really helped show how we can fix minor problems without re-cutting huge areas.

Janice has 2 borders cut, ground, wrapped and tacked. That means there's only one left to go before she starts soldering this window. It's starting to take shape so you can see what it really looks like now. I'd say she's just about finished with this one and the soldering won't be hard to do at all.

Grace has the top of her pink wedding box almost completed. When I wrote about her progress last week I forgot that Grace would need to cut out the background of her flowers before she could cut the borders. Nonetheless, it's done now and the top of her box is ready for soldering. With only the bottom left to assemble I suspect that we could see this one finished during the next class.

Our unexpected visit came from Julie when she managed to come into class on a night that she thought she wouldn't be able to show. This week she was out of town and arrived home in time to put in a good performance by cutting out the background for her window. Next week she'll be out of the state so I'm really doubting that she'll surprise us this coming Thursday. Since what she's working on is a surprise this is all I can show you of her progress this week. :-)


We have another new student starting next Thursday so get ready for another butterfly. See you then.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

One and One Quarter

We're beginning this post with an important message to our part time students. We've thought long and hard about this and have decided to suspend our Wednesday day class due to a lack of participation. Part time day students interested in starting or completing any projects will need to schedule a session in one of our 3 night classes (Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday). These classes are not always open or available so please call well ahead of time to be sure that we have a spot for you.

Ok, with that said let's move on to our two newest students, Louis and Steve. They've been interested in in doing some work on their own and have even gone so far as to buy a lot of the tools to work with glass. This week they each made a butterfly and next week they'll start on their main projects. Neither one of them had any problems and I must say that their ability to cut glass was much better than the average beginner. They both used the same yellow glass to make their butterflies so I'm not entirely sure which one is which but here's a look at what they accomplished.

(I think this one is Steve's)

(And I believe this one belongs to Louis)

Patty came in with all her pieces wrapped so we tacked them together and I gave her a lesson in tracing out your finished pieces onto a sheet of glass and then cutting the background out so that
grinding is cut down to a minimum. She's taken her background home with her to wrap and next week we'll add the 'pearls' to this window.

Janice got all her background cut as well as her first (of three) borders. She has three sides of the border wrapped and ready to be tacked. We'll have the center clear border ready next week.

Grace brought in assorted color papers and a printed out lyrics so we could make a side panel for her flowers. After squaring off the text and cutting away the excess paper she picked a light pink pattern to mat the lyrics. We sealed the finished product in between 2 pieces of clear glass and then she cut out the second flower. There's only the border left to do and the top of her box will be completed.

Speaking of boxes, Cheryl took home a slew of bevels last week and came in with enough of them warped to make 7 lids. They're soldered, hinged, washed and waxed so she could start working on bottoms next week.

Julie is making a mystery Christmas gift for Ray and I've been sworn to secrecy about what it is. I've taken some pictures but won't be posting any of them until he gets to see the actual completed project. All I can safely say is that she'll be working on the background next week.

That brings us up to date this week. Hopefully the next post will occur on the first Thursday of
November. Where did October go? Let the Christmas rush begin.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Breathing To Lose Weight

Cheryl has another LSU window under her belt. I've always liked the tiger eyes window and combining it with the standard LSU design makes this window really catch your eye. Cheryl finished soldering this in class which means that she'll be starting something new next week. I believe she may be making beveled boxes...


Janices window is really taking shape now. With the three sections of the flag taked together she bgan working out the best way to cut the background pieces. Although I didn't think it would be possible we were able to get all of the background out of just 2 sheets of glass. It took some juggling and even then it was close but it's a done deal now. Janice is just 3 borders away from completing this window.


Grace has decided to skip to a smaller more simple project this week. It's a wedding box design but instead of using a wedding invitation she'll have the lyrics to a song printed out and encased in glass. She'll be bringing the actual lyrics next week and we should make some serious headway into the box then. Right now she has one of the flowers cut.

That was about it this week. Jane's pattern came in for the 2 lamps she'll be working on so I expect to see a lot of pieces building up in Jane's corner soon.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Finished Projects

After having 2 weeks with no completed windows I'm pleased to tell you that this week we have not one but TWO spectacular windows to show you.

Grace has completed her Fleur De Lis Geometrical window. I knew it was looking good but even I was surprised at how great it looked when it was lit up. She had watched me attached the zinc channel and then I told her to just leave it so I could wash it for her outside with the hose in the daylight. Plus, it meant I'd get a good picture in natural light when it was finished. When she left it looked like this:

After it got a bath and some sunlight behind it we can really see it for what it is. An incredible piece of work that Grace should be very proud of. I love the deep blue border and you'll see that it's kind of a theme this week.

Next up we have a look at Julie's first window. She moved along pretty quickly on this project and as I said last week her soldering was very impressive considering she's never done it before. Again, I love the deep blue border. I also think that adding the amber diamonds in each of the joints made this window look much nicer than the original design that Julie brought to my attention. I think this is a very traditional looking window and Julie couldn't have done anything better of she'd tried.

Janice cut the bottom red sections of her window and now that they're cut the rest of this should be simple. All that's left are a few background pieces and then a triple border which will be easy to cut. Look for a better view of this window in our next post.

Patty came in and spent the night working at a grinder. I hate to sound like a broken record but Patty also did amazingly well considering this is the first time she's had to grind anything so exactly. She took her ground pieces home with her to wrap and next week she'll begin cutting the background of her window.

Cheryl tacked both the tiger eyes and the LSU portion of her window together and when that was all said and done she began soldering a little of the front side. By the time the night was over she'd managed to get the borders all cut and took the whole thing home with her to wrap and possibly solder. One more week should bring this window to a close. Look for another completed project next week. :-)

And Grace began working on her next project-- a deer window. She got the pattern traced out and then cut it all up so that she can begin cutting glass next week.


It was great to see some finished windows this week I've been doing a lot of small work lately and now that I'm seeing some large windows completed I'm getting an itch to work on something large again. But I have a few orders that I need to get finished before I can start making what I want to. I'm leaning towards a fancy Carousel Horse but who knows what will happen ny the time I get to making something for the shop.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Julie Is a Soldering Wiz!

The first week of October was somewhat slow in class but we're starting to pick up again. That said, I'd best get caught up here.


Grace wasn't able to make it in because she had to work. Janice didn't have the red glass to continue with her project so rather than start working on her next window she decided to help Grace by soldering the second side of her window. By the time the night was over the second side was completed and ready for a zinc channel and a bath. Here's the second side of Grace's window unwashed. We will see this one completed next week.


Patty made an incredible amount of progress on her window. She traced out her pattern, cut the paper pattern up and then traced the leaves, flowers and bird onto their respective pieces of glass. Then she picked up her cutter and got everything cut out! She'll be grinding this next week.
Julie tacked her border onto her window and then began soldering the front side. She was a little nervous about soldering (everyone starts off that way) but after she had done a line or two she had the hang of it. Right around the time Patty was finishing cutting her glass Julie was finishing the front side of her window. She'll have the second side completed next week and get a look at the finished window!Come back tomorrow to see Grace and Julies windows completed and ready to hang!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

The Home Stretch

It was a quiet week this time around but that doesn't mean nothing was accomplished. Janice cut the white and blue backgrounds for her window leaving only the red left to go before the majority of the work is completed on this project.


Julie is finished with all the glass cutting for her window. She took her border pieces home to wrap and will begin soldering her window next week. You can already get a good feel for this window even though the border is just lying next to the rest of the window.

Grace continued soldering the second side of her window. Here's one of the finished corners that she was working on.

And Cheryl cut and ground the LSU section of her window. Once these are tacked together it will just need a border to finish it off.


Patty wasn't able to make it in this week but this is the pattern I think she's going to end up working on . It may receive a minor tweak or two but this will give you a general idea of what her first project will be.


We didn't have any finished projects this week and I doubt we'll see any in the next post either, but after that we should start to see completed windows filling up the Blog again.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks