Monday, March 18, 2024

You're Lucky I Have A Lot Of Patience

Sheri's Hamsa Window sets it peaceful tone not only with it's subject matter but with it's tranquil color scheme as well.  She's forgone a border on this but was only able to because it's small enough to hang directly by the channel itself.  Had the window been any larger though, a border would have been necessary.


 

Let's Flower Window is bright and airy, and the heavily textured clear border that surrounds it works wonderfully.  As always, Let has perfect cuts and grinds throughout the entirety of this window.

 
 
Who would have thought a purple border on a Cardinal Window would work?  Well, when you use purple for the flowers on the branch that the Cardinal is  sitting on then you get to use it again and have things match up perfectly.   This is all Cindy here in everything from the design, to the colors and onward down to its flawless execution.
 

 
Betty strikes yet again with another Sunflower Window framed in a beautiful lime green border which keeps her window bright and airy.
 
 
 
Patrice made this Suncatcher while at home during the week and it only needed a hook on it to hang it from when she brought it into class.  Both stunning and perfectly symmetrical,  Patrice is proving that she hasn't lost her touch for stained glass in the months that she's been away. 
 
 
 
Sheri also came in with this Easter Bunny all set to be soldered.  By the time class ended she had put the finishing touches on this piece as well as her Hamsa Hand.
 
 
 
It seems as though everyone is working at home.   Linda L finished this pair of Beveled Crosses, one made in pure white and the other in an iridized clear glass.  The Bevel in the center not only acts as a beautiful focal point but also prevents the crosses from 'folding' along hinge lines that the bevel prevents.

 
Helen is making Butterflies and loves the simplicity as well as the beauty of the pattern that we call our 'student Project'.   I usually make a few of these when we go to shows because they are ALWAYS very much in demand.




Steve made a Shrimp Suncatcher out of one piece of round blue glass along with a small chip of red.  Once you see it it you can't miss it.   The majority of this was wire work and Steve handled it effortlessly.


 

Let loves her Large Heart Shaped Suncatchers and her latest Sunflower Heart falls in line with her sense style.  She may not have completed it this week but I can guarantee that it will be finished when she walks back into class.
 
  
 
 
Jan has begun work on a Transom Window and got eight pieces cut and ground for it.  These eight pieces are the only ones that requires a poster board pattern to cut out as the rest of the glass needed to make this will be cut from strips that we will measure out to cut.

  
 
 
Linda L has cut out the iridized textured background for her first name window and it not only cut easily but is grinding easily as well.   It's already halfway there and will be tacked together before you know it.
 
  
 
 
I was thinking this was a Dove Cross but it turns out that Cindy is in the midst of making a Cardinal Cross.  It's either that or one of us is severely color blind!  At any rate, by the time class was over it was all cut, ground and now ready to be foiled and soldered.

 
 
Judy finished cutting out all of the glass for her Father and Son Cowboy Window and has moved along to the grinder to get everything fitting together nicely.  She's at about the halfway point and is working from the bottom up.  She's moving along quickly on this and her stained glass skills just keep getting sharper and sharper.


 
 
Barbara has her LSU Window all foiled and will add some yellow glass to the top and bottom once this is tacked together.  This will prevent the purple border from bumping into the purple letters.  As a rule of thumb we only ever want a pointed section of a color bumping into the same color if it is used for a border.  The top and bottom yellow strips that will be added will prevent 'border bleed through'.

  
 

It may be all black but Darth is really taking shape now.  June has been spending her nights at the grinder whipping this into shape and now you can clearly see Darth coming together.  It almost looks like a movie poster.

 
 
With only two pieces of rose petals left to cut Martha's Birdhouse Window already looks like a million dollars.  Those petals have more than a few tricky cuts in them but Martha has handled the cutting with aplomb. I'm hoping that she has the room on this for a double border because I think a window of this stature deserves that little extra zip that a double border lends to a window.

  
 
 
Lara's Louisiana Collage is getting so very close now!  It's been entirely ground and mostly foiled as well.  There are a few minor pieces that still some some interaction with but the small amount of work needed on those is practically moot.  Tacking this together will be the next major step.

 
 
Bee has used Strong-line rather than Re-Strip to help secure her Front Door Window and now has everything cut out save for the final border.     That border will actually take a little more time than most borders not only because size is of the utmost importance but also because it isn't made of simple straight cuts.  Those ornate corners come with a price but it's only time and that always seems to march along  quickly enough.

  
 
 
Cheryl has added a bottom lip to her window so that she could keep the teapot's base and still surround it completely with her light green background glass.  When she comes back in she'll cut her border and then the soldering will begin.
 
  
 
 
Well, well, hasn't this moved along quickly!  Lorrie is just speeding through her complex Sunflower Window to the point where this only needs to be soldered before it's completed.  And I feel the need to remind you that this is only her second window with us.  She's taken her third pattern along  home with her so she can get started on that once she completes this.

 
 
The stripes on this LSU Tiger sure look backwards to me and that's for good reason-- MiMi is already well on her way into the soldering process of the second side.  With the Zinc channel already attached I'm willing to bet that this will be completed when she returns.   We've already held it up and yes, it looks stunning.

 
 
Here's another window that will surely be finished in our next post.  Once Ann's circular multi blue background was completed she moved along to finishing off the second layer of her window-- the lead covered  Borromean Rings.  By the time class had ended she had them washed, colored and waxed.  When she comes back they will get mounted on 6 posts that will in turn attach to the round background making this her second 3D window.
 
  
 
 
And if that weren't enough of a preview for next weeks post we also see that Patrice has completed the soldering on her Umbrella Lady Window.   That means that when she returns she'll get her run-throughs touched up and then finish it all off by washing and waxing it.

 
 
Last but not least we look at the pattern that Susan R is about to embark on.  These Two Chefs will reside in a frame so the size from left to right is very important.  Susan asked if she could get a border around this but my fist thought was that we don't have the space available for that, but then while looking at the picture I realized that we could squeeze the chefs closer together thus freeing up more room for a border on all four sides.  So I believe that is what we'll end up doing!


And there you have it, another exciting Post all wrapped up!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Monday, March 11, 2024

Hold Your Horses!

 Kerry's Mardi Gras Mask Window features a solid black background which make the yellow, green and purple cathedral glasses that he used light even brighter than ever.  Black as a background is a very bold choice but if you have enough bold color in the remaining pieces it can be used to great effect as you can clearly see here.

 
 
Jan completed her Pelican Window and although she complained about the time it took to make I think it's safe to say that the stunning end result made all the hard labor well worth the time.  I always say that slow and steady not only wins the race but also makes a great window.
 
 
 
 
Susan R has made a Pot of Gold so perhaps she'll make a rainbow to go with it next??  She's used beautiful gold colored globs to form the gold nuggets which looks so much better than the yellow or amber globs that we had in the shop.  I mean, they would have worked but not nearly as nicely as these do!  This is actually a Garden Ornament that Susan will display with pride just in time for St. Patrick's Day.


 
 
Taking a quick break from her Name Panels, Linda L  put the finishing touches on a pair of Cardinal Suncatchers that she needed to get done quickly.  The good news is that she accomplished the 'quickly' part without sacrificing any of her standard quality in these two lovely birds.
 
 
Beveled Snowflakes are becoming the rage here in class and Betty's latest rendition shows that all points do NOT have to meet in the center.  Her smaller diamond bevels are anchored firmly and the fact that they do not touch the center jewel gives the finished piece an airy and delicate feeling that belies the actual strength of her finished piece.  It's all an illusion.
 
 
 
Patrice is showing all of her colors with her latest interpretation of the Modern Cross design.  She's changed the pattern here and there and then sprinkled a little U, S and some A on the top of it for good measure! 


Unless I'm mistaken, Linda F now has all of the glass cut for her Carousel Horse.   By utilizing two different clear textured glasses and cathedral colors for the background she's made the horse itself stand out vibrantly from the busy background to become the true focal point.   This is already a stunning window before it has even been completed!

  

 

Sheri's latest window implores an inner calmness.  For those unfamiliar, this is a Shuni Mudra hand pose.  This position is supposed to enhance discipline, patience, and self-control. This is also known as the 'Seal of Patience' and Sheri seems to be very much at peace while making this!

  

Multi-colored cats are a great way to use up scrap glass and Lisa is is making her Peeking Cat with the boldest of colors.  When this is finished it may also go into another wooden corner frame as she did with her Peeking Rooster but I'm not entirely sure.  What I do know is that she's flying through the creation process of this so we'll learn exactly where this will end up soon enough.

  

 

Barbara was going to use a clear textured glass for her LSU Window but in the end she went with yellow instead.  The purple letters stand out far nicer against the yellow background and make the window all the more striking (as well as visible).  The big question is, what will her border be?

  

 

Judy's Cowboys Window is already all cut out and ready to be ground.  This appears to be a father and son cowboy and she's decided to give them matching outfits with perhaps a few minor variations.  What can I say other than it already looks great!

  

 

That jumble of pieces that you saw on the right hand side of Annette's New Orleans Window last week has almost been completely ground and boy has this window taken shape.  Nettie's work on this has been wonderful and I have to admire her for not giving up even when the going was tough a few weeks back.   I have to give her credit because her glass abilities have grown so much while she's been making this!

  

 

With the background for her Religious 3D Window all wrapped and soldered, Ann is ready to get to work foiling the pieces that will make up the Borromean Rings part of the window.  Wrapping those pieces will be a bit trickier than usual because each piece needs to be completely enveloped in copper foil.   For that she will be using a sheet of copper foil that measures 12 x 12 out of which she'll cut pieces that align to those that she's already cut and ground in glass.   We will go over that process next week when Ann returns.

 
 
Bee has almost literally been flying through the creation process of a window that will be inserted into the front door of her new house.  This week she managed to cut and grind a good portion of  the background glass.  She'll be using restrip in this for both strength and stability and she will be applying that restrip to upon her return BEFORE she tacks the center together.

 
 
Betty noticed that this Sunflower pattern didn't have a stem.  Most likely the artist of the design expected one of the lead lines to double as a stem (I've seen this done many times in Sunflower Windows) but a lead line never looks as though it could support such a heavy flower.  To rectify this situation Betty has widened the lead line and put some green glass along it to  give it some more 'body'.  She's also added a lime green border this week and even has the front side of this soldered already.

 
 
Meanwhile Lorrie is hard at work on her own Sunflower which utilizes various shades of green and yellows throughout to give it a denser effect.  I have to say that this has always been one of my favorite patterns and Lorrie is certainly doing it proud!
 
  
 
 
With all of the glass having been cut out for her Sewing Machine Window, Melissa has moved on over to the grinding process.  She was a little unsure on how to get the cut on the top of the heart to look natural but she handled it very easily by grinding away the glass using the small grinder bit and then placing the glass at a 90 degree angle to even further deepen the 'notch'.  We call that thinking outside the box.
 
  
 
 
Steve's Southern Belle has her background almost completely cut out which means that he'll be working on her face before you know it.  Steve has some mad painting skills so I have no doubt that this woman is going to look just as good as the rest of this window. 
 
  
 
 
With her black border now firmly attached to her LSU Tiger Window, MiMi has begun soldering.   In one night she's already managed to get through about three quarters of the front side and that is no mean feat indeed. The reason this window is coming together so perfectly is because MiMi strives so very hard for perfection, and then achieves it.
 
  
 
Speaking of perfection-- can you believe all the work that Martha accomplished on her Birdhouse and Roses Window this week?  Everything has been cut and ground save for the flowers but rest assured that she will begin cutting those intricate petals upon her return. 

 
Cheryl's Teapot Window is almost ground now but she's pretty sure she wants to remove the base of the teapot and replace it with the same glass that she used for the background.  I think I may understand what she doesn't find appealing about it and maybe I can come up with a 'best of both worlds' fix for her.  We'll see what happens when we return and show you what she's decided in our next post.

  
 
 
With the front side soldered and the back side 85% of the way finished I'm going to go out on a VERY short limb and say that Let will complete this Flower Window when she returns on Tuesday.   It would have been finished this week had she not been so unfortunate as to become ill last week.  Still, she's come a long way on this window VERY quickly and feels MUCH better.
 
  
 
 
Darth Vader is coming together even after he fell apart while being driven home last week.   Sometimes things get disheveled when you have to hit your brakes hard but the good news is that everyone was safe-- even Vader.  June is working through this at a nice steady pace and before you know it she'll move onto a new window with a little more color in it (hopefully).
 
  
 
 
Patrice also worked on her Umbrella Lady and has all of the front side soldered.  She's flipped it over and has already begun soldering the back side of this lovely window.  The end is near after which Patrice will work on designing a decorative top to her round Bathtub Lady.
 
 
 
We just keep adding more and more sparkle to these Beveled Snowflakes.  Susan D is now incorporating Glass Chandelier Crystals to the outer edges of her latest piece.  I love the look of this and have to say that all of that 'bling' that surrounds the outer perimeter will not only dress it all up but will help make this snowflake rock solid!
 
  

 
And to end things here we're going to see that Cindy is about to complete her Cardinal Panel after which she will then move along to a Dove Cross (pictured to the left of the Cardinal).  There's only a bit of soldering left to go so I'm sure it will be completed upon her return and then we'll get to see some progress done on the Cross.
 
  
 
Th-th-th-that's all folks!
 
Paul