Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Dirty Lying Santa

Well, it's been a VERY busy week with a Weekend Workshop happening between classes.  Because of that we're running a bit late her so we're going to get right into the projects that everyone is working on.

Cindy's Tiger Eye De Lis Window is a perfect example of the fine work that Cindy is capable of.  My soldering iron never touched this window save to put hooks on it for her.  Everything lines up perfectly, the colors are vibrant, and symmetrically speaking the Fleur De Lis is flawless.  Perfection all around.



Ann completed her large Geometric Suncatcher which is a variation of the Horseshoe Cross without the bottom horseshoe portion.  Ann's work is faster and more exact than it's ever been and this is a perfect example of all of her experience at work.  The iridised glass she used around the outside edges looks great too.




Bonnie finished her three Lily Nightlights by simply adding three stamen to each flower.  That was done by putting a solder glob on the end of three short thin wires and then tacking them into place.  She then attached them to the nightlight clips and washed them.  Here they are all lit up and looking SPECTACULAR! 




Gale and her Grand Daughter finished the large Butterfly Suncatcher that they had started last week.  Gale brought it back in because she found that it wasn't nearly as sturdy as she had hoped.  This was due to the straight horizontal and vertical lines running through the middle of the butterfly body.  As a Lawn Ornament it would have been held sturdy by the zinc channel we mount it on but as a suncatcher we needed to bury two wires into the solder on the back side.  The end result was a solid butterfly that will never fall apart.  We'll discuss the problems with straight lines in stained glass in out beginning tip section next week.



Rowena finished her round Fleur De Lis Window at home and brought it in with only the edge needed to be beaded.  I looked it over and was amazed at how wonderfully Rowena did in getting a pattern made that was perfectly round.  We discussed how to use a small compass to get a finished pattern a little more quickly in the future but Rowena did a great job by measuring 3/4's of an inch all around her window.  Once that was done she just connected all the dots to make her circle even all around.  Brilliant.



Becky S made this beautiful 3D Rose this week and did it entirely on her own.  She worries about the angle of the petals far too much because this is nothing short of perfection.  No two 3D Roses will ever come out the same so variations are to be expected.  That said, I'd easily use this as an example of how to properly build a 3D Rose!


  


Terry managed to completed her latest Tiger Face Fleur De Lis suncatcher and went with a completely different color scheme on this one.  I think that the brown opalescent glass gives this tiger a more ferocious look.




Bonnie not only completed her nightlights but she got some serious work done on the start of her newest project, a Blooming Rosebud Window.  Production really moves along when you're the only person in class!  That said, we hope Betty had a great time while she was in England.



Cindy is putting together a 3D butterfly of her own this week and it's what we like to call a spinner.  this will have 4 sides and hang from the center like an ornament.  If that sounds confusing just come back next week when I'm sure you'll be able to see this completed.


 
Linda L made some excellent progress on her 3 Santa's.  One even has the background and border all cut and ground.  She's taken these home to resume working on them there and I wouldn't be surprised to see three Santa's ready for solder when she comes back in.  This is some great work on Linda's part.



Martha decided to grind her seafood window this week which really surprised me because I discovered that one of her crabs wasn't ground last week.  Her cutting was so perfect that I would have sworn she had it ground.  This week I know for a fact that every piece of glass has touched the grinding wheel so she'll be cutting again when she returns in two weeks.  Enjoy Florida, Martha (and don't let Becky B. get you into too much trouble!)



Mary Grace resumed work on her Large Christmas Tree and it's just about ready for hanging.  With only the edge left to be soldered Mary Grace will easily have this finished when she returns.  She says she hopes to have a second one cut by next week so although her work on this one is about to end, her work on Christmas Trees is just beginning.




Janet made a minor repair to her 3D Rose from last week and got two more assembled during class.  Then she went ahead and got a butterfly completed as well.  She didn't get a chance to clean them during class so this picture is the best I can do.  Talk about a busy night for Janet!


And since we're running late getting this out I was able to lift this picture of Janet's completed Roses and Butterfly from Facebook.  Sometimes being late actually works out to my benefit!


Myrt is all ready to solder her Cross De Lis because this week she managed to cut, grind and wrap her final pieces of glass.  Everything is fitting together perfectly, everything is square, and life is great because Myrt's soldering is excellent.

 

Sue worked on this large Candy Cane suncatcher and got it all cut out and ground while she was in class this week.  She's got a lot of it wrapped already s I'm expecting this to be completed when she comes back in.



Paula has her Hurricanes Logo Window all ready for solder.  Just look at those letters that she assembled while she was at home.  Amazing!  I'm guessing that it was a labor of love.  She's got her double border cut and once those pieces are attached she'll begin soldering this.



Shelley has flipped her window over so the back side is now on top and already has most of the second side of this window soldered.  Look to see this window completed in two more weeks.  It's a big one and although she might get it soldered next week the cleaning and coloring will certainly take a lot of time.

 

Terry also worked on this beveled cross window that she drew up.  She's cutting glass now and there aren't that many pieces, so I'm expecting this go quickly for her.



Susan got her border ground and wrapped and tacked into place this week which allowed us to get a zinc channel cut for it.  Once the channel was added this long thin window gained a lot more stability.  There's still one last piece of glass left to cut and that's just the eye of the tiger.  But just when you think this is over with it isn't because Susan will be making two more of these in the future each having small 'adjustments' to the pattern or color scheme.
 

 
Vickie  really made great progress this week with her 10 yellow Butterflies.  She's ready to add antennae to these beasts and then these will be ready to be washed and colored.  In other words, consider these to be finished!



Brenda got the final border cut for her own version of a Fleur De Lis Tiger Window and just look at all that precision cutting.  I can't wait to see this one lit up from behind because the contrasting colors already look great. She was very worried that the border doesn't match the rest of the purple perfectly but I honestly wouldn't want a perfect match especially with the purple corner accents touching the final purple border.  When this is lit up she'll understand why this turned out to be a good thing.

  


Carol has a second panel of her 6 paned door window finished but she took it home to color and wax.  It's almost identical to the last window save for the fact that the  border is on the opposite side.  Here's a look at what the entire completed door will look like.



Sue managed to sneak her latest Pumpkin Lawn Ornament out to the car before I got to take a picture of it.  It was a busy class but this picture from last week should refresh your memory of what it looked like.  The one she completed this week was a little larger than the one pictured below but scale is hard to judge in a picture anyway.


Rowena is also re-visiting an old friend this week-- she's pulled out her 6 paned flowing leaves pattern and is making another set for another frame.  The design will be the same but the color scheme will be a little different this time around.  I didn't get a picture this week but we'll fix that  next week for sure! 

Okay, we'll return this weekend with an update about what happened during our weekend workshop which features no repeated design.  That's right, four students with four different windows all completed in just two short days.  Wait until you see the results!

Paul

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Buggers and Choosers

Measurements.  In reading a ruler we  have 16th's of an inch, 8th's of an inch, 4th's (or quarters) of an inch.  Do you see a pattern in these numbers?  Each is half of the previous number.  The part that confuses most people is that a lot of measurements have more than one way to write them.  A 1/2 inch is the same as 2/4's of an inch which is the same as 8/16th's of an inch.  By the same token 1/4 of an inch is the same as 2/8ths of an inch or 4/16th's of an inch.  There's a simple pattern here and it all revolves around dividing by two.  If we count 16th's of an inch and come to 12/16ths we simply divide both the 12 and the 16 by two to arrive at another name for the measurements.  12/16th's is the same as 6/8th's.  Since both 6 and 8 are even numbers we can divide them in half yet again to get the final and most common name for that measurement:  3/4's of an inch.

What about 16/16th's of an inch?  Let's do the math.  Halving the 16's gives us 8/8th's of an inch (remember that BOTH numbers in the measurement must be divisible by two or we have to stop) .  Halving the 8's brings us to 4/4th's of an inch.  Halving the 4's gives us 2/2's of an inch which  becomes 1/1,  or 1 inch.

Measuring is easy.  Can you come up with names for the measurements at the blue and red arrows?  The answer is at the end of this update.



Lawn Ornaments are the thing to be making this week as you will soon see.  Becky S managed to complete not one but two 3D Rose Lawn Ornaments.  I showed both she and Janet how the red one was put together and then watched as Becky put the yellow rose together on her own.  Talk about a great job!  I can't tell the difference between the two.



Mary Grace's Holly Decoration Lawn Ornament is finished and she did a great job through and through with this.  From her cutting, to her grinding, to her soldering, I have to say that she's moving along wonderfully.



Sue  put the finishing touches on her Tuxedo Cat and started and completed a pumpkin a well.  Then she added stakes and turned them both into lawn ornaments.  The wire work whiskers were fun and easy to do and now Sue knows the basics of working with copper wire.



Carol completed her first of six door panels which should keep her fairly busy for a while.  This panel's border may look a little off but that's only because the border runs once around the set of 6 inserts. It may not make sense now but it will as you see each panel completed.  Rest assured that this window is perfect (save for the wall behind it with crap hanging all over it).



 Yes, you heard me correctly when I mentioned Janet's name earlier.  She's back! After watching me put together a Rose she put this one together on her own.  If these 3D Roses teach us one thing it's how to bead your edges!  And Janet had no problem doing that at all.



This is Betty's first 3D Butterfly Lawn Ornament.  Initially she had joined the wings together flat but we were able to coax the wings to form a semi-V with a lot of heat from our soldering iron.  There's really nothing to the butterfly, we just treat it as two separate projects and then join them down the center AFTER they've been completely soldered.



Jeanette finished another Sunflower Lawn Ornament of her own.  I think it's safe to say that she has these sunflowers under complete control now.

 
 
Linda L is moving right along with her three Santa Claus Windows.  She's got one tacked together, one wrapped awaiting to be tacked, and the third one ground and only in need of some foil before it can also be tacked together.  Look for backgrounds and frameworks to begin getting attached to these three.



Becky B set to work on her version of the Horseshoe Cross and she made some excellent progress indeed.  She even did something that always wins my respect-- re-cut a piece even though it fit perfectly.   And why would she do that?  Because she didn't care for the way the grain looked in that particular piece.  That's called attention to detail.



Charlie boxed one of his Bird of Paradise windows and started grinding the other for a perfect fit.  I've always found that the bigger the pieces the quicker the project, and Charlie might think so as well considering that in just one night he's managed to get a good two thirds of this window ground already.



Brenda re-did her pattern while she was in this week and by 're-did' I mean she's increased the width and height of her window to allow for an inner yellow border.  Her background and the first border is all cut and ground leaving only the final purple border left to go.

 

Cindy continued to work on her Tiger Eye Fleur De Lis Window and has everything cut, ground and attached.  It looks like this will just need a soldering, some brass channel, and hooks which I'm sure will be handled when Cindy returns to class.



Gale came in and brought along her grand daughter who helped design, trace out, cut out, AND grind this Butterfly Lawn Ornament.  They did that all in one night mind you!
 


Bonnie continued working on her flower nightlights and has all three ground and 2 of them tacked together.  She's taken them home with her so these may be finished next week.

 


Mary Grace did an amazing job of cutting out this large Christmas Tree suncatcher.  She took her time cutting out her glass and the end result was that she was able to get it completely ground as well.  This is excellent  work.



And Betty  continued with her LSU / Tiger Claw Window and everything is fitting together beautifully.  I think she has the pistol grip mastered because look at all of those glorious, perfectly cut straight lines!



Jeannette worked on a small butterfly lawn ornament and it's just about ready to be wrapped and tacked together.  She flew though this project because, like the sunflowers, she has these butterflies under control!



Linda F found this wonderful owl while she was on the internet and decided she had to make one for herself.  The beauty of this large suncatcher is that it's made from mostly scrap glass and although Linda wants the colors to match what she saw in the original picture she's still able to use some scrap as she moves through this project. And if you look on the right of her owl you'll see that she is ready to grind a Butterfly Lawn Ornament of her own.  That's quick!



Martha resumed work on her Seafood window by grinding what she has cut out.  She's got all of the crabs fitting together perfectly.  I have no idea if she plans on grinding the pieces to her corn or if she will be cutting more glass when she come back in.

  


Vickie resumed work on her series of 10 Butterfly Suncatchers.  They're all cut out and most of her pieces are ground as well..  Here's a quick look at four of them ready for foiling which Vickie hopes to do while she's at home this week.
 


Jeanne Got her window tacked together and then added her purple border to it.  We cut four lengths of zinc channel for it and Jeanne attached some of it herself.  By the end of the night her window was nice and sturdy due to the channel, and that's a good thing.



Rowena is making her latest Fleur De Lis Window round and if you look VERY, VERY closely you an see that she has the circle background cut and ground already.  This will be ready for a border before you know it.



Myrt got the background cut for her Cross De Lis project and then proceeded to grind it, wrap it and tack it together.  This window is one border away from being all cut out!



While Carol was waiting on an approval for the border glass of her other project she decided to waste no time and wrap the bevels for a window that she'll be working on for herself.

  


Shelley continued soldering her Aquatic Window and even added they eyes to each of the fish.  With the front side all soldered she'll be flipping this window around so she can start soldering the back side next week.  And although Shelly said she was disappointed with her soldering on the front side , well, I beg to differ--  I think it's great. 



And Janet is hard at work putting a bead around the petals of her next 3D Rose.  Before she left for home she had everything completed and ready to be tacked together.  She's going to give it her best shot during the week and I'm sure that she'll do just fine.



And somehow Ann seems to have managed to get past me somehow.  She even asked if I took a picture before she left with her project and I told her that I had.  After sorting through all my pictures I can safely say that I was wrong yet again.  Well, we'll get a good look at her window next week when it might very well be completed.


And in wrapping things up, by counting the lines we find that the blue arrow is at the 6/16th's mark. We can divide both those numbers by two to come up with 3/8th's of an inch.  Either 6/16th's or 3/8th's is correct although referring to it as 3/8th's is the more accepted manner to do so.

Which brings us to the red arrow which is pointing right at the 14/16th's of an inch mark.  Dividing both numbers by two we get it's more commonly name, the 7/8th's of an inch mark.  But again, either manner of speaking is correct.  Hopefully we all understand rulers a little better now.
Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks