Yeah, I'm Not That Guy

Kandise  spent her night soldering away all the while hoping to complete her circular Magnolia.  By the time class was over with she had her window soldered both front and back while still having time to wash and wax it.  I love the colors in this and numerous students have asked about it so this might become a popular pattern in the months to come.  Looking at Kandise's finished piece it's easy to see why there's so much interest in it. 

 

Lorrie's Humming Birds and Flowers Window has been officially completed!   A lot of work went into this large window and all of that work clearly shows.   I know without a doubt that this will be making someone VERY happy indeed. 

 

 

Sheri began this LOVE Heart last week and finished it within the first 15 minutes of class.   She's a little unsure about how visible the LOVE part is but I have no issue spotting the word at all, especially since she filled in the background of the letters with a heavily textured clear glass.  I love it.

 

 

Linda L used another 'depression' plate to make a beautiful panel that sparkles amazingly when in sunlight.   Her ability to easily cut out the deep pointed inner cuts in her background so flawlessly really impressed me.

Let's Oval Flower Window has perfect edges which is ever so important when a channel won't go on the finished piece to cover any minor imperfections.   Why didn't channel go on this?  Well you can't curve brass channel without it bending and kinking.  This isn't large enough to merit the larger bendable zinc channel so tap-tapping with lead is the only way to go.

 

 

 

Barbara finished soldering her Iris Window which she can take all of the credit for.   I'm always impressed when a student comes up with their own design because the hardest part about designing your own patterns is having the confidence to make the first one!  Barbara should be very proud here.

 

 

 

Cindy wrapped up the work on a beveled cross that she had. To make it nice and sturdy she surrounded the bevels with a dark purple iridized glass. Since iridescence is mostly purple it's very easy to place a piece backwards which is what happened to poor Cindy. It's an honest mistake that I've made in the past myself but it was an easy enough fix.

 

Betty replaced the cracked wing on her Bumble Bee Suncatcher quickly and efficiently.  It ended up looking wonderful and still left her with almost the entire class to work on a new project. 

 

 

Nettie completed 2 Iridised Butterflies but I only got a picture of one of them since the other picture was a blurry mess.  :-)  Trust me when I say that the other one is just as beautiful as this one is!

Bee brought in the window that she's been working on so hard while at home.   This week we get to see the fruits of her labor.   This Hearts and Roses Window fits together perfectly and she's now foiling all of her thin and intricate pieces.   She said that the stems that flow through this which also make up the hearts where a bit of a challenge and I understand why.  Thin curving pieces can be horrible to deal with but Bee mustered through it with complete confidence.

 

 

Let also began working on a Bird of Paradise Circular Suncatcher and yep, she has it all cut out and ready to be ground already! In fact, she actually already has the two flowers ground which leaves her with just a few background pieces and the border left to go.

  

 

 

Betty began working on this Blue Rose Transom style window while at home. Because of that she really has a head start on this fairly large window especially when you consider that she's only got one class into it!

 

 

Nettie also brought in her three Nativity Scenes that she's been working on at home. Color me impressed because they look amazing. She was afraid to begin foiling until I looked things over but there's nothing to complain about so she began foiling right away.  You might have noticed that I only have two of the panels pictured but that's only because Nettie was too quick for me and already had one in her car by the time I got to her with the camera. 

  

  

Julie got all of the pieces that form the Heron in her window cut and ground which leaves just the background and the flowers that border the top of the window. I'm going to recommend either cutting and grinding the flowers next or moving onto the flowers at the top of the window because it will be far easier to fit the background to the flowers and bird rather than the other way around. 

 

 

 

Kerri got all of her flowers and leaves cut out and even in this un-ground state you can clearly see how much realism is added to a window when you use multiple shades of a similar color instead of just one single color. This is looking spectacular.

 

 

 

Sheri came into class with a pattern and a plan to use some assorted scrap glass to make her own colorful Fish suncatcher. By the time class ended she had her Fish of Multi Colors not only cut out but perfectly ground as well!

  

 

 

MiMi is soldering away at the inside of her lamp and let me tell you that this thing is sturdy!  The edge is near which means that MiMi will be finished with her magnum opus soon!

 

  

 

Either I'm cracking the whip pretty hard in our class or Martha just plain out has a fire under her to get her Butterfly Window completed.   After tacking the butterfly together she cut her background out, ground it, foiled it and tacked it all together so that she'll only have her border to cut when she comes back in. 

 

 

 

Tracey has her Magnolia tacked together and her border glass picked out. There's no doubt in my mind that she'll be soldering this when she comes back because although a circular border has to be cut by hand it's actually far easier than most people make it out to be. Once it's all wrapped she'll be soldering.

 

 

Mary's a soldering fool with her Sunflower window.  Yes, there's a lot to solder here but I always feel that it's the most relaxing part because all you have to do is sit back and take your time.  Slow and steady ALWAYS wins the soldering race. 

 

 

 

Lastly, Susan R resumed cutting on her USA Star Panel and as you can see the Bevels that make up the star fit perfectly.   We also figured out what all of the numbers in the catalogs mean by taking multiple measurements of various parts of the bevels.   It was the 3/8 that was throwing us off and we've come to find that the 3/8 measurement measures how deeply the bevel cuts into the center of the bevel.  And after all of that IO forgot to take a picture of the work she completed.  Shame on me.


Wishing you all a sunny summer,

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

A Night In Paris With Sammy

Paula is the first of two people who are making Blue Roses.   This is absolutely stunning and as always Paula made the majority of it while she was at home between classes.  She would come in with questions and do time intensive steps while in class (foiling, grinding etc.) but she's basically on her own throughout the cutting and soldering processes which is wonderful because as you can see her work is exemplary.

  

 

 

 

Susan R put the finishing touches (the soldering) on her Four Birds On a Branch and then added some wire work to accent her pretty birds all in a row. This is the perfect size for the pattern itself with pieces that aren't what you would call small but certainly not large either. The end result is what you see below and I know Susan was very happy with it as was I.

 

 

 

Linda L was kinda sorta in between projects and decided to make this Flower Pot Ornament.  In just one class she began and finished it after having drawn out the pattern while she was at home.  The flower center is actually a a depression style bowl that when sitting on a table is about 3 inches high.   That makes this a three dimensional piece!  The stake is a piece of zinc channel that has been soldered along the inside channel section to make it sturdier but if there's any hint of 'wilting' Linda can always run a length of steel rod from Lowe's or Home Depot inside the hollow of the zinc.

 

 

 

Cindy finished her two Hearts Within Hearts Suncatchers and don't you agree that they look great?   She's made quick work of these cute Hearts Nettie was busy making 3D Butterfly Lawn Ornaments at home and brought them all in to see how they get soldered together to make that 3D angle to the wings and how to hide the seam with a stylish Butterfly Body.   Two of her flock where completed and leaving about 4 more left to go, some of which will be completed next week.   If they look anything like this pair then Nettie is going to end up with  beautiful set of Butterflies.  (And I have to admit that I DO know that all look as good as these.)

 

 

 

 

Nettie was busy making 3D Butterfly Lawn Ornaments at home and brought them all in to see how they get soldered together to make that 3D angle to the wings and how to hide the seam with a stylish Butterfly Body. Two of her flock where completed and leaving about 4 more left to go, some of which will be completed next week. If they look anything like this pair then Nettie is going to end up with beautiful set of Butterflies. (And I have to admit that I DO know that all look as good as these.)

 

 

 

Betty finished her three Dimension Bee Lawn Ornament and learned how to curve her pieces as she tacks them together. The body of the Bee is curved along its horizontal axis while the wings curve vertically. Hopefully the second picture of the Bee will help illustrate this.

 

Sheri began a Love Heart and only has a few pieces (four) left to go before she begins foiling and then soldering this. Once it's foiled you will easily see the word 'Love' within the heart because all of the cuts will become more apparent. 

 

 

Susan R has already begun a new USA Star Panel which she hopes will incorporate a beveled star. We've ordered the bevels but the sizing is hard to account for since we aren't exactly sure how the star is measured. Hopefully it's the overall height / width of the Star which sounds logical, but when the description says that it's made of five diamond bevels you just don't know for sure.

 

  

 

 

Julie came in and filled in the few missing leaves on the right side of her Heron Window and then cut out the remaining pieces of the Heron itself (save for the beak). This window is taking shape quickly and it's going to be spectacular. And keep in mind that Julie is our newest student because you'd never suspect that judging by her work on this! 

  

 

 

MiMi has begun soldering the inside of her lamp and is moving steadily to cover the foil with lead while not making a full bead. The inside of the lamp only needs to be neatly tacked to prevent the lamp from sagging. This also helps keep the weight of the lamp down to a minimum. It won't be long now.

  

Let filled in the lighter green sections of her Oval Flower and is officially soldering this attractive Panel. These irregular shaped windows are popping up everywhere on the internet and Let's Window will soon join those beautiful windows next week for sure.

  

 

Mary has all of her Sunflower Window cut and ground!  In fact, Mary got the center all tacked together and then picked out the perfect glass for the border of this magnificent window.  All Mary has to do is foil these border pieces after which she'll begin soldering.   I can't wait to see this one hanging up because it might just be Mary's Tour De Force.  When this is finished and hanging up Mary says that she'll be doing windows with larger and fewer pieces in them but I don't believe that at all!

 

 

 

June spent her night grinding the smaller pieces that make up the tail of her Seahorse Window.   Her grinding is exceptional because as you can see, she's clearly mastered the art of grinding. 

 

  

 

Martha's Butterfly got all of its accent nuggets cut into place which you'd think would go quickly but since each of the pieces that surround the nuggets  had to be ground out rather than cut out the process takes much longer than initially thought.  Now that it's done Martha will tack this together and then get her background cut.

 

 

 

Tracey's Circular Magnolia was wrapped and is all set to be tacked together. The tacking process will take less than 15 minutes to accomplish and then Tracey will pick out a border which we will get cut and ground quickly and efficiently.  It's safe to say that this lovely window is drawing to a close!

 

 

 

Kandise foiled all of the remaining pieces of her Circular Magnolia Window and began soldering it. The two big differences between the Circular Magnolias that Kandise and Tracey are making is that this one wont get a border around it and the flower actually extends beyond the circular background of her window. This means that we won't be putting a zinc channel around this but the lack of a border and a channel with give the overall window a 'softer' effect. Look to see this completed when Kandise comes back in.

 

  

 

Cheryl got all of her Buffalo Bills Helmet tacked together and then worked on picking out a border.   In the end she decided to use a double border with a thin red inner border followed by thicker blue pieces.  Both colors perfectly match the Buffalo Bills logo on the side of the Helmet. 

 

  

 

Betty would have had a second Bee finished this week but just as she was finishing it we discovered a crack in the upper left wing. We removed the piece and Betty will fill that in and show us her completed Bee in our next post.

  

 

Barbara not only ground her last two large background pieces of glass but cut, ground and foiled the border as well. She's already got her border tacked onto the window and the channel applied to the edges which means that she's soldering! 

 

And Lorrie got her final border attached to her Flowers and Humming Birds Window, finished soldering the front side and then flipped it over to begin soldering the back side. She plan on finishing the soldering while at home throughout the week so she can bring it in and get the zinc channel attached as soon as she walks in the door so she can wash and color it before class is over. I wish I could show you a picture of it but I forgot to take one. At least you''ll see the completed window when we return next week!

Lastly, Jan was in and has begun working on a birthday present window that we can't post here for fear of ruining the surprise. Oh well.

 

I'm at a loss for words here,

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks 

Why Can't Lettuce Be Delicious?

 Linda L began and completed a cute little Pig Suncatcher for her neighbor who actually has a pet pig.   Instead of painting black nostrils Linda etched them into the pink glass that forms the nose and this is another example where subtle is better.   The nostrils don't stand out and steal the viewer's focus as they would if they were pitch black.  That said, Linda does want then to be a little darker and will readdress the situation while at home.  All in all another job well done!  

 

 

 

 

Bee finished her Honey Bee and turned it into a garden stake project rather than a suncatcher that would hang in the window.   Her colors express  a unique, wonderful, cheeriness to this simple but effective pattern. 

After completing her Bee, Bee set to work on designing a 12 x 10 panel with an inner beveled border and a Fleur De Lis in a circle. The circle ended up making the FDL too small so we elongated the circle into an over and then resized the FDL to match the new dimensions. With her bevels all picked out Bee is ready to cut glass.

  

 

Cindy is working on not one but two of her new Heart Within a Heart Within a Heart Patterns. It's a great design albeit with one or two semi difficult cuts that Cindy handled effortlessly. Now that they are both ground these could be completed before you know it. 

 

 

 

Let is working on a uniquely shaped mid sized panel in the form of a stylized Flower whose colors remind me of either a sunrise or a sunset. She wants the upper part of her leaves to be cut from a darker green than the bottom of the leaves hence the openings that you see below. The glass she wants to use is home in her workshop so I'm sure we'll see this tacked together or even more when she shows up again next week. 

  

 

 

Lara started a Monstera Leaf suncatcher that she's hoping will fit into one of her wooden bookends. The only thing left to do on this is to tap-tap around the edges and then Lara will have another project tucked firmly under her belt.

 

  

 

 

This week Julie began cutting out the Heron that is the focal point of her Heron and Flowers Window.   She's grinding as she finishes each color that makes up her Heron and I commend her on using assorted colors rather than using just one color for the bird.  She got a lot accomplished this week and I suspect that the rest of this will go pretty easily for her.

 

 

 

Cheryl ground the remaining pieces of her Buffalo Bills Football Helmet and then started foiling all of her glass. She's going to be leaving the lead silver on this so she'll be using silver backed foil on any of the pieces that she can see through to the back of the foil after they are wrapped. That means all of her background will be foiled in silver back but the rest of the window will be wrapped in regular copper backed foil.

  

 

 

Barbara has finished foiling her pieces so she can now tack the bottom portion of her Iris Window together and then slide the last two large pieces underneath the flowers and leaves so that she can ensure a perfect fit on those large focal points. They may essentially be blank but the last thing that we want is a lot of extra lead around the flowers and the leaves within those large expansive pieces. After that we'll see if she wants a border or two on this.

 

  

 

Kandise has all of her Magnolia Window ground and more than half of it foiled as well.  I love the true to life colors in this and I'm sure that she'll have this tacked together when she comes back in.  This will certainly be spectacular.

 

 

 

Betty's Bee is all ground and she's working on foiling it with only the wings left to go. When she comes back in she'll learn how to tack this together so that the entire Bee has multiple curves throughout it. Yes, it sounds a bit scary but it's actually very easy to accomplish

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Keri has begun a new Flower Window and wasted no time tracing out her pattern, cutting it all apart and then getting all of the green leaves cut out of glass.   The thing about Keri is that she sets a goal and wastes no time in getting to it.

 

 

 

Linda F has all of the glass ground for her Transom Window and does it look wonderful. The background looks darker than it will be once it has light behind it but the general look of the window is easy to see already. Alas, Linda won't be back into class for a while as she takes a few weeks to rest and relax so don't expect this to be completed until sometime in June.

 

 

Lorrie's Humming Birds and Flowers Window got its first inner border attached and the glass she picked for it will make a perfect frame since it is as colorful as the window is itself. She's going to go back to glue chip glass for the final border which will make the small inner border carry more focus as a delicate but colorful frame.  What you can't see in the small picture below is the fact that Lorrie also completely soldered the front of her window already!

 

  

Martha's Butterfly has been ground although that might be hard to tell since all of those perfectly fit pieces are hiding under a veritable sea of pins! Martha know how important it is that pieces don't shift as you are grinding and she goes all out making sure that she's used enough pins to prevent slippage. The added bonus of all of those pins is that they allow for the growth that each piece will experience when foil has been added into the mix. The thing that students sometimes forget to do though is to remove the inside pins as you foil and reposition each piece. 

 

 

 

Paula had the background to her Blue Rose Window all cut, ground, foiled and ready to be tacked together as soon as she walked in the door. Once she tacked it she began working on her double borders by first cutting and tacking into position the inside white border and then following it up with a final blue border which is ever so subtly different from the blue in her Rose. There's nothing wrong with a perfect match but I've always been a fan of using something similar instead. It gives an added bit of shading that works so well.

 

 

Sheri's almost got her Yellow Rose Suncatcher completed. She hopes to finish it at home so there's a possibility that we won't see this completed, but I know better than to assume anything.

 

 

Lastly, Susan R has her Four Birds On a Branch all tacked together and will begin soldering this when she comes back in. I'm pretty sure that we'll see these cute birds among our completed projects in our next post. 

 

And there ya have it!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks