The Arc of a Circle

Smooth, flowing lead lines are what set apart great stained glass pieces from good stained glass.  Anyone looking at just your lead lines can easily see how fluid your curves are, how exact your cutting was and how talented you are when it comes to using a soldering iron.  Just because a piece fits into place doesn't mean that it's correct.  A square peg can fit in a round hole if it's small enough, but that doesn't make it round.  But if you grind off the four corners of that square you begin to see a circle and that's what it's all about.  Stained glass is a forgiving art form.  I use the 1/4 inch rule myself:  If the piece I've cut breaks and it's under a quarter of an inch I'll most likely use it and adjust the surrounding pieces to it but anything beyond that needs to be re-cut.

Okay, now this is some well cut glass!  Terry's latest Fleur De Lis Window was just a jumble of un-ground glass last week and this week it's finished!  In fact, it was finished when it walked back in the door.  All she had left to do was add some hooks and wash it up.  Terry got the idea for this window from a piece of jewelry which proves that you can find design ideas in just about anything.

Terry also came in with this Beveled Cross window as well.   Again, all this needed were 2 hooks to hang it by and then a bath to complete it.  This one varies a little bit from the one she made last week in that she has all of the bevels running in the same direction this time around. I personally can't pick a favorite between the two versions.

And Wow, did Ann make this Fleur De Lis window quickly or what?  This week she soldered it, washed it and then took it home.  I can't find any fault with this at all--it's perfectly balanced and beautifully cut.  I guess that making a window with all those little pieces has really paid off because Ann had no problem at all with this project.

Betty made our third and final Fleur De Lis Window this week and she also made it look easy.  This has always been a tricky pattern since just one crooked line can throw off the entire background.  But everything lines up perfectly and the end result is a window that really has an antique and rich quality to it.  And I must say that Betty's soldering has really progressed wonderfully as well!

 

Jane completed the panels she made for her 3 pane window and they all turned out stunning.  She's in the process of having the frame redone and then she'll putty these into place and always think of us whenever she looks at these windows.  Both Jane and her sister Donna have hectic summer's ahead of them so we're sadly going to lose them as students.  But they've learned a lot over the past few months with us and have promised to keep on making glass.  We're certainly going to miss them.  :-(

This stained glass, stand-alone Angel is another project under Mary's belt and it's a nice one at that.  I've been making variations of this for at least 25 years and it's always been my favorite Angel design.  The design and even the size of it is just 'right'. Mary's colors are perfect, everything lines up and this is a project that she can certainly be proud of.

You're not seeing double and no, you aren't seeing another Terry window.  This one was made by Brenda and you can certainly see the family resemblance. I really love this Cross Window but  I will admit that I'm biased due to the color scheme. Royal blue set into a clear, textured glass is my idea of perfection and Brenda has executed this flawlessly.

  

Brenda really loves her Cross windows because she's already got another one in the works (possibly her fourth-- I've lost track).  The cross itself is tacked together and her background is cut and ground which means that all this needs is a border.  Expect this one to be finished real soon now!

 

Betty found this pattern online and decided that she needed to have it completed and hanging in her house.  It's a stylized Humming Bird and Iris window that has a unique, almost Art Nouveau  flow to it.  The colors Betty has picked are a nice mix which suit this design perfectly.  I'm sure we'll see some of those colors when we see this window again in two weeks.

 

Cindy would have had more of her Red Fish Window completed but her husband didn't quite agree with the glass that she had picked out for the water which forced her to stop working on it at home.  Or at least until she came back into class to pick out something else.  She has all of her water splashes cut out and again I must say that she has really raised the bar when it comes to attention to detail.

 And since Cindy wasn't able to work on her Red Fish Window  she decided to make this double sided Key Tray/Holder.  It's got a Crab on the front and two ears of corn on the back side which make this about as Cajun as you can get.  Everything has been cut and just the sides need to be tacked onto the base so we'll see what this looks like completed in our next post for sure!

 

Our newest student, Helen, isn't wasting any time working on her first window.  She's got a good portion of her Iris Window cut, ground and even wrapped already.  To say that she's moving right along would be an understatement!  I think Helen is going to be very pleased with this when it's completed because I'm pleased with it already.

And Linda's Vegetable Window is so closed to being finished that it isn't even funny.  I'm seeing just 11 pieces of background left to cut before she can add a border and then start soldering it!  I know that she loves everything about it because as you are reading this Linda is redoing her kitchen with colors to match this window!  Linda currently has a nice deep green picked for her border and I think it's just what this needs to really set it off.

Martha has certainly come a long way, that's for sure.  What you are looking at here are 4(!) crosses all cut out with a fifth one ready to go.  Once these are tacked together she'll begin cutting her backgrounds out and then we'll see a steady stream of Cross windows.  Martha's picked up speed and makes the grade every time!

 

Shelley's Dog Window is almost completely ground now with only a few pieces of ground left to go.  In fact, this is so far along that she's taken it home so she can start wrapping her pieces and possibly get to soldering it right away.  I can't wait to see this one finished-- it's already got other students talking!

What's this?  Well, Terry has decided that she wanted to work on a project that would slow her down a bit so she's begun working on a lamp of her own.  This is the start of a 16" Clematis lamp and what you are looking at is most of the pieces traced onto the glass she picked.  For some reason I don't believe that this will slow Terry down at all even though it's a new experience for her.  :-)

 

This week Tim decided that he was going to make a 5 inch Christmas Ornament. I'm stressing the 5 inch part because these pieces are downright tiny.  There are 27 pieces in that 5 inch circle! But they're all cut and ground so when he brings this back in we'll certainly see it soldered and ready to hang (when the tree goes up).

And in rounding things out this week we're going to look at Mary's latest window.  It's a sunflower and birds design that Mary has decided to alter by removing the 2 birds from the finished piece.  So I guess that makes this a Sunflower Window.  I'm loving the colors and look how nicely things are fitting together already.

With the 4th of July coming up we'll have a smaller set of classes to review in our next post.  But I'm still expecting to see a lot of striking pieces and will certainly pass them on to you when we return.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks