Weekend Workshop (February 2009)

We had our first Weekend Workshop of the year on February 21st and 22nd. Bill joined us during the 2 day class and left with a stained glass Bear window. At first he was worried that he'd bit off a little more than he could chew but in the end everything worked out just fine. In fact, better than fine. Bill turned out to be an excellent student.

Saturday morning he got a crash course in cutting glass which he showed great talent in doing. Next he traced out his pattern and then separated all the paper pieces so he could trace them onto the glass. We started Bill on the green tree sections of his window since the were the easiest to cut. It's best to save the harder pieces for last so he can get some solid cutting experience in before tackling the hard parts.


Bill moved onto the blue sky next in an effort to stop from jumping all around on the pattern. With the sky cut out all all he'd need to finish the top section of the window was the clouds and some of the brown tree branches.Here we see the clouds completed and the water below. We're still jumping around a bit to keep the glass cutting from getting too difficult too quickly.

Now we're really seeing progress! Bill had no problems with any part of the process and the only thing left to do now is the brown parts of the trees.

Once all the glass was cut Bill moved over to the grinder to make sure all his pieces fit perfectly. Notice that the borders are missing and that the bear's paws are a light tan color. We never cut borders until the window is ground, wrapped and tacked together so that if it grows any we can make adjustments on the border for exact sizing. Here's Bill's window at the end of the first day, all ground and ready to be wrapped.

Sunday morning was spent wrapping all of the pieces of glass with a copper foil. This is what the melted lead (solder) will actually adhere to . I showed Bill how to do a few pieces and then helped wrap some of his window with him so he wouldn't have to deal with some of the trickier pieces.
You can see the copper foil here on the bear's face. Every piece of glass needs to be wrapped before we can move on to the next step, which will be the soldering process.

Before Bill tacked the window together he decided that the feet of the bear were too light and he recut them in the same class that was used in the rest of the bear. I agree that the change mad a nicer effect. Once that was finished he cut a border and then began soldering. This step took about 3 hours or so but as you can see he had no problems getting a nice bead along his window. I wish I had some pictures of Bill soldering but I guess I was asleep at the wheel because I don't have a single picture of that step.
All that's needed now is to color the lead black with a chemical (patina) that is rubbed onto the solder. The process is instantaneous and within 3 or 4 minutes Bill was giving his window a good bath in the sink. We don't want any of the chemical to remain on the window so Bill used a brush and some soap to clean it all off.

And this is Bill's finished window! All in all it took two 8 hour days to complete but when you consider how much work went into this I'd say he made GREAT time. His window is made up of 77 unique pieces of glass, each of which needed to be ground and then wrapped.

I guess it's safe to say that Bill enjoyed himself while learning how a stained glass window is made because he's going to be coming back for a second class next month with a friend who also wants to make a window. So look for another Weekend Workshop update in a few more weeks. Bill will certainly be a pro after the second one is finished. :-)

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Happy Fat Tuesday

Although the spirit of Mardi Gras was alive and well in New Orleans we decided to celebrate it by having some classes. That's not to say that we weren't festive, we had a great time cutting up glass and cutting up with each other.

Lea finished another window and told us we're on the home stretch now. I believe there's 6 windows left to go and one of them is REALLY tiny and won't take more than 5 minutes to cut a piece of glass for. Here's here latest completed window.

And Lea also got a lot completed on another slightly narrower pair of doors. At least one of these will be finished next week and I'm guessing it will be this one that only needs 2 more pieces of glass cut for it. You can see the missing pieces easily if you enlarge the picture.

With all of the actual peacock part of her window completely cut, ground and wrapped Cheryl is another student who is quickly approaching the end of her project. I can't wait to see the thin border go on this window because it's really going to brighten it up.

Fran worked on her latest Mask design. This one is super sized and being made to hang on the wall rather than to wear over your face. When it's all together she plans on surrounding the eye holes with glass jewels that will really set this off.

Grace has finished grinding all the piece she has cut out of her angel window. After she's finished wrapping all these and tacking it together she'll finish cutting the remaining missing pieces: the ribbons, face and hair. This will ensure a nice, perfect fit especially around the face where detail is important.

Janice has about 90% of the centerpieces for her next 2 windows cut out and some of it even ground. All that's really missing at this point are the arms. The colors match her last window perfectly and the pattern has a quality about it that compliments the other windows she's made.

So now you know what we did on Fat Tuesday. Come back next week and see what we do the week after!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

A Slow Week

We only saw Cheryl and Lea this week but we certainly had a lot of fun during the class. Lea finished another one of her larger windows and has a second one all ready to be soldered. Here's a look at her latest finished window in the daylight.


Meanwhile, Cheryl continued cutting away at the bottom feathers of her peacock window. There's only one color left to cut and the peacock portion of the window will be complete. The rest will be a piece of cake...


That was all that happened last week. We'll see more progress on other windows soon though!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

A Quiet Week

Christine came in with the hopes of getting 2 cabinet door inserts cut out. She not only got them cut out-- she got them finished as well! She went with a 4 piece diamond bevel cluster cut into the center of a clear granite background glass. These will really make the cabinets they're inserted in look great.


This is the 3rd completed window done by Janice. Pay attention to how well this matches her next set of windows.

Janice began working on her new pattern. She's cutting out 2 of these windows to start with. There are 5 windows along the top of Janice's house and she will be alternating the finished panels in these windows. Her new design will be done in the same colors as the other three she just completed.
And lastly we have the completed teardrop feathers of Cheryl's peacock window. She's got them all ground and has taken them home to wrap before her next class. She also cut out the body of the bird but I seem to have forgotten to take a picture of that. I promise you'll see that next week.

Grace had to work this week but she had her mother bring home her window so she could work on it at home. And that about wraps it up for this week!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Fresh Bread!

Just 4 weeks into her project Jane has completed her Art Deco style window. It measures almost 3 foot by 3 foot and will be one of the few windows that Jane will actually keep for herself. :-)

Christine has been busy at home not only making stained glass but drawing up her own patterns as well. This large suncatcher is her latest project and she's thinking about tackling a lamp soon.

Denise was never one to sit still so she made this little boy paper holder. What a great choice of glass she made for the blue jeans!

Denise also made this stained glass cross and heart during the week.

Denise managed to turn up a little more time to devote to stained glass so she also made this artistic Treble Clef. You can't say that Denise isn't devoted to her work!

Tommy has made another LSU window during his free time and I really like the colors in this one. Rather than going with the standard purple and gold colors he's made this window stand out even more by going with an iridized glass for the background.

Cheryl resumed working on her peacock and got the worst part of her tail feathers cut out. She'll actually grind and tack the feathers together before continuing any further on the bottom part of her feathers. This will ensure a nice smooth fit.

Janice and Grace were both back this week with smiles on their faces. Janice didn't get anything completed while she was at home but we certainly cant hold that against her with all that's been going on with her husband. But she's begun soldering her window now and took it at home with her to finish off before she comes back into class next week when she'll start the first of a new series of windows.

Grace's Angel is looking better and better. She ground a lot of it this week and only has the top wing and the sky above it left to grind. This window will be tacked together before we know it!

Lastly, Lea completed another cabinet door though she wasn't able to wash it and color it before she left. Something tells me she may find that done for her before she comes in next week so she cab begin working on her next 2 doors which are the same height as this one but slightly wider.

That's what happened this week here at the shop. Have a great week!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Tracing and Cutting

We didn't get to see Gerald this week but we still managed to have a good time without him. :-) Perhaps next week...

When Denise's Mother passed away last year she wanted to do something special and I think she's succeeded. She made this stained glass box which not only contains her mother's ashes but helps serve as a reminder to everyone who sees it just how important she was to Denise. She'll surely never be forgotten.

Denise also finished her Mallard window and topped it off by adding an overlay of cat tails and leaves which help give it a 3D effect. Denise chose to make this window with colors that match the actual birds rater than exagerating the colors which can give a window like this a bright (but cartoonish) look.

And Denise also cut and ground this Moon & Bear window while she was home last week. It will be a baby gift when the child is born and since the sex of the child isn't known Denise as incorporated both pink and blue into the color scheme which sort of makes it a unisex gift. :-)

Cheryl has begun work on one of her most ambitious windows yet. This peacock pattern was a big hit with the other students and Lea has already signed aboard to do this window when she's completed her kitchen cabinets. This is going to be a beautiful window if I do say so myself.

Jane has just about completed her window. After tacking it together she began to sort through glass to pick out a border color. Everyone's first choice was the same blue (for some reason it looks green in the picture) that forms the curving pattern in the window but we didn't have any of that left. Ater flirting with the idea of using the background glass Russ decided to see what a slightly darker pink would look like. And it was unanimous-- The darker pink was exactly what the window needed even, perhaps, more so than Jane's original choice of blue.

Lea continued working on her cabinet doors. She completed another small window and then got this large window all cut, ground, wrapped, and tacked together before she called it a night. She'll finish the second one next week and more than likely take both of them home with her.

We missed Janice and Grace this week and have Glen and all of his family in our hearts, minds and prayers.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks