Are you Singing Or Did You Hurt Yourself?

Since this is late (these events took place before Thanksgiving Week) we're just going to jump right in here.  We had a lot completed and having been out of town for Thanksgiving has put me a bit behind.

Okay, so Mary Grace finished the work on her Rifle/Arrow/Louisiana Window and you can now see how the year has been incorporated into the bottom center border piece.   The numbers were cut out from a sheet of copper foil and and then applied to the glass making sure that the top and bottoms of the numbers rested on top of the lead line and the channel.  Once soldered everything is solid and looking good!

Cindy's Santa Face is a one of a kind (so far) and finished just in time for Christmas.   I've seen a lot of these patterns over the years but this might very well be the nicest one of all .  Santa really turned out spectacular due to all the detail and I wouldn't mind making one myself!  Ho Ho Ho!

  

  

 

And Martha's Wedding Box is ready for the Wedding!  Her stained glass flowers match the invitation wonderfully and this will surely be a gift to be treasured for years to come. 

  

Becky S started and finished these two Spinners in just two classes and they are perfection!   If you don't follow the 3 x 3 pattern perfectly they won't join correctly when you solder the last square in place, but these have perfect right angles all around them so they lined up wonderfully.

  

Jeanne M purchased some Beveled Ornament Kits and put five of them together in just one night.   The nice thing is that she now has the pattern so she can cut these out of various clear textures if she wants.

 

Liz was a 'trial' student this week.  She wanted to try to make a butterfly to see if she was able to and also to see if she was interested enough to do Stained Glass on a regular basis. By the end of the class she walked out with this marvelous Butterfly that she had no problems constructing at all.  Time will tell if she decided to do something else.

 

 

Mary Grace also made another Jewel Hanger.  These are becoming more and more popular with our students each time I post another picture.

 

Susan D completed her 2 final Reindeer so they can be placed in her front yard with her Rudolph Reindeer.  Next up is a sleigh and we'll likely see what that looks like when Susan returns.  But wait, do I see a 3D Poinsettia as well?  Yep, Susan's been busy!

 

 

Betty put the finishing touches on her double Sunflower Window and has this pattern down to a science now.   She can practically finish one of these in her sleep. 

 

And Tracey is knocking out Butterfly Lawn ornaments left and right!   This is her latest and she made it completely on her own.

Then we have MiMi's Cotton Blossom which is looking wonderful even though it hasn't been ground yet.  Or has it?  I saw a picture on Facebook that pretty much says otherwise...  (John must be cracking that whip!)  I guess we'll know for sure on Thursday!

 

Kerry began working on this Pelican Window and in the span of two classes he not only got it all cut out-- he's even begun grinding it to get nice clean fit.  It's looking good indeed!

  

Susan R eagerly attacked her Seafood Window and got even more of  the seafood ground.  She's moving at a nice steady pace and at this pace it won't be long until this is completed.  Her colors are perfection and she explained to me what she'll be doing with the tray of oysters and I have to say I love it.   But you'll just have to wait a bit to see what that involves...

 

Annette's Happy Grinch is all ground and ready for foiling!   Someone else (ahem, TRACEY!) plans on making one of these later on down the line and I can absolutely see why.  Annette needs to post this one on Facebook when she's finished with it because I'm sure it will drive the Stained Glass Patterns group green with envy!

 

Melissa is back to work on her half circle Peacock Window and I think she has all of it cut out now.  That means that she's ready to start grinding this and once that's done she'll add a few inserts for some extra color.  Wait until you see how this sparkles with just a little light behind it.

 

 

And Jeff has only 12 sky pieces left to cut and grind and then he can move onto picking a color for his border.  That part will go quickly since we'll cut the on the strip cutter and then after a quick pass over the grinder and with the addition of some foil this will be ready for some solder.

 

Betty not only finished her Sunflowers but has nearly completed her Santa Face Window which means that it will be ready just in time for December!  This is the first of a few Santa's this week so brace yourself because we're about to look at a few more.

 

So here's another Santa, the first in this 'series'.  Jan saw this on Pinterest and said that she just had to make one herself.   She certainly got it cut and ground quickly enough so I have no doubt that his will be dome in time for Christmas.

 

And when Angie saw Jan pick up her Santa Face pattern last week she wanted one for herself which is kind of interesting because she had one pattern but ended up with two Santa Faces cut out!  These will be ready for eyes when Angie comes back in.

 

Now this is surely going to be an interesting piece.  Shawn is making a Sunflower and the center will have the music to The Beatles, 'Here Comes the Sun' fired onto it!   We should have an idea of what that will look like when Shawn returns and to be honest with you, I can't wait to see it myself!

 

Mary has begun working on a Sunflower of her own and her colors are stunning.  Alas, Mary is undergoing an operation so there's no way this will be completed before the New Year.  I'm hoping that seeing this so close to completion will give her some added adrenaline for a speedy recovery.  We certainly wish her the best!

  

Belinda got an incredible amount of work done on her latest Cat/Wine Window and by the time class was over she had all of her center glass wrapped and tacked together.   She also got the final border cut, wrapped, and attached as well as getting channel and hooks attached!    She's planning to finish this at home so it can be in its new home for Thanksgiving.  

 

Linda F made quick work of this Saints Fleur De Lis.  The only thing left to be done on this is some soldering and that means that we'll see this completed when Linda returns.  I also think we might see another variation of this done by Betty in the near future. 

Sheri almost has her second Bee Suncatcher completed as she finished cutting and grinding it this week.   She's got a new Window in mind so I don't think that this will take her very long now. This might very well be completed when she returns.

 

Cindy has started a large Sun Window that will be made with numerous pieces of clear textured glass.  Yep, there won't be a single piece of colored glass in the entire window.   It will be a study of both the sun AND of textured glass!

 

Martha may have finished her wedding box but she also had time to begin this leaded Christmas Ornament.  The border around the bevel will be finished in solder.  What you are seeing now are 5 pieces of glass completely covered in foil.   Once it's soldered all of the copper foil will become silver.

So that's it for this post.  It's hard to believe that we only have 3 more weeks of classes before this year is over with.   Look out because 2020 is just a blink of an eye away!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

The Color Of Desperation

Our students are often confused about when they can turn their windows over so they can work on the second side.   Actually, the rule is very simple:  When all of the GLASS that will make your window has been tacked into place and you've finished soldering the front side you are free to turn your window over and solder the back side.   You don't have to tack the back side (it's already one solid piece) --you just begin soldering it.  Tacking is only done to properly position each piece and turn all of those individual pieces into one solid window.   If you tack the second side you are just wasting a huge amount of time because there's no need to do it-- the window is already secured.

Can you solder the second side if you don't have a channel on it yet?  Yes.  As I said, you can solder the second side as long as all of the glass that will make up your window has been attached.  If you don't have channel on your window you just shouldn't bring your solder lines out to the edge of your window or the channel won't fit on.  It's that easy!

First up in our completed windows  is Mary's Heron which is an amazing example of what Mary is capable of creating.   Her lines flow smoothly and there's not a crooked curve in sight in this standout window that everyone in class loved.  Her colors and craftsmanship are both top notch on this.

 

Jan's Fantasy Unicorn Window is certainly going to make a little girl smile when she receives it.    The soft colors that Jan used along with an iridized mane make this a perfect delicate design.  And did Jan ever finish this quickly!

  

Sheri's back and she wasted no time getting her first Bee themed Suncatcher completed.  Once she had this soldered she worked on the wire overlays which define the wings and provide the Antennas for each bee. She'll be working on a different variation of a Bee Suncatcher when she returns next week.

  

Melisa's finished up all the work on her Train Suncatcher by soldering it and then adding all of the wires that were soldered into the lead covered wheels and the trim that runs the length of the engine.  It was a lot of work but the end result is magical.  You also have to love how she numbered the train with a '25A' for that personalized touch.

  

 

Kerry's Pink Flamingo was also completed and its simplicity has been perfectly offset by a burst of brilliant pink and lime green glass.  You can't say that this doesn't grab your attention!

 

Angie put her spin on our latest Santa Claus Window by cutting her border from a heavily textured clear glass that looks like snowflakes.   With each passing week it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

 

Belinda modified her Cat/Wine Window to just plain wine bottles with a wine glass between them.   It looks just as great as her first Cat/Wine Window and you can see how her work is getting better and better with each passing week.

Lara made this beautiful Beveled Christmas Ornament from start to finish in one class while she contemplated just which lamp she plans on making.  She'll be bringing in a lamp base next week to determine what size lamp shade she'll need and we'll work from there.  There's no such thing as wasted time in our classes!

 

Rowena started with a standard Cardinal pattern and then removed the branch that it sits on and replaced it with two leaves.  Next she added a flower and another leaf on the Cardinal's back leaving her (and us) with a new Cardinal Suncatcher.  I've already passed out 2 of these patterns so there's a very good chance that we'll be seeing more of these being made.

 

 
This is Tracey's second Grinch Window and once again it's pure perfection.  I just love that the sneer on his face translated so wonderfully in glass.  This Grinch is full of character.

 

Mary Grace made a Crystal Hanger having started it while she was at home.   These go pretty quickly, especially once you've made your first one. 'm pretty sure Mary Grace will be making more of these in the weeks to come.

With his Flamingo Window under his belt Kerry has moved along and onto a Pelican Window that he hopes to finish before Christmas.  At the rate he's going I don't think that will be any problem at all because Kerry is almost ready to begin grinding on this

 

Cindy's Santa Claus Moon is all ground and she's close to the completing the foiling on this piece.   Cindy has texted me a picture of the next window that she'd like to make so I suspect that the lion's share of the work on this has been completed while she's been at home.  This is a wonderfully detailed face and Cindy has done wonderful work on it.

 

Patrice is back and she's making a very unique window indeed.  Her window resembles a Rorschach Test in which perceptions of inkblots are analyzed using psychological interpretation. Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality characteristics and emotional functioning.  Me, I see a Uterus.  How about you?

 

Becky S began making two Spinners and got all of her pieces cut, ground and wrapped.  Each spinner consists of six sides which Becky has grouped together so it looks like she's making two rectangular windows even though that's not the case.

 

Jeannette's Transom Window got a TON of work done on it this week.   First she cut the top border, then she attached it and even soldered the front side.  And let me tell you that her soldering is SUPERB!  She's used quarter inch foil on this which makes soldering tougher since there's more solder to melt onto the foil but that extra solder also gives her long window extra strength and stability.

With her border attached Linda F is free to begin soldering her large LSU Window (both front and back).  She found this pattern in our pattern drawers but didn't like the football that originally decorated the upper right corner so she swapped it out for a Fleur De Lis.  When this lights up you'll see how the purple border easily differs from the purple that she used in the Fleur De Lis. 

 

With the top (the Lid) of her Wedding Box completed Martha has moved on to cutting the sides of the box.  She has them ground and has taken them home to wrap which means that there's no doubt that she'll finish this upon her return and that she'll move along to another project as well.

 

Mary Grace has the front side of her Louisiana/Rifle/Arrow Window soldered and has turned it over to begin work on the back side.  Since this is the rear of the window you can't see how Mary Grace handled adding the year 2019 into the border but you'll easily see it when this is finished next week.

 

 

Rowena started this mini LSU Window (which technically is a suncatcher) and is ready to tack it together and then cut a border for it.  I'm not sure what color she's thinking but with the letters being  purple the border should almost certainly be cut from yellow.

 

Susan D's got 2 more Reindeer cut out and one even managed to get wrapped and tacked together this week.   This pair of black nosed reindeer will be finished before you know it. I can't wait to see what sled pattern she comes in with to go behind all of these reindeer.

  

Betty has the front side of her Sunflower Window soldered and all of her Santa Claus Window ground and ready to be wrapped.  I have to say that Santa is looking particularly good with that jolly expression on his face and his fluffy white beard.

 

And with her latest Grinch behind her Tracey's begun working on a series of Lawn Ornament Butterflies because Christmas is right around the corner.  This is just the first of a few.

 

MiMi's newest project will be a Cotton Blossom Window.  We've tweaked the pattern a bit and made it less 'line-y' to the point where the pattern now has an elegant flow to it.  I can't wait to see some glass on this!

 

 

Lastly, I didn't manage to snag a picture of Jeff's Window but it has been moved on over to a larger work board and he's now joining his three sections together.   I promise a picture of that in our next post.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks