Saints Or Sinners

Wow, I have to say that Cindy scored a touch down with this window. She started this knowing that she would use purple and gold for the tiger eye and the LSU but she had no idea what to use for her background. In the end she decided to use green to make it look like the LSU Football field and boy does it ever work on this window! What a great job she did on this.


And Sonia's Fleur De Lis Box is a winner as well. These boxes seem to be the perfect size because they all turn out looking very classy. Sonia was under the gun when it came down to completing this in time for Christmas but she managed to do it without sacrificing any of the quality of her work.


Pam added another of her over-sized sun catchers to her list of accomplishments when she completed this Water Lily design. Her confidence is high and her projects are getting more and more complex with each accomplished project.


Susan's latest Hand Mirror has pink undertones throughout all the glass which tie it all together perfectly. These really are a great gift and we've seen many of them made for Christmas recently. And since 3 more students have mentioned making these I think we'll be seeing different variations of the flowered hand mirror for a while.


And since Susan has become a professional at making Hand Mirrors and Business Card Holders she decided to really break out this week and complete one of each. This is her 'spur-of-the-moment' Blue Baroque Business Card Holder.

And Susan wasn't ready to call it a day with 2 projects completed so before Susan left she also started grinding her next Hand Mirror. She had cut it out at home and when she headed back home it was more than half ground and fitted together.


Fran's Donkey is just about complete! And when I say 'just about' I mean that the hard part is most certainly over with with. It's all tacked together save for her double borders which she'll work on when she returns. This window reminds me of Donkey from the Shrek movies. He's really got character.


With her added oysters, Patty can almost officially call this Seafood Medley Window complete! There are possible a few background pieces left to cut (I say possibly only because some of them are so small that we may lose them under solder and if that's going to happen then why should she bother cutting and wrapping them in the first place?) so this window is going to get a border on it next! And to think that Patty thought that she would never finish this window.


Ann's Butterfly Cabinet Doors are looking to be quite beautiful. This is the first one all ground and fitted together perfectly. She'll be doing some wrapping at home and then she'll begin grinding the mirror image of this window for her second cabinet door.


Lastly we'll take a look at this detail mid-sized window that Anita is making. It's not exactly a small project but it's small enough to make working with the tiny pieces a bit of a problem. But problem or not Anita managed to grind it all, wrap it and then tack it together. She'll be finishing this one at home for sure.

For those of you keeping track of the time frame on these posts, this update takes us up to Christmas of 2011. That means there are only 1 more set of classes before the New Year starts and things get a little less hectic around here.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Don't Learn Safety By Accident

I knew I was going to like this box when it was finished-- I could just feel it in my bones. True, it's not you would call a conventional item but it's the perfect Christmas gift for the guy who has everything. Sonia did a great job on this-- even though at first glance you might think, "There's no way that's a skull in a top hat" it only takes a second glance to realize that there's no mistaking that's exactly what it is.


Roxie finished her 2 frames in time for the Holidays and I've put some nice pictures in them to show them off. They looked sort of plain and boring with nothing in them. For the record, they're both the same size-- I just pictured them in both Landscape and Portrait orientations so you can see that they work in either direction.


Close you eyes and tap your heels together three times. And think to yourself, there's no place like home.

And while we're on a movie theme here, I can't help but call Anita's 1st project this week the 'Finding Nemo' sun catcher. I'm not sure if this is a clown fish or not but it's certainly the correct colors.

And here's a look at Anita's Bordered Glass Window. She just really liked the design in this clear textured glass and decided that it was pretty enough to hang as is. Well, she did add a double border to give it a little extra something...

Also, Anita made this small sunflower window as well. But her real project for this week is the next one...

This is Anita's Seagulls and Sunset window. Her Seagulls have a very contemporary look about them making this a classic stained glass window with a modern twist.


Next up is this week's featured Fleur De Lis. This one was made by Terry and if you haven't noticed, her black border and the actual FDL are made from the same glass used by Roxie in her 2 frames up above. This is always a popular glass and you can see why everyone likes it. Whether she likes making them or not Terry certainly has a knack for Fluer De Lis windows!


Dianne has completed her 1st Victorian Styled Window. Throughout the building process of this window she's learned a lot and seems to have lost most of the worries that plague students initially. She made this window with a good deal of confidence and very little help at all. This will end up above one of the doorways in her house.


And Dianne already has her second companion window just about ready to be soldered. As I always say-- if you're making more than one of the same window it's best to cut them all out at the same time. When you get on a roll you don't want to move onto another step and lose your momentum.


Wow, look at Terry's Tiger. It's yet another pattern that she drew up herself and I have to say that it is a VERY nice pattern at that. It's almost completely ground so she'll be working on a background and a border next. Talk about a window with personality! Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!


Susan got one of her hand mirrors together this week. This one is ready to be soldered but since the mirror was cut at the end of class we decided that it would be best of she tracked it into place next week so the mirror wouldn't sit with chemicals on it for any length of time. Mirrors are tricky to work with because the backing can get damaged fairly easily and once that happens you have a mirror with black rotting edges rather than a bright shiny mirror.

After Sonia completed her Skull box she immediately went to work on making a second box. She had some of this completed last week but this week her entire box top is completed. That means there are just 5 pieces of glass to cut and tack together before she attaches this top and calls this finished. Something tells me that she really liked the boxes Roxie made since this was cut from the same pattern and the same glass. Imitation is the highest form of flattery!


There are about 5 pieces left to go on this before Patty adds her border. There's a spot on the lower right where the pattern calls for the top part of an oyster but Patty was ready to just fill it in with background glass so she could get this done. Alas, I intervened and have insisted that since she's gone this far with her window I don't want to see her wimping out at the very end and having a big hole in it. Next week we'll fill in an oyster and finish the background.


And here's yet another original pattern. Cindy wanted to see if she could come up with something on her own and she's done a marvelous job! This is a big window at 30 inches long so she'll have to use some zinc channel to finish it off. The zinc channel is far heavier and makes a sturdier window but it also much wider than the lighter brass channel. A window this size needs the extra stability that the zinc channel will add.

Ann has begun grinding the first of her 2 mirror image cabinet windows that she's making. Wait a minute, how can she start grinding them is we didn't even see her start these???? Well, I missed out on taking pictures last week when she began cutting her butterflies. Then she did a lot of work at home and that means she's grinding these already. And when you next see these I think they'll be completed! Ann has been working very diligently on these windows and they are coming together quickly.

And rounding things off here at the end we'll take a look at Peewee's latest Fleur De Lis Window. It's the same design that he made before just with slightly different measurements. He needs a few filler pieces in this one but I'd say he'll be adding a border when he comes in again.


There is only 1 week to go until Christmas 2011 gets here (yeah, I know I'm behind here with the updates but we're getting there!) so come back shortly to see just what gets finished before Santa needs to collect these windows to make his deliveries.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Band-Aids and Paper Towels

This update brings us into the month of December. I have plenty of pictures and I believe I have everything sorted by week now. My biggest problem is remembering who made what project when I look back at these month old pictures.

There's no need to fear--Blue Dog is here! I have to say that Cindy's window really came out nice. It's so vibrant that there's no way anyone can ignore it. In fact, it really reminds me of a comic book panel. Cindy knocked this out on record time but you can't tell that from the quality of the finished project.


Anita's Symmetrical Geometric Design has really caught a lot of the students eyes. Something like this isn't that difficult to make and it always manages to be an attention getter. These are the kind of projects that we love around here.

Wow, where do I start with Pam? Pam was as busy as she could possibly be hammering out 5 large suncatchers in between classes. This is her Purple Calla Lily.



This is her geometric design.
This is her fancy cross
This is her Fluer De Lis.
And this is Pam's Orchid. All of these were made at home by Pam and she finished them all off during class this week. I can really see an improvement in her work as she's finding it easier and easier to keep the glass within the lines on her patterns.


Terry completed her Saints Window and I would have been shocked if she hadn't completed it this week. It just wouldn't seem right if Terry didn't finish a project during class. :-)


And Susan has another Business Card Holder under her belt. I don't even think she needs the pattern to cut and grind these things anymore! One thing is sure, she has the process down pat.

And when Susan finished her Card Holder she began working on a new Hand Mirror. Here you can see her pieces have been traced out onto her glass where she will begin cutting them at home.


Sonia's Skull Box is really taking shape now. The top is complete-- all it needs is to be cleaned up and colored. That means that there are only 5 pieces left to cut and solder together so she can attach this top and have it featured in the Blog.

Who do you suppose is making this Fleur De Lis? None other than Terry. For someone who's burned out on making Fleur De Lis' she certain has enough people asking for them. Maybe if she makes them upside down it will appear to be something other than a Fleur De Lis and make it a little easier to work on...


Peewee started on 2 more Fleur De Lis Windows which are essentially the same as he made before only sized up differently. This is one of the FDL's that he cut and ground. The other was at the grinder with him while I was snapping pictures.

Myrt's been wrapping her glass and it looks as though this window is just about done. Once it's tacked together she'll fill in the sun and cut it into 5 pieces. Then it's just a border and some soldering!

Dianne has the front side of her Victorian styled window soldered and only has the back side left to go. It's amazing how fast people get things done during the month of December-- especially if what they're working on is a gift!

And when Cindy finished her Blue Dog Window she immediately started working on the first of 2 more Boar Windows that she has orders for. Don't get me wrong, I loved the window when she completed it but I never thought that she'd have to make 2 more!


And speaking of animal windows let's take a look at Fran's Donkey window. With only the mouth left to go she's about to wrap this project up shortly. I guess you can say she has her ass in gear!

Anita made this window at home and brought it in to solder it. This is another project that is soldered on the front side but not the back side. We'd finish things much quicker in here if we could find a way to do both sides at once. But for now she'll have to tackle the back side next week.


And as a quicky project Anita decided that she had to do something quick and simple with this piece of clear glass embossed with Bamboo leaves and stalks. She just squared it up and added 2 borders around it to frame it all out. These borders need to be wrapped and then they'll only be a little solder to do before she completes this window.

And that will wrap things up in a retrospective look at what happened during classes during the first week of December 2011. Expect a second week update VERY shortly.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

A Child Of A Man Who Eats Biscuits

A sign of excellence in any art is the ability to be precise. Story has it that when asked by the Pope for an example of his artist skills, Italian Renaissance artist Giotto di Bondone freehanded a circle so perfect that it appeared as though it was drawn using a compass. That perfect circle got him a job commissioned by the Pope himself.

Keeping that in mind, look at these 3 Fleur De Lis' that Bonnie made. All cut and ground separately with a week in between some of them yet I can't see any difference save for the colors. I'd say they're perfect and that doesn't come easy with stained glass. Great job, Bonnie.


Whoa! Look at all the Hand Mirrors that Cindy has made. I count 22 of them but there's no telling if all the mirrors she made managed to make it in for the class picture or not. Nonetheless, Cindy's got the patience of a saint because making 22 of anything always has me ready to be put in a straight jacket and hauled off to the funny farm. Hey, if she had dropped the box of them on the way to the car and they all broke she would have had 154 years of bad luck. But she didn't...


And up next is the last of our completed windows this week. Terry finished her Red Fish and it looks like it's about ready to clean and eat! When her dear friend Sir Donnchad Horace Wellington, more commonly known as the Duke of Wellingtonshire, was looking to commission a stained glass window Terry cut out a perfect convex quadrilateral which impressed Donnchad so much that he had her make this fish window for his Den of Iniquity. (Come on now, you don't REALLY believe that do you?) :-|


Terry, who's getting burned out on making Fleur De Lis, decided to make a Saints Football Helmet Window which incorporates a... (wait for it) ...Fleur De Lis as the helmets emblem! Well, at least it's not the focal point which could explain why she's managed to get through this window so quickly. The brass channel is on and there's only the backside left to solder.


As well as making numerous mirrors, Cindy has been working on her Blue Dog in the Bayou Window. As you can see it's almost finished now with only the back side left to solder. The teeth of the 'gator are going to be interesting as we'll be making them with foil and then covering the foil with lead. Stay tuned to see how that all works out.

Okay, here's the part of the Blog where we cover Anita's THREE windows this week. We'll start by taking a look at her circular Geometric Window. It's all together now and like Cindy and Terry's windows this just needs some solder on the second side and then a channel to surround it before she wraps up this project.

And it looks like circles agree with Anita because she cut out this cute Finding Nemo-like suncatcher during the week and brought it in to class to grind.

Lastly, to wrap things up we take a look at Anita's Sunflower Window. She cut the border in class and got it ground, attached and then channeled. She'll most likely complete this one at home so expect to see this one completed during her next class.


So that's about it for this edition of our updates. Look for a follow up tomorrow as we try to catch up to what's been happening with our students in 2012.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks