More Water Less Time

We're going to start things off talking about grinders this week.  A lot of students have grinders at home and will work on projects on their own between classes.  One thing I can't stress enough about grinding is to keep your grinder wheel lubricated with water.  I've used spongeless grinders and they always give you the option of using a sponge with it if you'd like.  And that's something I always recommend.  If you can't see water spinning up onto the grinding wheel you'll not only wear your wheel down quicker but you'll be grinding slower as well.  And don't forget to clean out that sponge every so often as well or it will fill with ground glass and not transfer water very well at all.  I rinse out my grinder sponges every 2 days or so and the difference when you first do it is amazing.

With that out of the way let's see what out students have been doing during this 4th of July Holiday week.  Although it took her a little longer than she expected, Cindy's Red Fish turned out nothing short of marvelous!  And the only reason it took extra time was because she ended up changing the glass she used for her water.  Other than that little unforeseen event this was pretty much smooth sailing for Cindy.  You've got to love the colors she picked for this-- it really makes the fish SPLASH!

This week also saw Cindy wrap up work on her Crab/Corn key holder.  What you're looking at below are the front and back of this double sided 'bowl'.   They keys drop in between the corn and the crab where they'll always be found provided they went in the holder rather than on some random flat surface where my keys usually go.  ;-)  This got a lot of compliments in class and is yet another wonderful project by Cindy.

 

Brenda isn't just another pretty face in class because she also managed to knocked out yet another Blue Cross window this week (I'm starting to think that she can do these with her eyes closed at this point.)  When you find something that looks this good and you're also good at doing it I say make a lot of them so you always have a gift on hand.  And this Cross Window certainly makes a perfect gift-- just ask Brenda!

 

Tim put the finishing touches on his Christmas Ornament and it's just as nice as any of the other larger pieces that he's done in the past.  Attention to detail is imperative when you make a small 5 inch piece like this and Tim pulled it off without even breaking a sweat. The biggest mistake you see made on projects like this is when the circle ends up turning into an egg, but that's not the case here at all  As you can see, this is a very well rounded piece.

 

Next up we have a Butterfly and that can only mean one thing: A NEW STUDENT!  Yep, Becky showed up for her first evening class with us and managed to complete her butterfly handily.  The thing that impressed me most was how she was always one step ahead of me with her questions which showed me that she was always anticipating her next move.  Just look at the nice symmetry on her butterfly-- it's the sign of someone who cares about their work.

 

Brenda not only completed a cross window-- she also continued working on this Ballerina Window that she started at home.  I'm pretty sure that she has this all cut out now.   Once all these pieces are ground and tacked together she'll move onto it's final border and then have to start thinking about what she's going to be making next.  Perhaps a cross in two spotlights???

 

Martha is going to be MIA for a few weeks but she certainly made excellent progress on her stained glass Cross Windows this week.  She has three of the 5 Crosses cut and ground and once they're tacked together the backgrounds on these windows fits will fit together nice and easy. 

 

Look out-- Myrt's Hot Air Balloon Window is 100% cut, ground, wrapped and even tacked together.  That means that there's only the soldering left to go before we get to see this hanging up with some light behind it.  She agonized over the border and Myrt may very well have tried just about every sheet of glass we had in the shop, but in the end this light brown was the favorite choice with everyone in the class.  And I agree that it works wonderfully.

 

Susan also made a lot of progress this week when it came to grinding her first lamp.  Her panel lamp will consist of 4 identical sides and this is the first side all ground and ready to be wrapped.  Everything is lining up perfectly here and I have to say again that I love how she turned a standard stained glass window into the design for her (first?) lamp.

 

And last, but not least, we take a look at the lamp that Terry is making with us.  She has a system that she's devised to make sure that all her pieces line up and fit perfectly which involves photocopying all of her pattern pieces on 4 separate pages.  This gave Terry a 'pattern' she can grind on top of much like every other stained glass project that she's  ever worked on.  She just grinds her pieces and places them on the photocopy so she can instantly see how things are fitting together.  Terry is taking her time yet moving quickly and she has the lion's share of her cutting finished already.

 

Next week we'll have a full week of classes so we'll get to see our Thursday night Houma gang.  It will certainly make for a much fuller Blog especially since we'll have yet another new student joining us! Until then remember to keep your grinders wet and your cutters sharp!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks