Bayou Salé GlassWorks: Making Simple Things Complex

Linda L's center panel of her three part Nativity Scene has officially been completed. She fell in love with the heavily textured brown that she used to form the boards of the stable and knew that would be THE perfect glass for the stable. She wisely chose to use a different brown for the six pieces that make the (also) wooden manger to prevent it from blending in with the stable. That's what I consider to be good and proper planning.

Our students have been closely watching this Rooster that I've been making come together so I thought I'd post it this week so everyone could see it lit up. It's certainly colorful and the best part is that it's already sold!

Judy's Crab Window was difficult to make (there are a lot of long, thin pieces) but it was certainly worth the effort. I still don't understand why she's so down on her soldering. It may not be absolutely perfect but it's far, far better than she thinks it is. She did take her time on this and that makes all the difference. You can't rush soldering, it's like a cake-- if you don't take your time and remove it from the oven too soon it's not going to be a good cake!

Check out June's cute Grinning Cat Panel. She wasn't sure what colors to use for the borders but in the end she picked out two perfect colors with the help of some of the other students. Border colors set the tone for a window but it's the subject, which is the cat in this case, that steals the show and is thus the focal point of a window.

Melissa knocked off this large Tulip Suncatcher in record time and walked away with a beautiful gift for someone. It's light, it's airy, it's delicate and it's perfect. It was also a nice diversion from the larger Address Window that she wasn't into working on last week. Now that she's completed something she feels better about returning to her larger, more complex window.

Annette completed two 3D Butterflies this week as well as some smaller ones. The butterfly on the left is a Lawn Ornament which has been affixed to a stake which allows it to be displayed in a garden while the one on the right hangs from chain that can be hung from a ceiling so that it resembles a butterfly in flight. Also, the one on the right has never been made this way before as it started out as a side view of a butterfly with only one wing being visable.

The first of our two Large Modern Cross Suncatchers was made by Ann who used extremely rippled glass to create this stunning blue and aqua/teal cross.

Our second Modern Cross is actually slightly smaller than Ann's up above (although you can't tell that from the picture). Jeannette made her cross out of assorted clear textured glasses which really sparkle with light behind it.

Let fell in love with a sheet of translucent green glass that she found in our glass rack and decided to use it for the background of a Magnolia Window. With everything cut out she's already begun grinding each of her pieces. The background looks GREAT on the pattern paper but when you see this lit up after she finishes it you will be amazed. I don't understand how I didn't notice this glass myself because everyone says the same thing when they first see it--"It's beautiful!"

With Lara's woven border all tacked together and the front side of her African Sunset Window soldered I have no doubt that this will be finished when we next see it. We've already held it up to see what it will look like with some light behind it and all I can say is that it's magnificent!

You know, when I drew this pattern for Cindy I had no clue that it would look as good as good as it already does in this uncompleted state. Of course, that may easily be because Cindy is doing such perfect work on it. I know that colors where a concern for her when she was picking them out but I think that everything compliments each other perfectly. That horse has been tamed!

Barbara worked on her newest Beveled Window by getting the bevels all tacked together and then cutting, grinding, wrapping and tacking the thin trim that surrounds the bevel cluster in the center. That simple, thin quarter of an inch trim adds so much to the overall look of the window. It takes a little time to line it all up but it turns an elegant window into a stunningly elegant window when all is said and done.

Next up we see that Linda L is already far along with the second panel of her Nativity Scene. There are only 12 pieces left for her to cut and grind before she can start foiling and ultimately solder this window. I suspect that this panel will easily be completed before Easter rolls around!

Angie is soldering her Seafood Window and it already looks like it's the pièce de résistance in her stained glass portfolio. There's a lot of work involved in this window but what also makes it so spectacular is that she chose to have it set in a glass that no one else can use. The newspaper printed glass is our own creation and it's the perfect compliment to Angie's hard work!

Jeannette's Seashells Window is all ground, almost all foiled, and therefor almost ready to be tacked and bordered. I'm sure that will happen upon her return. You know, I think that all of that class time that Jeannette was forced to miss due to circumstances beyond her control was a good thing. I've can't help but notice that her work is more accurate and moves along far quicker than it ever has before. Touché!

Grinch Hands are Susan D's thing (I guess) because she's got six of them in the works. As we've seen in the past, the Grinch has always been a bit handsy with his Christmas balls and these will be no exception because once they have been completed an ornament will be suspended from a chain that will be attached to the Grinch's fingers.

MiMi only has a single row of her background left to cut and then she'll be able to add the borders to her Traditional Window. Sadly, she had left her pink and grey accent pieces at home so we weren't able cut out that final row of background since she couldn't trace around the accent pieces. Alas, I can assure you that the final row will go on quickly next week.

And Susan R started a new Reindeer this week and just look at it already! Talk about flying through a Reindeer. This woman is becoming stained glass fire!

Guess who made a guest appearance this week? Rowena was back in class and resumed work on her American Flag and Eagle Window as if she never missed a beat. Not only did she finish grinding it, she also got a good majority of it foiled as well. It was great to see her smiling face and hopefully we'll see it again in the near future.

And here's another American Flag window, but rather than having a traditional Eagle in front of it we have a rifle. Shelley has taken this along home with her so that she can (hopefully) solder it there and end up with a completed window when she comes back in.

And lastly we have Sheri's Coffee Window which has begun its construction this week. She's actually got glass cut out for it (which you can see in the black container on the bottom right) but I didn't get a picture of the pattern with the glass set into position. That will surely happen in our next post though.