Ending 2025 With A Bang

Judy's Teepee looks spectacular with it's Southwest Color Scheme.  The great new about it is that it was finished in plenty of time to be gifted as a Christmas present.  When she's not making Crosses Judy can be counted on to make the most interesting projects.  :-)

 

 

 

 

Paula's rendition of Demon Hunter's Derpy was completely finished this week before she even stepped into class.  I just saw someone on Facebook had posted a picture of their version of Derpy and all I can say is that Paula's blows the other one right out of the water.  There's a lot of detail in this and it's paid off wonderfully.

  

 

Keri finished her Circular Humming Bird just in time for Christmas. It was a race to the finish line but the end result shows that no quality was sacrificed during that race. It's certainly a lovely pattern and I won't be surprised if other students want to make this.

 

  

 

 

Linda L made these two adorable Turtle Flower Pot Decorations in record time.   She didn't want to begin her Mickey and Minnie Mouse Window until the new year begins because she wants to work non-stop on it without Holiday interruptions.  In the mean time she's been making items that she can finish in one class.

 

 

 

 Betty made this unique Dragonfly by cutting out uniquely shaped wings for an antique key that she had.   You can't just attach wings to any key because there are a lot of metals (especially anything that is plated) that you can't solder to but this key was copper which solders easily.     

 

  

 

 

 

Sheri completed a beautiful Bordered Cross which, although being petite, packs a big inspirational punch. 

  

 

Betty is keeping busy and has made another small Manger Scene Suncatcher just as wonderful as the first one that she made just last week. She also finished a Dragonfly Spoon and I can't even begin to guess how many of these she's completed over the years. All I know for sure is that she can begin one and finish it within an hour.

 

 

 

  

Cindy completed six of these Fancy Crosses in plenty of time for Christmas. When she came in all she had to do was wash and wax them and once that was done her evening was freed up so she could enjoy the Holiday celebrations that were going on during her class. 

 

 

 

Lori resumed work on her Peacock and it's looking to me as though it might be another show stopper in her stained glass gallery.  I love this pattern and I've seen that the colors that she's chosen for this are absolutely spot-on.

  

 

Let's Rose Window features that ever popular irregular border that looks so darned good. The problem with this border is that if it is not cut and ground EXACTLY to the lines, if it's either too big OR too small in event he tiniest way then the entire piece looses its symmetry and thus its charm.. That said, Let has really paid attention to her pattern placement on her pink flower leading to a flower with gorgeous shading.

   

Susan R wanted to make a Yorkie that resembled her friend's dog which has some very unique coloring to her. Once we nailed down the pattern we then spent time re-drawing a few of pieces so we could achieve the same color pattern that the actual dog has.

 

 

Paula is making a small Manger Suncatcher of her own and has been able to assemble what you see out of simple pieces of scrap that we had in the scrap box.

 

  

 

Lara now knows exactly what colors will be going where for the remaining pieces of her African Woman 's dress and believe me when i say that knowing what colors will be used while cutting out a window speeds thing up substantially.  It allows you to concentrate fully on cutting your glass without your mind wandering off to what color you will need to come up with next.  It sounds trivial but it makes a HUGE difference.

 

 

Mary Grace Resumed work on her Spine Window and is now cutting and fitting all of her background pieces. This is actually very near completion which means that she'll begin working on those tricky letters sometime next year which is only two weeks away! 

  

 

MiMi  knocked out 2 more egg cartons of pieces for her lamp.   There are very few pieces left for her to grins  and now that she's back on track with her lamp she's eager to get it completed when the new year begins. 

 

 

 

Sheri has two other Bordered Crosses in the works with one of them already having been tacked together while the last one has it's border all cut out, ground and ready to be foiled.

 

  

 

Now that the pieces to June's Multi-colored Cat has been all foiled it is ready to be tacked together.  Look closely and you can see that she's already begun doing that.   When she comes back in we will get her background cut out and possibly even the border.   The end is near. VERY near, in fact.

  

 

 

Lastly, Cheryl's Mr Bingle is moving along at a steady pace and I can state for the record that the hardest parts have been completed so things should speed up now. The problem with small windows that contain a lot of pieces is keeping everything organized and dealing with those hard to hold pieces at the grinder.

 

 

And to wrap things up for 2025 we see that Martha is ready to begin working on this Oval Flower and Humming Bird Window.  Hmmmm, apparently I didn't take a picture of it which means that you DON'T see it!!  Also, I never got a picture of Bee's Christmas Ornament.  Oh well, there's always next year...

A big Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks 

I'd Rather Be a Bayou Salé Girl

Martha's Art Deco Woman steals the show with her tasteful use of clear textures and iridised white glass.  Rather than using a second color Martha opted to make the ribbon portion of the hat out of lead covered glass which accents the window while maintaining its monochrome color scheme.  I call that perfect! 

 

 

 

On the opposite end of the spectrum we have Susan R's Autumn Leaf that features almost as many fall colors as it has pieces! I told her that there was no way that she'd lose making this and it looks like I was correct again. Interestingly enough Susan R also used lead as an accent piece by making a solid lead stem rather than a thin and easily breakable piece of glass. There's a lot of work here and Susan handled it with a calm assuredness and graceful poise. 

 

 

 

Kandise made this delightful Camera for a friend who just happens to be a photographer.  How convenient!  It's the perfect gift that may even get a small frame hanging underneath it so that it can become even more personalized.  Kandise comes more and more into her own with each stained glass piece that she makes.

 

 

 

Julie scaled back a bit on her Hamsa Hand Window by deciding to not add an arched border in a different color. Instead she's gone with two different clear textured glasses that still allow the arch to be seen without adding a new color that could possibly steal the focus from the hand itself. The end result works wonderfully and Julie's first window is most likely hanging up as you read this. I'm just sorry that I overexposed the picture thus making the two textures in the clear glass practically invisible.

 

 

 

 

It's amazing what you can learn while making stained glass. I've learned who Stitch is due to multiple students making him over the past few months. Keri has added eyes to him by using glass paint which means that she was able to avoid using distracting lead lines. Stitch looks better than ever! 

 

 

 

As you can see, Let has made a new multi colored Cross with Bevels.  Her perfectly straight lines makes this another stand out piece in her stained glass repertoire.  Stained Glass is thought to be all about color but it's attention to detail that really pulls everything together.

 

 

 

 

Mary Grace completed her Beveled Nativity Manger and then incorporated it into a Wooden Frame that features the sheet music for Silent Night. It's a wonderful marriage of wood and glass which always work well together. Her idea adds new depth (no pun intended) to a cute little Christmas Scene.

 

Linda L made a half dozen different versions of this simple yet effective 3D Dragonfly.  The best ones featured textured iridised glass for the wings but my pictures of them came out blurry because I kept getting too close to them.  These are actually very tiny which makes attaching the wings at the correct angle a tricky little buggery to do! 

 

 

Now you're about to see just how busy Betty has been during this past week. She's already made a Toy Soldier but in this class she completed yet another pair of them in different colors.

 

 

  

Betty also put the finishing touches on her first small Nativity Scene Suncatcher. It's a wonderful design whose light and airy simplicity draws the viewer in to it immediately.

  

  

 

 

This Blue Cross can be made with 5 Diamond Bevels or it can be made out of straight up stained glass.   Betty chose to make this one without bevels and cut the diamonds out of a textured clear iridised glass to emphasize those five pieces.

 

 

 

But wait, that's not all that Betty accomplished. She also cut up some of her scrap clear textured pieces of glass to make this festive Christmas Tree as well. She's left the lead on this silver to give her Tree a nice icy feel to it.

Keri has begun work on a circular Humming Bird with Flowers panel.  The inside of the circle will remain open and the pattern was designed so that the pieces that make it up can handle the added stress of the opened center.  This is going to look lovely indeed (it actually already does).

  

 

 

Cindy is on a Christmas gift rush as she hammered out two more Heart/Crosses. There are at least two more on the way as well as a slew of Crosses.

  

 

Mary Grace is well into her Spine window as she cut's out her background glass. The text and it's the glass that makes up its background won't be cut until this top section has been tacked together. That ensures that the sizes will be both the same width and perfectly square.

 

 

 

With her Teepee all cut and ground Judy is on a mission to get this finished in time for Christmas. I do believe that it could happen during her next class because I believe in Christmas miracles. 

 

 

Jan cut and ground her Heart Panel which means that she'll be able to foil this, tack it together and then get the border cut for it upon her return.  This is simple, sweet and from the heart.   

 

 

 

 

Bee stopped working on her Dragonfly to put together a quick Christmas Ornament Suncatcher. It's all cut and ground which means that she'll easily complete this before Santa slides down her chimney. By the way, that's a dark green hat she's used for stripes. On the pattern paper it just looks incredibly dark but once it's hanging it will show its true color.

 

 

 

Lara's African Woman is certainly colorful.   She's also coming together quicker than the first time she did when Lara first made her.   When it comes to stained glass, familiarity stimulates speed!

Mary got her Eye Of The Tiger Window tacked together and then she worked on filling in the pieces that had somehow turned up missing.  Once they were (quickly) tacked into position she then got her first clear inner border attached.   And then after all of that she got her final border cut.  That means that she will be grinding for a bit next week.

 

 

  

 

 

Cheryl's Mr Bingle grabbed the wrong hat from the hat rack so he's taken it off until he gets back home and changes it for a hat in his signature color.  Meanwhile he's riding a streetcar while Cheryl foils his pieces and puts Mr Bingle back together again.

 

 

 

Here we see that Betty has four more Christmas Suncatchers under construction.  We don't call her 'Two-fer' Betty for nothing!  However, over the years she's been making far more than just two of everything.  When she's on a roll she's REALLY on a roll!

And rounding things out we take a look at the Peacock Pattern that Lorrie has begun.  She actually had a few pieces cut already before she called it a night but this picture was taken before they were cut and I had the opportunity to take the picture.   The funny thing in that Lorrie didn't want to make a Peacock that was as involved as her last one was but this one comes darned close in terms of pieces!

  

And there ya have it, God rest ye merry gentlemen!

 

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

You're Gonna Have To Get through Me First

Lorrie put the finishing touches on all twelve of her Oil Kaleidoscopes by inserting the mirrors and then soldering an clear glass eyepiece at the back of the scope.  Most of that eyepiece is covered by foil and then with lead which leaves a small triangular opening that lines up perfectly into the mirrors so that you only see the colorful oil wand when you look into the scope.  

Let me just say that the twelve of these certainly make an impressive set!

 

 

 

 

Barbara's Tiffany inspired Bird and Flowers Panel is the sweetest thing! I've always said all patterns have a certain size that they should be made to. Enlarging a small window to a much larger size always looks awkward and putting too many pieces into a small window just looks cluttered. At only 7 inches tall this is the perfect pieces-to-size ratio thus making this as charming as it could possibly be.

 

Sheri is the first out of the gate with a completed Alligator Santa. Placing Santa hats on just about any animal (especially animals native to Southern Louisiana) are a definite crowd pleaser and this is no exception!

 

 

 

 

Let threw this quick and easy Bordered Cross together quicker than you can say 'Peace Be With You'! It's simple and to the point which makes this a definite keeper.

 

 

 

Cindy managed to complete four Heart/Cross Suncatchers but I only got pictures of three of them because I ended up taking the picture of the blue heart twice by mistake. Leave it to me to manage to mix up just four suncatchers!

 

 

 

Let also managed to finish work on a Christmas Tree Suncatcher that she made from assorted clear scraps that she had hanging around. We love to see scrap get used especially when the completed piece turns out as nice as this. 

 

 

And Let didn't stop there. Her latest Teardrop Flower is different from her first one only in terms of the color of the flower. It still features the iridized green ribbon set within the now iconic Let teardrop shape. 

Mimi began a 3D Beveled Cross repair last week and finished it this week.  Normally we don't cover repairs but since this was a complete disassemble I think it's worth viewing.  The original version was done with an odd thin silver plated channel but now it's been copper foiled which has made it probably twice as sturdy (or even more) than it was before.   Also, I wanted to post this because it's a great design!

 

Mary Grace set to work immediately on a new window that she's making for her back Doctor. It's hard to see right now but there's a white spine there in between the two healing hands. I have to say that I'm VERY impressed with the amount of work that MG achieved this week. She's says she's feeling better and it's nice to have her back to her old self again!

 

  

 

Paula has KPop in her blood as she makes Derpy  from KPop Demon Hunters.   He's a lot of work but Paula has that mouth, tongue and teeth cut out and ground so perfectly that the rest of this should be child's play for her.

  

 

 

Linda L has a series of small 3D Dragonflies that she's working on.   She also took home a Mickey and Minnie Mouse pattern that she'll soon begin and let me tell you that it's a M&M Window the likes of which you've never seen before.

 

 

Judy continues cutting glass for her large Teepee Suncatcher.   I have a very strong premonition that that this will be all cut out when she returns and even partially ground.

 

  

 

 

Keri resumed work on her large Stitch suncatcher but by the end of the night she just didn't have enough time to apply the paint that finishes this little guy off. He currently looks blind but that will be rectified in our next post.

 

 

They may be hard to see right now but Lorrie is also working on a pair of very large Cockatiels(?) that will mount and hang inside of metal hoops at right angles from the hoops thus turning this into a 3D project.

 

 

 

 

Bee is grinding the background pieces to her Dragonfly Window and making excellent progress. She's pretty much pinned down what glass she'll use for the wings and it's going to be a beautiful white iridised glass with plenty of subtle yet obvious shades of pink, green, yellow and blue shining underneath.

 

  

 

 

Sheri liked Let's Cross so much that she began one of her own this week. There are only 12 thin strips left to go for her to finish this off.

 

  

 

With the leaves and the background to her Magnolia window almost entirely cut out Tracey will next cut the scant few pieces that had broken while she cut them. After that she'll be grinding away at this marvelous window. When Tracey said that she wanted to make the round magnolia we spent a good half an hour looking for the pattern before I remembered that I had put it on the side so that I could eventually make it for our next show. This is another window whose size and piece count match perfectly.

 

 

 

Susan D toiled away on her next six Dragonfly spoons and left class with each of them being cut, ground and foiled. You only see four here but rest assured there are two others stored safely in plastic baggies just waiting to be soldered.

 

  

 

Susan R finished all of the grinding and all of the foiling on her multi-colored Autumn Leaf.  Soldering will begin next week and I can already say that this is going to look spectacular when it's up and off of the work table. 

  

 

Mary wasn't able to finish grinding her Eye Of The Tiger Window while he was at home but that's nothing to worry or fret about.   It's not easy to find time to work on stained glass during the week and that's why our students show up so regularly to our classes.   Of course we always manage to have a great time while we work the class away as Mary's laughter throughout the night well proved.

 

 

 

Martha's classy looking Art Deco Lady got her final border attached and Martha is now soldering it. I think the minimal color scheme is wonderful and I can't wait to see this one hanging up.

 

  

 

Cheryl is back to work on her Mr. Bingle Panel and she now has all of it cut save for the background and borders.  I'm going to insist that she tack this together before cutting those last few remaining pieces just so that things don't get twisted out of shape.

  

  

June's Cat is only missing one piece of glass but rather than filling that in she's begun foiling everything so that she can tack this together and then simply place a color of her choice behind it to fill in that missing piece. It looks to me as though that will be done when she comes back in since she only has a few pieces left to foil. 

  

Lastly, Betty got another Toy soldier almost completely finished but wasn't able to get the hook on it before she had to leave. I can guarantee that we'll see that Soldier and maybe two others completed in our next post.

So there you have it, another week succinctly spelled out in stunning detail by yours truely!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks