Sunday, June 2, 2019

What is Jungle Love?


The biggest flaw I see, time after time, involves the speed at which students work.  Students plow through the current chore at hand thinking only of getting to the next phase of the stained glass making process.  For example, cutting glass takes time and precision, not haste and inaccuracy.  Most of the stained glass making processes involves following a line and to follow that you line you NEED to slow down.   I move at a steady snails pace when cutting glass and people always tell me how fast I cut without ever realizing that they move at 4 times my speed without regard for the line.  Moving slow and steady creates stunning stained glass windows.  Slow down, take your time, don't rush.  USE PINS!   It pays off in the end every single time.


So first up we take a look at Jeanne M's inspirational Virgin Mary Window.   She said she wanted it to look like something you would find in a church and that led to the fancy three layer border that adorns this wonderful piece.   Jeanne took her time, followed through from start to finish with determination and accuracy, and ended up with a window that anyone would be proud of making.



Kerry managed to complete his first of two Arrow Windows and I have no doubt that the second one will be done shortly.   Although the tail will be different the arrow is essentially the same and we all know that the second time goes quicker whenever you make a stained glass window.

  


Susan R's Garden Gnome Lawn Ornament could be the start of something.   People are always asking me what other Lawn Ornament they can make and Susan's rendition of this cute guy really sells the pattern!  there are a lot of tiny pieces in this but the end result but Susan persevered and brought this little guy to life.

  


This is Rowena's first LSU Window that includes the Tiger Paws.   She started it just last week and here it is already finished.   People complain about working with the borders of this design but Rowena showed us what you can accomplish if you set your mind to it.  I do have to apologize for the bad picture-- I forgot to block the sunlight from the door so reflections are everywhere on this and the back lighting is terrible.  My bad.

 



Tashia's Buxom Wine Ladies Window is about as sweet as you can get and she did a great job on it.  This was a great learning experience for her because she really got the hang of grinding to perfection while making this piece. She's already got two other windows in the works so she won't be slowing down any time soon.



This is the latest Large Beveled Flower Window that Betty made.  She actually made a second one but I didn't get a picture of that one.  The Leaves of the flower actually rest on top of the beles lending a 3D effect to this pattern




And this is Betty's Mary and Child Suncatcher.  She's really got the hang of this pattern now and knows that the truly hard pieces to cut in this are Mary's hand and the blanket.  Once those fit the rest is a piece of cake!



Now here's a window you probably won't see anywhere else.  Becky B says it makes her smile and I have to agree that it's different.  This three eyed fish actually originates from the TV show The Simpsons but Becky is coloring it her own way and making it her own.  They eyes look a little incomplete only because she'll be using glass globs for eyes and she needs to cut her glass to fit the globs rather than a pattern.




Belinda got her Christ and Holy Spirit Window almost completed this week.  She first tacked it together, added the green border, and then the final brass channel to finish it off.   The hooks are on it and the only thing left to do is to solder it.  Inspirational!



With his sunflowers and lady bug all ground and fitting together Jeff is now free to wrap and then tack these pieces unless he wants to cut out some of his background pieces first.  Most times I frown upon that process but there are times when it's perfectly acceptable to do-- and this is one of those times.  Since he's making this window in thirds and the main focus of this section has been completed, the next move is up to Jeff!

  


Melissa wanted to make something that could take her through the month of June but she's got the lion's share of this Heron Window cut out in just one week!   I love her pattern and the colors and I have no doubt that her work will follow suit. I have a funny feeling that this will be completed when I see it again.



Linda L started a new window this week and at first glance you might be asking yourself why she would be making a white shamrock.   If you look closely you can see that she also has the word 'CELTICS' cut out in white as well.   That sort of gives away the fact that this is a sports logo, thus the white shamrock.  Where's the green?  Well, the green will be the background which is a standard logo design trait.

  


Shawn finished cutting out all of the glass for her Stylized Fleur De Lis Window which means that she's quickly becoming a lean mean cutting machine!  When she returns she'll be spending her time at the grinder making things fit.

  


Check out Tracey's Cardinal Window!   With everything ground save for the tree I'd say that she's got this window well under control.   As I said in our last post, her flowers are beautiful and now that you can actually see them I have no doubt that you agree with me.

  


These are Martha's Tulips but this is what Cindy worked on this week.  Since Cindy is between projects she decided to help Martha by wrapping this window for her.   And it looks to me as though she's wrapped it all!



Here's a much better picture of the window that Susan D is making.  Although she doesn't want the face revealed you can now see how much time and effort she has just in the body of this man alone.  And let me tell you that the face is practically a masterpiece featuring tiny pieces that make me want to cringe.

  


Becky is making quick work of her Egret Window and has moved onto the grinding of the feathers.  She's taped each row together into strips  so they don't get mixed up during the transportation of this large window.  You can easily see two of these  strips running across the sky and the lower leaves of the tree. As she grinds each piece she places them into position on the pattern itself.




Jan's Jesse Tree Window got its missing pieces filled in and then got its border attached as well.   Jan is ready to begin soldering this when she returns to class and that means that she'll be able to take her time and relax a bit now that the hard work has been completed.

  


Lara's Peacock tail feathers are really coming together now that the inside feathers are beginning to fill in.  I know that the colors are hard to see but she's using two shades of purple for the remaining feathers.  This pattern always gets a great response through all of our classes and Lara's rendition of it already has people talking.

 

Linda F's Children in Rain Coats Window has been ground and now each of her pieces are being wrapped in foil.   There's one piece that she'll re-cut after she tacks this together but the majority of the hard work is behind her now and the soldering will be relaxing work.

  


Annette had a very busy night as she tacked together her Pair of Cardinals Window and then filled in the pieces that got broken during the cutting process.   Now that everything has been completed she'll be ready to pick out a border color and then get ready to begin soldering. 

 

Mary Grace finished cutting her few remaining glass pieces and then determined that a double border was the way to go with this Flower Window.  When she said she wanted something in a maroon or burgundy color I knew immediately what to pick for her thin accent color.   She loves it, I love it, and I'll bet you do too.



After getting all four of her backgrounds ground, wrapped, and tacked together Martha was able to get borders cut for each of her four Cross Panels.   She's on the home stretch now that all the glass has been cut. Soldering is just a class away.




You could say that Mary's Cross Window is a much more elaborate version of one of Martha's panels.  The other similarity they share is that Mary got her border cut this week as well.   With everything tacked together and her brass channel added, Mary is all set to solder.  She's taken it home with her and hopes to get some work done on it there.



MiMi's second Ship in a Bottle Suncatcher is just about completed as well.   She was able to finish grinding her pieces and then got it tacked together as well.  Yet another job well done!





Carol spent her class time making geometric nightlights of a patriotic fashion!   These may look simple but geometric designs are notorious for being difficult to make because once you fall off of the pattern just the tiniest bit the symmetry is gone and the piece looks cockeyed.  These, however, are flawless.


And that wraps things up.  We're going to be taking a bit of a break because we are having no classes in the month of June due to vacation time and such.  Our students are a capable lot and I expect to see great strides when they come back in July! 

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Saturday, June 1, 2019

This Piece Is Going Rogue


Late, late, late.   It all started with a computer in need of a new hard drive and then moved along to a bout of food poisoning.  I'm just glad this week is over.  Let's get into things here.

Melissa's La Pieta Window was a challenge right from the start since the actual image is very square and the size she had to work it into ran short and long.  As you can see, though, we managed!  Everything about this turned out beautifully and Melissa did a great job all around on it. Inspirational indeed.

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Linda L's Latest Mickey Mouse Window features some beautiful wire work in the hands and along the mouth but I think the 3D pumpkin is the thing that really sets off this whimsical cartoon piece. I think Linda now has a Mickey for all occasions now!


This is the first time someone requested a Nicholls Colonels Logo so we started from scratch on this, but in the end Cindy came through and created this beautiful large suncatcher.

  


MiMi made this wonderful Ship in A Bottle and didn't follow the instructions at all, opting to do things the correct way!  Rather than overlaying a ship on top of a bottle this is all cut out from glass and soldered as one piece the way stained glass should be.  Yes, there's an extremely difficuly cut in it but MiMi knocked it out with ease!

  


Betty completed her second Cabinet Door insert and if you think it looks like the last one she made, well you'd be correct.   The only difference between this one and the last one is the fact that the handle on the door frame is on the left rather than the right.  Other than that the windows are identical.
 


Angie's latest (and last) street number window was completed this week which means that she has a two week turn around on these large windows.   She starts it one week and then finishes it the next!  That's not only quick work but NICE work as well!




Barbara H has the first of her MANY Butterfly Lawn Ornaments completed and I love how she added more color to this than we normally see.  Getting students to NOT follow someone else's lead is the toughest thing to teach.



Belinda changed direction on us this week and came in with a beautiful Cross and Flame window which, of course,  represents Christ and the Holy Spirit.   She's drawn this up herself and got it all cut out at home before she even came into class.  You can color me impressed!



Shawn is making a variation of the Stylized Fleur De Lis pattern that everyone loves to much.   Since she wanted it to fit in a square window I widened out the FDL so it filled the space better.   I have to say that I may like this look even better than the original design.   Shawn wasted no time and by the end of her first night of work on this she had a good portion of it cut out.

  

 
Now that the glass for her tree has been cut Tracey's latest Cardinal Window is all set for grinding.   I have to say that the glass that she picked for her flowers is amazing.   It's not easy to see at this point in time but wait until you see it tomorror when I post the latest picture this!

  


Speaking of Cardinals, Annette's Pair of Cardinals has now been completely ground and she's begun the wrapping process.   I always feels that foiling your pieces helps relieve all of the stress that grinding places on you.  Grinding can be very stressful whereas foiling is slow and relaxing.

 


The subject section of Jeanne L's Circular Rose Window has been completely cut and ground at this point in time and it already looks stunning.  By grinding a little harder along the stems of flowers Jeanne will have a thicker lead line which helps reinforce the illusion of a stem rather than just a lead line.  I can't wait to see this window completed.



Jeff is working on his window in thirds and this is his Sunflower section.   Things are looking great already and Jeff is about to grind these pieces and then tack them together before moving along to his background pieces.



Four Cross Suncatchers?  Nope, these are four Cross Windows!   Martha got all of her background glass cut out for these and is about to begin grinding them.  Once they are tacked together she'll be ready for borders.

  


No one has ever made an Arrow Window before but now that Kerry has begun two of them we can cross Arrows off our list of things that have never been made before.    This first one is almost completed already.



Susan R's Garden Gnome is so close to being finished that it isn't even funny.   With just the back side left to solder I have no doubt that we'll be looking at this in its completed form in our next post. (Largely because I already have the picture of it!)

  


With the front side soldered and only the back side left to go, Jeanne M's Virgin Mary Window is also very close to being completed.  When this is lifted off of the white paper that it's currently resting on you will see the difference between the two yellows that she's used in this spectacular window.



Mary Grace's Flower Window has just three pieces left to replace  in it and then she'll move along to the border system.   We're not sure of where she's headed on that but we will figure that out next week when this is completely tacked and we can see just what area we have to fill.



Rowena started this Tiger Paw LSU Window  and was able to correctly identify the elaborate border system that many students stumble on.  With everything ground but the borders, this window will be completed before you know it.



Lastly we look at Betty's latest Virgin Mary Suncatcher which is all cut, ground, and ready to be foiled.  This will be finished when we see it again.

 


And that almost brings us up to date.  I still have one more post to go to take us out of the month of May.  See you in a day!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks