Martha's version of the Fancy Fleur De Lis has been set into a window with a clear seedy background glass and a multi-colored border that matches the Fleur De Lis. The end result is stunning even though the iridised glass barely photographed at all. When Martha came in all she had left to do on this was to color the lead with copper patina which didn't take long to do at all so she was also able to work on something else as well..
In the remaining time that Martha had during her class she was also able to knock out this cute Flowerpot Succulent that she made for her friend Paula. Martha was thinking that she might have to add two more leaves along the top of the plant but I talked her into realizing that it's perfectly balanced as is.
Betty got a pair of new Crosses completed and these are identical right down to the iridised white glass that makes the cloth that drapes over the Crosses. Look closely and you can see the hints of pink, teal and even some yellow that shine within the white glass when the light hits it just right.
Mary Grace has another Initialed Volley Ball completed and this one is brought to you by the letter 'C'. Interestingly enough I decided to help Mary Grace by tacking the letter onto the ball and ended up tacking it on both backwards and upside down! It's a good thing she noticed because I was simply going under the assumption that the smooth side of the glass was the front. Unbeknownst to me Mary Grace had reversed the pieces so that the textured side would be forward as you can plainly see in the photo below.
Now let's look at the newest projects that have been started this week. We see that Linda L has begun work on three Standing 3D Easter Rabbits complete with a butterfly on each of their noses. They are essentially cut ground and wrapped so we will see these begin to get soldered next week.
Kandise is nearing the halfway point on her Birds In A Row but the pressure of these little buggers with their myriad of tiny pieces is taking a hold. I've told her that it's fine to step back and work on something else but she thinks she wants to get to the center Cardinal before taking a small break from this. You've got to admit though that it IS indeed looking very good as well as colorful. And let's face it- there's certainly nothing wrong with her work at all!
Meanwhile on the other table Melissa is working on five birds of her own. Hers are much larger than Kandise's birds but Melissa's have a very intense background of flowers, leaves and branches that will surely put her to task. Right now Melissa is having a great time working on this project and that's largely because she's in love with the pattern and that always adds extra fuel to the fire of creation.
After rearranging what pieces would be cut from what colors, Judy's Humming bird now looks more uniform and coherent. She had begun cutting it out using the 'color scheme' that a previous student did with hers but what Judy didn't realize was that the bird had previously been cut out of just one sheet of glass with different densities of the color running haphazardly throughout the bird. Here Judy used four different glasses for the Humming Bird and spread the colors evenly throughout which looks far better.
With the first of her pair of Mardi Gras Crowns all cut and ground Cindy is about ready to begin cutting out her second crown (which is a completely different pattern from the first one). The second crown is tiara-like with a lot of opened areas so I guess what she will end up with will be a His-and Her Crown Set.
Bee has begun cutting glass for her LSU Tiger Eyes Window and she's working on the Tiger portion first. Interestingly enough, when she first walked in the door and set her glass down both Martha and I both wondered what she was cutting out of white glass. When we asked her she simply replied, "The white pieces" to which Martha and I both said, "But there are no white pieces in it". Bee then showed us a picture of a previously finished tiger and much to our surprise there ARE white pieces throughout the face. The moral of this story here is to never trust your memory if you are over 60 years of age!
Let fell in love with the Uniquely Shaped Cross Window that Barbara was making and decided that she was going to make one herself. Betty told her that she had made one in the past but that hers had a beveled cross in the center and brought in the pattern for Let to see. The beveled cross for this particular pattern is no longer being manufactured but Betty just happened to have a spare bevel set with her and ended up allowing Let to use it. With her background glass all cut out and the beveled cross tacked together Let is making amazing headway on this piece!
Zoe got her background sky glass cut out for her Duck Window and it all flows together perfectly since it was cut from one contiguous piece of glass. Having an unbroken pattern throughout the sky makes a window look so much better and when it is completed. I'll show you how most people would make this window as opposed to how we make it here at Bayou Salé GlassWorks in our next post.
Lorrie has the front side of her Underwater Scene soldered and she also got the border attached. Once that was finished we CAREFULLY flipped the window over (it's a two person job when you're dealing with a window this large) and Lorrie was able to begin soldering the back side. There's a chance that she could complete the soldering on this when she comes back in but washing it and waxing it will definitely take some time and the washing will need to be done outdoors with a hose. That said, I'm certain that we will see this completed in two weeks time.
The foiling on the pieces of June's Multi-colored Elephant is nearing its completion and from the looks of things a background glass will be added sooner rather than later. I'm personally thinking that a clear textured glass will give the Elephant the spotlight it deserves but we'll see what June thinks when she come to that point of her window.
MiMi is grinding one tiny piece at a time for her lamp and is thrilled to be able to employ her stained glass clamp which is saving her fingers as well as her manicure! Everyone knows that grinding small pieces can be a pain but the little yellow 'pliers' that you see in the lower right of the pattern makes grinding tiny pieces so much easier because they completely grip the glass and give you something substantial to hold onto while exerting pressure against the grinding wheel. MiMi says that for this project they are a life saver!
With the missing pieces all filled in and her border now attached to her colorful Sunburst Window Jan is ready to begin soldering. Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to soldering and Jan is going to solder this the same way that she did her last window. That means she won't be moving her iron back and forth but rather in a steady singular direction to ensure that she gets a nice solder line on top of all of her copper foil.
Sheri has all of her glass ground now for her Koi Fish Window save for a few pieces that were broken or skipped over. In our classes we simply skip these pesky missing pieces and assemble what we have to prevent things from sliding around. It also allows us to use the opening in the window as a pattern which makes filling in those pieces a lot easier. Next week we will see some of this with foil on it!
And lastly, it's official-- all of the lettering for Cheryl's Harley-Davidson Window have been been cut and tacked together. That leaves only border work and four pieces of clear background glass left to go. Since those are all easy cuts Cheryl will be having a much better time in class from here on out.
And that, my friends, is the last project to show you this week! Well, I'll be jitterbugged- it's time to boogie!
Paul
