Show Me Your Charms

Have you ever wondered why the mermaid crossed the sea?  Well, Martha's Mermaid turned out beautiful and her choice of clear baroque glass for the water really brought it all together because the Mermaid isn't drowning in a sea of color (every pun was intended there.)  Your eye really focuses on the subject matter since it's a nice splash of color in a clear background.  So why did the did the Mermaid cross the sea??  To get to the other tide.  (groan)

 

 

Edmee's Yin and Yang Window came together this week in more ways than one.   Not only is it completed but it showed me that a color (purple) can coexist wonderfully with various shades of grey.  Since this symbol is all about opposite but interconnected forces, I find this to be extremely fitting.  And speaking of fitting, Edmee's work on this was wonderful all the way through the creation process.

 

 

 

 

Ann's St. Joseph and Child Jesus Panel is certainly stunning.  There's a lot of detail in this small window which paints its picture clearly.  Matching the border glass to Joseph's robe was perfect because it ended up pulling everything together in a very pleasing way.

 

 

 

 

Cindy's Winged Cross turned out exactly as she hoped it would and the balance on it is just right.  Note the symmetry between the wings-- it's perfect!  It's a beautiful design crafted even more beautifully.

 

 

 

Cindy also made two large Cardinal Suncatchers which makes me jealous because she has so much more diligence when it comes to creating glass than I have right now!  I either need to get on the track of making more glass or start purchasing Cindy's items!

 

 

Linda L is ready for her Mardi Gras Cruise next week now that her nine Gift Pendants have been completed for everyone who is going on the cruise with her (that she knows of course). She was originally going to hang the cruise ship charm from the bottom of the piece but when we saw how perfectly the bevel framed it we both agreed that hanging it in the center was the better choice.  These are lovely gifts and I can't wait to see how well they are received!

Susan D has become the Pinwheel Queen and can completely knock one of these out faster than the average student can merely wrap the nine pieces of glass it takes to make them.  I like that she's using alternating colors rather than making them out of a single color.  It lends a lot of added dimension to the finished pieces by introducing a shadow effect.

 

 

 

And Betty is our Cardinal Queen.  This week she completed two more of these beauties after getting a refresher course in bending wire smoothly without creating and kinks.  The trick is to bend the wire slowly into curves that are smaller than what you actually need.  Then with some gentle coaxing you can expand the wire into the correct size curves which turn out nice and fluid.

 

 

 

Lisa's Luna Moth got a new moon behind it because the grain didn't line up correctly on the glass she had cut for it when she was last in.  The change is striking and you can easily see how the flow matches across the separate pieces (especially below the moth).

 

  

 

 

Let's Oval Victorian Rose is taking shape quickly with as this is her first week of work in on it.  Everything but the outer border has been cut which enabled Let to begin grinding her pieces already.  Hopefully her final border glass will arrive by the time she comes back in because she will very well need it by that point in time.

  

 

 

What you see here is the sheet of Newspaper Print Glass that Russ made for Angie's Seafood Window.  We started by scanning assorted newspapers and then arranging them somewhat haphazardly (with photoshop or something similar) to fit on a standard piece of paper.  I made two different patterns and then printed them out onto Photo Fusing Paper using a Laser Printer (an Inkjet printer will NOT work).  The Photo Fusing Paper is actually a decal which is then soaked in water and positioned onto the glass you want the text to appear.  It then gets fired onto the glass by heating it up to about 1300 degrees for 15 minutes.  It's an overnight process when you factor in the heating up and cooling down cycles.  Below you can see two decals fired onto one piece of white glass.

 

  

 

And here's Angie's Seafood Window with the newsprint glass cut  and mostly ground into place. 

 

  

 

Here's final look, but a little closer: 

 

Sheri is making this delightful Mushroom Hoop Suncatcher as well as a second one that I didn't get a picture of.  She also has more of this cut out than I have pictured here but I was slacking and wasn't quite quick enough with my camera!  I promise that we'll see more of these when we return.

 

  

 

 

Kerry is moving along quickly on his new project.  He will be using his leftover Holly Berry glass for the background of this stunning Cardinal.  With only the background left to cut he'll certainly be grinding this when he comes back into class.

 

 

 

Jeannette has gone ahead and put all of her eggs in one basket.  She's not only cut this out but she's ground it as well.  And if that weren't enough she also cut out another Modern Cross Suncatcher using assorted clear textures.   The cross suncatcher is about halfway ground now so she's wasting no time at all 'popping' things out left and right.

 

  

 

 

Linda has really stepped up her game.  A complex window like this gets cut and ground almost instantly if Linda is working on it.  She's changed 4 pieces of glass in the bowl itself for something very similar yet discernibly different to act as accent pieces which will also perfectly match her border  (when she cuts it).  Stunning!

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Here's another window that has come together quickly and efficiently.  Barbara's Magnolia is already cut, ground, wrapped and tacked together.  She plans on soldering it at home which means that this will be completed when she comes back in.   It's time for her to think about her next project already!

 

  

 

 

After Linda L finished attaching the hooks and charms onto her Cruise Gifts she was able to tack together this Easter Bunny Panel and cut out a background for it as well.   There's only a border left to go on this and then it's solderin' time!

  

 

 

Susan R's Reindeer is all ground and just about completely wrapped.  She'll certainly be soldering this upon her return when we'll most likely see her second reindeer completed.  To say that her work on this went smoothly and efficiently would be understating it because Susan flew through the cutting and grinding almost effortlessly.

 

  

 

Lara's Africa Window is all tacked together and you can clearly see the sunset and the land which make up the  Africa outline.  She's decided to do something completely different (and yet completely fitting) for her border but I don't quite want to reveal what that is until we see this again.  All I'll say is that it's going to look amazing in a never seen before way.

 

  

 

Betty has two Crosses under construction, both being as different as can be. The one on the left is made completely out of bevels while the one on the right has star bevels at each end and of the cross and then again in the center. The Cross on the right will be a hanging Suncatcher while the one on the left will be inserted into a wispy white background glass and then bordered.

 

  

 

Martha is hanging out around the Franklin Streetlights again looking for inspiration for a new background glass ideas.  She's actually working on two of these Streetlight Windows and each piece that she's cut out is stacked two high (which you can't see in the picture).  These sell quickly for her and I completely understand the draw to them.

  

 

Shelley has all of her Flag/Rifle Window cut out now save for one piece of white glass.  She's hoping she has more of this at home but if not we will turn up a matching piece in the shop and work from there.   She's grinding this from the bottom upward and although she barely has two layers of stripes ground you can clearly see what this will look like when she finishes it.

 

 

 

This little fish has lost its way. Hopefully, when we see it again Susan D will have it mounted on another board with some seaweed around it. If it finds another fish perhaps it can be schooled...

 

 

 

And there you have it.  Have a GREAT Mardi Gras to all who will be celebrating it!

 

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks