Linda and Her Rats

Bee's Cross / Heart is stunning due to her workmanship and her use of bold rich colors.  The border is a deep purple that makes everyone oohh and aahh especially when seen in direct sunlight.  Bee did 99% of this window alone at home and her work is exquisite.

 

 

 

Cheryl's Mr. Bingle Christmas Window is completed and she loves it so much that she's hanging it in April rather than waiting until Christmas rolls around. In a unique twist, Cheryl has glued small gems onto Mr Bingle's face to form the mouth and nose.

 

 

 

This is Let's Flower Butterfly to which she applied some additional extra steps to fancy it up. First of all she added decorative solder drops throughout her solder lines and then she added wire pestles complete with solder dotted ends to give this Butterfly some stunning character. And she did of of this project completely on her own. 

 

 

 

 

Susan D's Woodpecker Panel was completed and all of those tiny, thin pieces of glass make this bird look more like a painting rather than a cartoon drawing of a woodpecker. At only 6 inches in diameter this is not as large as you might assume from the picture. Her tree is also impressive because of her wonderful use of brown reeded glass.

 

 

 

 

Betty finished the work on three small Beveled Crosses as well as a pair of large Virgin Mary Suncatchers. She says that larger items will be making up the bulk of her upcoming projects which probably translates into more windows, less suncatchers.

 

 

 

Sheri had to put her Scissor Tailed Flycatcher window on hold since she got an order for a Geometric Window that she's already flying through in just one class.   She only has the two sets of borders left to go on this and they could both very well be cut upon her return.

 

 

 

Kandise is making a Circular Magnolia but this one will omit a border and it will also not be 'truly' circular as the magnolia will be slightly larger than the rounded background. This makes the window appear to be more free flowing while still having the (required) extra strength of some background glass. As you can see, Kandise is already into the cutting phase of this window.

  

  

 

 

Keri cut out her large 'Skull' suncatcher after tracing out the pattern and already has everything cut out. There's going to be some grinding in her future but that's always the case. Nothing is ever made without having to grind.

 

  

 

 

Cindy is making a Butterfly / Flower of her own but hers is larger than Lets and features Cindy's Stained Glass Trademark: Tiny Pieces! As you can clearly see she's well under way on this so it shouldn't take her very long to muscle through it.

 

  

 

 

MiMi's soldering is most impressive.   With each revolution of her lamp as she winds downward towards the bottom her soldering just gets better and better as you can easily see in the photo below.

 

 

 

Let has a Virgin Mary of her own well under way. Interestingly enough she assumed that this would be a borderless panel for two reasons: 1) the pattern didn't show a border and 2) the top is arched rather than straight. When I asked if she would be adding a border she was a bit surprised but instantly gave me an emphatic YES! And that's why you now see a border surrounding Mary! 

  

 

 

Linda F has all of the background cut out for her Transom Window and has begun grinding those pieces to fit in between her flowers and vines. There are far more background pieces than you might initially assume so it won't be an overnight job but Linda is already making serious progress due to her wonderful cutting.  

 

  

 

 

Susan R has another Bird cut and ground for her Birds On A Branch and she even picked out the color for the next (final) bird. The branches and feet will come after that and then this project will really come to life. 

  

 

 

Barbara tacked her Irises together and then the two of us sat down to drawn a new background for her window since she didn't care for the way the leaves looked in her original drawing. 15 minutes later she had a new pattern that lined up with the flowers of the last one that she liked much better.

 

  

 

Lorrie's Humming Birds and Flowers Window is taking shape more and more with each piece of the background that she cuts out. She's using glue chip glass which gives her the benefit of not having to worry about the placement of her pieces because glue chip has no grain. That means that she can fit more pieces in a tighter space while wasting far less glass than she would if she had to arrange pieces in certain positions.

 

 

 

Julie has most impressively caught onto the entire process of this whole stained glass making thing in very little time because she's already ground the thin and small flower petals for the Irises in her Heron Window. I don't think this window that she believed would be a challenge is challenging her at all.

 

  

 

 

Well, it's official. Linda L has cut every last piece of glass for her Mickey and Minnie Mouse Window and also has them all tacked together as well. Allow me to tell you that the last piece that she filled in was one heck of a piece measuring under 1/8th of an inch! I wrapped it for her in 5/32 foil that I trimmed down even smaller to allow the glass to show! When you put all of your heart (or in the case HEARTS) into a window you don't skimp on the details. Soldering will begin when Linda returns from Disney World.  How appropriate!

 

 

 

Martha's got the lid to her Wedding Box Completed and it will be joined to its box bottom next week. It hasn't been assembled yet or even cut out but it only consists of five pieces of glass so it will surely be completed upon Martha's return. 

  

Then Nettie got the top lid portion of her second Wedding Box together and even soldered it. All that remains on this is the box bottom. As I said earlier, since that only consists of five pieces of glass that part of the build will come together quickly.

  

 

 

Tracey has a Butterfly Lawn Ornament that just won't allow itself to be assembled! She brought in the pieces for the wing that she had left at home last week but apparently two of her pieces had fallen out of the bag she had them in and we didn't have any of that glass in the shop so it's next week for sure! Therefore, rather than working on her butterfly Tracey began cutting out her newest Circular Magnolia Window. She actually got a great deal of it cut out but I forgot to take a picture of it which seems to becoming a habit for me. At least I have a picture of the pattern.

 

 

Lara's working on touching up the soldering on a window that was started long ago by our former student Jane. There were only a few rough spots left to go on the back side and although it wasn't finished this week it certainly will be when Lara returns.

 

 

June is about to embark on a Seahorse Window. She's traced out and numbered her pattern and will have some glass cut out and placed onto it when we next see this.

 

 

 

Lastly, just as she was last week, Judy was hard at work grinding on her Doggie Window.  Good things take time!

 

You certainly can't say that our students are slackers! 

 

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks 

I Feel A Song Coming On

June's Multi-Colored Cat is complete and now that it's hanging in the light it looks as snappy as it ever could be.  Not only do all her pieces fit together flawlessly but she also took her time coloring her window and waxing it giving the lead a wonderfully uniform copper coloring all throughout the window both front and back.   Too many people color their windows too quickly and end up having dark and splotchy  results.   

 

  

 

 

Paula finished up the work on her Girl with a Pearl Earring Suncatcher and it's a knockout. There's a certain beauty that can come out of simplicity and in this case the size of the piece also comes into play. There's always an implied but personally interpreted size that patterns should be made to. You can make a project so large that it appears clunky, or you can make it so small that it appears cramped. This Woman, however, is the perfect size.

 

  

 

 

Next we have Keri's Hand Mirror which was completed within two weeks and came together without a hitch.  I've saved the pattern because, well, you know how our students are when they see a new hand mirror being made!

 

 

Cindy's 3D Cactus and Flower Turned out wonderfully but getting that 'simple' flower together was a two hour affair. That said, it IS rewarding to see that the end result was well worth the time and effort!

 

 

 

 

 

Lara has official wound up all of the assorted sized Honeycomb Suncatchers that she's been making. I'm only picturing two of them here but she's put together just under 20 of them to decorate a friend's business!

 

 

 

 And here's a look at some of them hanging in their front window.

 

 

Mary Grace's Rider Spine Window was completed this week alas, Mary Grace remained at home. It turned out wonderfully and we hope to see Mary Grace back in the shop soon!

  

 

  

Susan D's Circular Woodpecker panel is almost completely foiled now which means that soldering will be happening before you know it.  Once the foil is applied to all of the pieces you can really see what the project will look like after it's been soldered.

 

 

 

Let may not have anything completed this week but she's got two projects in the works beginning with this Flower Butterfly that just needs wire work to finish it off. Let took it home with her because she really wants to do all of the wire work herself without feeling rushed due to the time restraint of our classes. I'm sure that we will see this completed upon her return.

 

  

 

Let is also working on a small Virgin Mary Window that she had seen Tracey make just a few weeks ago.  I'm currently unsure if she'll be putting a border on it or not but we will have a definite answer to that question when she comes back in.

  

 

Linda F grabbed the sheet of glass that she decided to use for her background and traced out and then cut out all of the pieces in just one short class. She has a little grinding to do before she wraps and tacks this together but wow is she flying through this project.

 

  

Here's a top down view of MiMi's lamp. She has the top half of it almost completely soldered (which is why I chose this angle) and she's only had one run through so far. That is amazingly good soldering! 3D pieces are tough enough to lead but balancing a large lamp in your lap and not allowing solder to run through is one of the toughest things you can hope to master! 

 

  

Martha has all of the glass cut for the lid of her Wedding Box and even has the side panel tacked together. The top will certainly be completed upon her return which means that she may be cutting a box bottom when she comes back in. 

  

 

Mary's been cutting away on assorted greens to make all of the stems and leaves in her Sunflower Window.   I'm thinking that it's time to consider border color(s) for this so we can order anything that we might not have in stock for her when she needs it.

 

 

 

Susan R has the second Bird for her Birds on a Branch Suncatcher all cut and ground. These are going to feature some wire work which will give the birds added detail which will bring them to life when they are completed.

  

 

 

Barbara's got her Irises all ground and has taken them along home with her to foil. I believe that the leaves will get drawn in next week after she quickly tacks her flowers together and she may even begin cutting the glass for them as well.

  

 

 

Julie decided to get her Irises cut out so she could end what could be the most tedious part of her window. Like Barbara, she's used a single sheet of purple glass for the Irises and has carefully positioned each piece so that there are easily discernible dark and light petals. Although you can see that here in the picture it will be much more apparent when there's some light behind this window.

 

 

  

Tracey soldered the second wing for her Butterfly Yard Decoration but inadvertent left the wing she had completed last week at home. That just means that the butterfly will be joined together next week.

  

 

With all of the background cut and ground Sheri's Scissor Tailed Flycatcher only has three pieces left to cut. She's currently on the fence about putting a beveled border on this. I think it looks great without one but if she really wants this to sparkle in the sunlight then bevels certainly won't hurt. 

 

  

 

 

Jan's Virgin Mary is nearly complete and certainly will be upon her return. She's done some nice work on this so I can't wait to see it with some light behind it.

 

  

 

Betty, as always, has a multitude of suncatchers under construction here. Although they aren't finished yet they very well could be next week because every single one of them is very near completion. Do you remember what I said about patterns having a definitive size to make them look either clunky or cramped? Well, I do believe that the smaller beveled crosses you see Betty working on here are the definitive size for that particular pattern.

 

  

 

I knew that Bee had traced out a pattern last week and I knew that I didn't get a picture of the pattern believing that I'd simply remember what it was and snap a pattern picture afterwards. Alas I'm old and I couldn't remember what she was making to save my life. This week she showed up with her Cross/Heart window (which I recalled the instant I saw it again) all completed save for the border which she now has all set for soldering.

 

  

And to wrap hings up here I will report that Judy's Dog Window got his face ground. I wish I could show it to you but them's the breaks!

 

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Who IS The Phantom Ducker?

Cindy's Wolf Window has been completed and she's also sent us a picture of the window installed.   She certainly finished this off in record speed and the recipients of the window absolutely love it. 

 

 

 Here's a peek at the window as installed from outside. Forgive the reflections-- they're hard to avoid when taking pictures on a sunny day.

 

 

Kandise soldered up her Sunset and Mountains Window and then finished it off by then washing, coloring, washing and waxing it. As you can see her colors work with each other spectacularly and that green path through the mountains really brings it to life.

 

 

 

 

Let made two windows this week the first of which is this stunning Tulip Panel that actually uses the same glass for it's border as the window above. There's a slight color difference because Let's window was taken in daylight while the Sunset window was taken at night in fluorescent lighting. This Tulip Window represents the glass much more accurately.

 

 

 

 

Let's second project has a very unique style about it. If you love symmetry, as I do, this will certainly appeal to you. As I pointed out two weeks ago she's changed the pattern so that the center section has 'star bevels' rather than round jewels or nuggets.  Don't just scroll on by without admiring Let's perfectly straight lines throughout that beveled center portion of her window because that is not easy to accomplish without determination.

 

 

 

Nettie put the finishing touches on her Wedding Box and its simplicity is what gives this gift it's real beauty. I guess it's Wedding season because you're going to see another Wedding box a little further on down in this post and interestingly enough Nettie will begin making a second box next week along with another student!

 

 

 

 

Betty completed four Wire Stemmed Daisy Suncatcher as well as a Brass Key Dragonfly.   She originally left the lead silver on the Key project but then colored it copper to better match the brass color of the actual key that the wings were soldered onto.  The end result was so much better as you can see below.

 

 

 

Keri's last two Pink Princess Philodendron Leaves have been completely completed(!) and she is officially taking a break from making these.  You'll see what's next in store for her a little further on down.

 

 

 

Susan R's Birds on a Branch are taking shape as the first of her four Birds has been cut.   She's certainly impressed other students with her pattern because we already have two other people who want to make this proving that Susan certainly has great taste! 

 

 

 

I knew I was going to do this. I took three pictures of Paula's newest project and trashed the one that I wrote the name of the project on. So I went on a digital dumpster dive and found that this window is based on The Girl With The Pearl Earring. It may be hard to see but that pearl earring is all picked out and it's looking just like a pearl.

 

 

 

So then, Keri not only finished off her pair of 3D Leaves, she also picked out a Flower Hand Mirror Pattern that we've never seen before.   She not only cut it all out in one night but also managed to grind it all as well!  For a relatively new student she sure is impressing people.

 

  

 

 

This Iris Window that Barbara has begun is of her own design. She's not entirely happy with the leaves but she is going to grind and tack the flowers together and then use her drawing as inspiration for a new assortment of leaves.

 

  

Martha has the majority of the hard work done for her Wedding Box. The G will form a side panel that rest along side the right side of the invitation to form a larger box top.

 

 

 

Julie has begun grinding the bottom quarter of her Heron Window so she can tack it together before cutting out the next section which will include the Irises. This will prevent any of the bottom pieces from sliding around as she's working on the most detailed part of her window.

 

  

 

 

Lorrie's Humming Birds and Flowers are all cut and ground leaving her with just the background left to cut which she has already begun working on (viewable in the lower right corner). It's more than a fair assumption to say that this will be finished before you know it.

 

 

 

Jan is only two small pieces away from soldering this Virgin Mary suncatcher. It's looking really good and she's even been working on it while at home!

 

  

 

 

June has her Multi-colored Cat Window all soldered and looking great. The only thing left to do is to wash and color this so we will definitely see this completed next week.

 

 

Sheri's Scissor Tailed Flycatcher is so close to being completely ground. I have no doubt that she'll foiling glass next week.

 

  

 

 

Linda L has taken her time with her Mickey and Minnie Window to achieve a perfect repeating and overlapping heart background.  That may sound like an oxymoron but the truth is that even though she took her time with this she was still able to finish the cutting and grinding with a thoroughly impressive amount of speed.  She's got it! 

 

 

 

With her missing piece of vine cut and all of her other pieces of glass ground Linda F will next be cutting out her background glass. The timing is perfect for this because her glass just arrived! And isn't this looking absolutely lovely?!

 

 

 

Lara's only got about three or four more Honeycombs left to solder and then she'll be working on a Bee to accent all of these Honeycombs.

 

 

 

MiMi is soldering away on her Lamp and will be for the next few weeks. She really has the hang of this and when you look closely you can easily see where she has a bead on the lamp and what is yet to be beaded. We lifted this up after class was over and all I can say is that it is already rock solid!

  

 

 

Cheryl's Mr. Bingle window is all soldered and just needs some channel attached and some touching up. She's already decided on her next project which we will reveal when she comes back in along with the finished picture of Mr. Bingle.

  

 

 

Mary Grace got her window all set to be soldered in absentia as all of the glass for her Spine Window has officially been cut and ground. Look to see this completed next week for sure.

  

 

Then you'll see that I didn't get a picture of what Bee was working on. I know it involved tracing out a new pattern but I can't remember what it was to save my life!

 

Lastly, Judy has the head of her Dog Window all cut and is now grinding it. I'd love to show a picture of it but it needs to be a surprise.

 

Ta-ta for now!

Paul 

Bayou Salé GlassWorks