Barking Up The Wrong Tree

I always say that the second one always goes quicker.  Case in point, when Lara left last week she still needed to solder her red stained glass Corset which she accomplished as soon as she walked in the door this week.   Then she went ahead and cut out a second Corset in a new color scheme and completed it before the night was through.  Since she had made them in two different colors I just have to ask: Which one is your favorite? 

 

 

 

 

 

Jan's Heart Plaque is nothing short of charming! The addition of two Curly-Q's just brought it all together perfectly. It's a minimal panel with a huge punch!

 

 

 

Judy's Woman's Head Window was completed just as class was ending. I think it's a very stylish piece and I won't be very surprised if someone else doesn't decide to make one as well. 

 

 

 

Keri's third and final Pink Princess Philodendron Leaf has been completed but it looks like she's going to be making three more of these leaves for another flower pot that she'll be giving to her mother. She's definitely on a roll here! 

 

In my quest for making at least one suncatcher a week to help restock the shop I've put together a quick Tulip Pendant which only measures 4 inches in diameter. Then I took some small leftover strips and cut them into angles to dress up a 2 x 2 bevel to form a unique looking Suncatcher as well. I still have some strips left over and another idea so expect to see something similar again next week.

 

 

Linda F has her Butterfly all ground and I only just realized that she's going to make this with angled 3D wings.  That will easily happen next week when  we'll cover that unsightly center seam with a butterfly body! 

 

  

 

Paula is working on a Cat Suncatcher and already has it all cut and ground.    The mouth will be made with wire which will be attached after this cat has been soldered which could very well happen next week.  I'll bet dollars to doughnuts on that!

 

 

 

Julie's Multi-colored Star is all foiled and ready for soldering. She really impressed me with her foiling abilities because these pieces are much smaller than you may think. The problem with foiling small pieces is that it's hard to surround the piece in foil while not crushing the foil on the edges that you have already covered. Luckily, Julie took her time and in the end she got the job done like she's done this a hundred times before.

 

  

 

 

Tracey was so busy that she got a HUGE amount of work done on her Virgin Mary Window! It's almost completely cut out already which means that she'll be grinding away when she comes back in. 

  

 

 

As you can see, Mary has also been a busy woman.  She's got all of the petals cut for the top most Sunflower and is now hard at work at grinding them.   After that she'll wrap and tack that flower before moving onto the next one.

 

 

 

Linda L has each of her Mice all ground and foiled but she's voted against tacking them together at this point in time since she's going to be on vacation and she doesn't want her window to sit with flux on it any longer than it needs to sit. So for the remainder of the class she worked on cutting out some of the clear glass hearts that form the background of this window (which you can see in a stack just above Mickey's nose). Linda says that working with clear window glass is "GREAT!" because it cuts so easily and she's certainly correct on that! 

 

 

 

Betty said that she knew that her Mardi Gras Mask wouldn't be completed in time for the big day but that just means that she's going to be ahead of the game for next year. With all of her background cut out she's now working on grinding her pieces of which there are very few to go.  

 

  

 

 

Cindy is flying through the cutting and grinding of her Wolf Window. This is another window whose size is misleading because this is almost to the point of being mammoth. Because of the size of this we had to add lead lines so that larger pieces would fit onto a standard sheet of glass. The wolf itself wasn't a problem but the Moon and the background had to be 'broken' down into smaller pieces.

 

  

 

 

Susan R has changed her little Yorkie's ear and has cut all but three pieces for this dog's cute little face. Also, I still need to find a nice pink for the tongue because the person who has the pink I wanted to steal a scrap from wasn't able to make it into class this week!

 

  

 

 

June has returned and her Muti-Colored Cat got its background all cut out, ground, foiled and tacked into position. Once that was done June still had time to pick out a matching muti-colored border color, get it cut into strips, and then into their individual pieces as well. That's a productive night for sure.

 

  

 

 

Let has got the background all cut and ground for her Circular Flower Window which is an impressive amount of work. Look VERY closely and you'll be able to see some purposeful gaps between the background glass which will fill with lead to form a much thicker line to better represent stems rather than lead lines. One of these thicker lines comes off of the main stem that runs up the center of the window to the flowers. Next week Let will cut her bevels and learn how to foil them because nothing is ever easy and that includes foiling a bevel that has had to be cut.

 

 

 

Martha is all tacked together and soldering away. She has the majority of the front of this soldered so perhaps this will be completed next week when we see it again!

 

  

 

 

Well look at this! Keri already has her next Pink Princess Philodendron leaf cut and ground!

 

 

 

MiMi is foiling her life away. There's also some good and bad news here--We have the cap for her lamp but I forgot to show it to her. Alas, it will here when MiMi comes back in. Next we need to decide on what kind of wiring this will be accepting which is dependent on whether this will hang from the ceiling of stand on a base. We have plenty of time for that though.

  

 

Mary Grace finished tacking together the rectangular Spine portion of her Window and then moved on to grinding the letters for the smaller text section that will reside under the spine. With the letters having been ground the next hard part of working on the text will be tracing the letters out onto the background glass and then cutting and grinding all of that background to fit nicely. I always say that when it comes to stained glass, text is a four letter word.

  

 

Cheryl got the final border attached to her Mr Bingle Window and then cut the hat out of the correct color of glass. Alas, while working on the hat we noticed that Mr Bingle's arm was cut out of the background glass color rather than white but it's a simple fix. We've knocked out the incorrect color and will replace it when she comes back in next month. Yep, Cheryl will be missing a few classes due to other obligations but rest assured she will be back in plenty of time to have this window completed in time for Christmas 2026!

 

 

 

 

Annette has got her border tacked onto her Central Catholic Window and even got a channel attached to it as well. This sucker is ready for soldering. I know it isn't her favorite thing to do but she's better at it than she thinks she is so I have no doubts at all that she'll do a great job. When it comes to soldering, slow and steady makes the smoothest lead lines.

 

 

Mardi Gras is upon us so everyone have fun storming the castle! 

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Looking Like a White Alligator

Betty barely began this Barber Pole when we last checked in with her and this week we see that it's been completed and ready to hang in a window.  There's some excellent work done here and  the simple addition of two thin strips of clear window glass on either side of the pole really helps sell the idea that there is some curved glass going around the pole.  Wonderful! 

 

 

Kandise decided to simply use a large zinc channel to border her Three Puppies Window.  We'd normally use smaller brass channel but had we used it here there would be no secure way to hang the window.  Using the heavier zinc channel  allows us to drill holes into the zinc which a piece of chain will then attach to for hanging.   I've got to say that I was impressed with Kandise's soldering on this.  I can clearly see the improvement in her soldering skills with each new project she makes. 

 

 

Shelley's Ballerina Hoop was completed after she focused on fitting the legs into the hoop and making sure that they lined up with the body in a natural manor.   It's far too easy to just make them fit by having the ballet shoes touch the hoop without realizing that the top of the legs don't align with the body in a natural form.  I've seen far too much of that in stained glass pieces scattered throughout the internet.  Shelley's lines up wonderfully from a pattern the she even drew herself!

 

Here we have the first of three Mushrooms that Mary Grace began last week.  She completed this at home and only needed to bring it in to get a stake attached to it so that it can decorate a flower pot.  She done a wonderful job on this! 

  

 

Linda F is back!  She even managed to stay for the entire class which gave her more than enough time to put the finishing touches on this colorful Flower Pot Decoration.  She not only retained her soldering skills during the 3 months that she's been out but she's also completely mastered the tap-tap technique  that has been so worrisome to her in the past!

 

Keri's got her second Pink Princess Philodendron Leaf completed and she's got the third and final leaf all ground and ready for foiling.  These are sweet but they are really going to hit their stride when we get a picture of them in the flower pot she plans to plant them in!  I'm expecting that to happen in our next post.

 

 

Lorrie's Address Window was completed on time but things were so hectic that I didn't manage to get a completed picture of it.   So I'm posting one of her previous Address Windows to give you a feel for what it is she accomplished this week. The numbers and the colors may be different but the idea is the same.

Let has got another beautiful window under construction which will feature two small rows of bevels that she will cut to match the circle outside edge of the window.   This will also feature some lead lines that will be thicker than others so that the stems of the large flower don't get mistaken for regular lead lines which are included to make other cuts possible.

  

 

Lara is taking a small break from her African Woman Window and after looking through numerous small project patterns she settled upon this Bustier which she cut, ground and foiled in one class. This will be accessorized with wires which will intertwine down through the thin center piece of glass to form the laces. This has turned out to be a fun project for Lara to make which is exactly what she needed to take a bit of a break.

 

As I said earlier, Linda L managed to complete her Flower Pot Decoration with time to spare and rather than wasting that time she embarked on a new Butterfly project which is already coming together.

 

  

 

 

Mary is officially cutting glass for her Sunflower Window and is beginning by working on the top large flower. By getting the hard part out of the way first she'll face less stress with each passing week. She's also going to wrap and tack this first flower as well as cut and grind it. This will prevent things from shifting out of position as she works her way through the four Sunflowers that make up this window.  

 

  

 

Annette's Central Catholic Window got its background glass cut and attached. Once that was done she had to pick glass for the border and everyone agreed that the blue baroque was not only the best fit but a perfect one as well. She has it all cut out and just needs to grind and foil each of the pieces so she can then begin soldering.

  

 

Betty is also working on this Mardi Gras Mask Window. With Mardi Gras being just a week away and Betty still having one more class before that it's hard to say if this will be finished in time for this years celebrations or not. I guess it all depends on what she gets accomplished while at home.

  

 

Cindy's Lone Wolf Window is not only turning heads but is also shocking our students when they see just how large this window actually is. You can never tell the true size of a window by its picture which explains a lot of the surprised looks that occurred when this was seen under the work table. Cindy herself says that this is a fun and easy window to make due to the size of all of the pieces. The down side is that she is going through a LOT of glass to make this.

 

  

 

 

Susan R has a scant 6 pieces left to go before she begins foiling her incredibly cute Yorkie Dog. She's second guessing the color she used in one of the ears and I say change it or she'll never be content with the finished piece. That is a proven fact. Alas, I still think this dog is as cute as a button!

 

  

 

 

Cheryl has her double borders cut out and even has the first thinner border attached to her Mr Bingle Window. Once she tacks the second one into place she'll fill in the hat (which she had cut out of the wrong color) and the face (which will require some paint for the mouth and eyes). Then there's a tiny piece of window trim that will need to be filled in as well.

  

 

 

Barbara's Fleur De Lis got its background cut, ground, foiled and soldered into place. She then thought that she might use bevels for the border but we had cut the background before thinking about a beveled border so we hadn't sized it out to even inches for that so she's decided to use colored glass instead. If you want to utilize a beveled border you must plan for it while that pattern is being drawn since bevels only come in set sizes.   

 

  

 

Susan D's Woodpecker is almost completely cut out now.  She says that she's going to use paint for the eye and with something this small it's not just an easier way out--it's going to look far better as well.  Grinding and eye into the glass would create an eye that's a little too large because of the size of the grinding bit that would be used to make it.   It's a small bit, but just not quite small enough and that's why painting the eye is the best solution for this window.

  

 

 

Bee has almost got the center oval center section of her Dragonfly Window all tacked together.   Once the four full wings were ground and positioned correctly she decided on a pattern to cut into them which adds detail to each wing. We made sure that all of the cuts could be made to separate them from one another on each wing so that after it was cut it would just drop into place with only a quick skim across the grinder.   As you can see from the wings on the right side its working out perfectly!  She'll be foiling the left side when she comes back in (the cuts have already been made) and then Bee will decide what she wants to do about the background.  She's got the white BG pieces cut but the question is whether she wants a border on the window.   If not she'll need to cut more radiating lines into the background for stability.

 

  

 

 

Linda L 's Mickey and Minnie Window is taking shape nicely.   Now that she's got the faces and bodies ground as well as foiled she'll next tack them together to create one large piece of glass rather than a collection of smaller pieces which can easily shift around.  Her intricate background requires absolute precision so stability is of the utmost importance.  Tacking portions as you go also means that they have been foiled and therefore the foil won't cause pieces to 'grow' later and cause those beautiful hearts to become misaligned. 

 

 

Lorrie also foiled away on her Peacock Window and she's pretty sure this is the last Peacock that she'll be making (for a while anyway).  When she completed her first Peacock she said that the next Peacock would have far fewer pieces in it.  As you can see she either kept the same number of pieces with this project or she went for even more!

 

 

 

Judy finished cutting all of the pieces for her Lady's Head and spent some extra time making sure that the curves of the face formed a perfect chin, lips, and nose as well as a beautifully contoured forehead. This was the most important piece of the entire window and we always grind the focal point (the face in this case) before we grind the background. The background needs to fit the face which should be ground first. Grinding these pieces in the reverse order always ends up creating a distorted face.

 

  

 

Martha's been a foiling fool but she's almost ready to solder her beautiful oval Hummingbird/Iris Oval. All of her pieces fit wonderfully and she even adjusted the outside edge all by her lonesome to align with a piece of glass that was cut a bit too short. She initially saw it as a huge problem but figured out how to balance things out buy making other pieces smaller as well. It was a perfect solution to a perplexing problem.

 

 

Mary Grace was hard at work on her Spine Window. Her lettering along the bottom is cut out and still needs to be ground but we want to finish the spine portion of the window, the main subject matter, before she begins working on grinding her letters into position. There's still a considerable amount of work to go on this but Mary Grace is working steadily through it. 

  

 

 

Tracey is about to work on a small window of the Virgin Mary. After picking out the pattern she traced it out and will come back next week all rested and ready to cut glass.

 

 

 

 

And here's a look at the next pattern that Betty will be making. It's free flowing with some unique leaded sections which you'll see as this takes shape.

 

And that's all there is to report!

 

Sayonara for now,

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

 

Let’s Manifest Success Not Failure

Tracey's Circular Magnolia moved along quicker than I thought because although I was a little skeptical about it being completed this week here we are looking at her beautifully constructed and finished  Magnolia Window!   Of course Tracey has made this before which means that it will go quickly since she knows all the ins and outs of making this pattern.  Beautiful. 

 

 

 

Mary's Eye Of the Tiger also got to see the light of day this week and as always she's done a great job on this project. She never rushes and is always willing to redo anything if it doesn't work out perfectly for her. "Close is never good enough" might just be her motto and it surely shows here.

 

 

 

Let completed another of her signature Suncatcher/Small Panel Flowers with this one being an orange Tulip surrounded by a bordering ring of blue scallops. The border puts a whole new spin on these types of designs that Let is so fond of.

 

 

Lorrie's second large 3D Macaw was washed, colored and then attached to its metal hoop. This gives her one large and one medium Macaw to hang on her deck. Before class ended she told me that wanted to do one more but smaller than the other two by 2 more inches. We'll have the pattern for that drawn up for her next week.

 

 

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this is the last of the Cardinal Crosses that Cindy needs to make. I believe I've said that twice before already but since she's moved onto her large Wolf Window I'm thinking this is the last of the Crosses for a while at least.

Hare's a quick look at a large window that I've made.   The picture isn't the best but that's largely due to the fact that we have all of our plants in the shop where I normally take pictures.  This window is so large that I can't get good lighting to get a nice sharp picture through and through, but you get the idea.

Annette's Central Catholic Logo (of Morgan City) is all cut and ground!   She walked out of class last week with only a pattern for this in her hand and just look at it this week!  This is amazing work and she even got it all foiled in one class.   There's no doubt that well get a background cut for it when she comes back in as well as a border. 

 

 

 

As promised, here's a look at Susan R 's Yorkie Dog which has really taken shape since you've last seen it. Faces are hard to do largely because of the eyes. They have to be perfect or the entire face looks crooked whether it be human or animal. As you can see, Susan's Yorkie is neither cross eyed nor twisted and that's the result of her meticulous grinding.

 

 

 

Lorrie needs an Address Window done quickly and drawing a pattern for that is one of the simplest things to do so it was ready for her when she walked in the door. She began her class by coloring her Macaw and set to work on this Address Window. In less than 3 hours she had it all cut and ground save for the border pieces. She'll be foiling this at home and I have no doubt that this will be completed when she comes back in. Impressive!

 

  

 

Cindy's newest Window is going to be a semi Sci-Fi take on a Wolf howling at the moon.  Why Sci-Fi?  Well, there appears to be a planet looming largely behind the moon.  It's unique and it will surely make people take a second look at it whether they want to or not!

 

 

Paula was a little bit in between projects so she looked around in the smaller projects patterns and decided to make a 3D succulent. It will consist of either 9 or 10 pieces of assorted lengths of tall green petals which she's already cut out and has begun grinding. This will be assembled before you know it.

 

  

  

Jan tacked together her hear Panel and got the border cut and ground as well.   Alas, we had an issue which caused two of the border pieces to break but we re-cut those easily out of the scrape glass that she had left over.  This could likely be completed upon Jan's return.

 

 

 

I've learned the name of the bird that Sheri is making so I'll pass it along here now. It's a Scissor Tailed Flycatcher and she has almost everything but the background cut out now. She was going to get the few remaining leaves cut out but had accidentally left those pattern pieces at home. No matter, that will be handled quickly enough when she comes back in.

 

 

Kandise flew through the grinding process of her Trio of Colorful Dogs and even managed to get all of the pieces foiled. She's thinking about a multi colored border for this which we will see next week after she cuts, grinds, and attaches it. And knowing Kandise this will be well on its way to being soldered as well!

 

 

 

Martha's got all of her Oval Hummingbird/Iris Window ground and is foiling her pieces now. Slow and steady may win the race but Martha works with precision at a faster rate of speed than that!

 

 

 

 

Barbara ground all of her fancy Mardi Gras Fleur De Lis and then wrapped them in copper foil as well. Next week she'll be able to tack this together and then get the background cut and ground as well.

 

 

 

Susan D was busy designing her next circular panel which involves a detailed woodpecker. The pattern is all set now which means that she'll be cutting glass when we see her again.

 

 

 

Mary's newest window is going to be spectacular to say the least. This is one of the most detailed sunflower designs that I've ever seen. Never forget that the extra work that you put into a project ALWAYS shows in the end.

  

 

Until our paths cross again,

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks