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