Sounds Like Post Dramatic Stress To Me

Linda F made this Vegetable Window in no time at all. She would have had it completed sooner but she had headed out on a vacation for a while which didn't quite slow down progress on this so much as halt progress on it. Take out those vacation days and you see before you a window that Linda made quickly and efficiently as well as beautifully.

 

This is the first of three windows that Lara is making for a friend and this will most likely occupy the rightmost position of the three openings in the wall that she's aiming to fill.   She's about to begin cutting out a similar window whose Lily will face the opposite direction.  It won't be an exact match to this one but the theme will be similar enough to have the two windows bookend the center flower design which will come after this one.

 

Catherine completed her Traditional Stained Glass Window and it certainly is lovely.  Let's also pay attention to her amazing soldering skills also.  This came together almost effortlessly for Catherine and it surely proves that she has the right stuff!

 

 

I fell in love with this design when Kandise walked into the shop with it and now that I see the wonderful job that she did on making it I love it even more. It is THE perfect gift for a musically inclined individual!

 

 

 

 

Cindy put the finishing touches on the two 'Suncatchers' that she had begun previously. The Frog has been ready for a while but the Louisiana Collage took a little more time especially when dealing with all she's had going on around home. They both look wonderful to me.

 

 

 

Let finish off her latest clear textured Modern Art design and even surrounded it with an inside border of bevels.  It's light, it's airy and it's a great way to use up some of those scrap pieces that keep building up. 

 

 

 

  

Betty's been on a constant roll with her Silverware Dragonflies but this week she came in with a new pattern that she's drawn up all on her own. Her first Silverware Butterfly was made of iridised glass and features metal accents. Expect to see more of these because this is the bomb!

 

 

 

Here's Cheryl's Fleur De Lis Window that she will be donating so that it can be auctioned off. I don't have the exact size of this but let me say that at approximately 21 x 21inches this is far bigger than you might initially assume. Let's hope that it brings in the big bucks for a good cause!

 

Nettie's Nativity Scene is just about completed save for the channel that will attach them all together.   I don't have a picture of that but we will see it completed next week.  Below I have a picture of the Dove/Cross that she made before calling it a night.   Very nice indeed!

Susan R is hard at work on her Watering Can with Flowers.  This will be a hanging piece rather than a window which makes it somewhat hard to define.  It's too large to be a suncatcher but it isn't squared off to be a considered a window.   No matter what it technically 'is', I do believe that it's well on its way to looking great!

  

 

 

Paula's Window looks amazing and I'm embarrassed to admit that I completely forget what the flowers are called! I'd know the name to hear it but off the top of my head I'm drawing a blank. Nonetheless, the pattern is beautiful and I know that her precision work (as already shown below) will make this shine!

 

  

 

 

Cindy has also started a dozen Heart/Cross Suncatcher which should keep her busy for at least a little while.  Then again she IS proficient at making these because she's made at least two dozen of them in the past!

  

 

And with her Fleur De Lis Window completed Cheryl is back to work on her Mardi Gras Pelican.  I love her use of iridised glasses. I would never say that it makes the whole project 'pop' but it does make it stand out beautifully

 

  

 

 

I'm thrilled to announce that there's only the smallest bit of soldering left to go on the inside of Mimi's Lamp which means that within the next two weeks we will get to see the end result of her months of hard work. I have no doubt that it will all have been worth it!

 

 

 

Bee's Long Tall Iris has all of its glass cut out and it's almost completely foiled save for six pieces.  She'll be soldering this little gem when she comes back in and that's a certainty!  (I am going make a suggestion though...)

 

 

 

 

Barbara's got the front side of her Christmas Alligator soldered and then flipped it over to do the back side just before calling it a day.  That means that this will most likely be completed when she comes back in since the first side soldered so quickly. 

 

  

 

Mary Grace has moved on over to a series of five more Picture Frames. She's made them before and she's determined to do it all again.  In fact, she's already got one of them well under way this week. There's even a chance that this first one will be completed when she comes back.

 

  

 

 

With her pieces all foiled Julie is ready to begin soldering her Heron Window!  Her final border is the perfect color and gives the window a nice bright feel.  This window was NOT an easy pattern to tackle but Julie has, without a doubt, shown it who the boss is!

 

 

 

 

Betty's Ribbon Swirl has been cut and ground so she's now ready to begin foiling. The symmetry is strong in this and the fact that Betty has followed the pattern perfectly is what makes this design look so good. Just wait until you see some light behind this.

 

  

 

 

That said, I'm anxiously waiting for this window to be backlit because Keri has already made her Peony Window look amazing even though there's no light behind them yet. With her border all cut she's going to be ready to begin soldering this before you know it

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Susan D has discovered that sometimes looks can be deceiving. You would likely assume that these 24 pieces would be easy to cut as grind but the fact of the matter is that the inside curves on the top of each piece that form the bottom and middle rows have points that break off VERY easily. Most of that curve has to be formed by grinding it out (unless you don't like beautifully connecting pieces the way that Susan D does!)

  

 

 

Lorrie has been making a lot of progress while she's been home working on her Bee and Flowers Window. She's now at the point where she's filling in the background with a clear textured art glass. The green she's used for her leaves is perfection and I believe this window is going to be even nicer than I ever thought it would.

 

 

 

Tracey decided to add another border to her Cross Window and boy did it ever change the look of the window! It looked good before but now it just looks flat out GREAT!  Using the same color that she used for the Cross itself was a stroke of genius and there's just something about it now that suggests an antique stained glass window that you'd find in an ancient Church.

 

 

 

Mary has both sides of her Fish Window soldered which means that all this needs now is to be washed, colored and waxed. There will also be a tad bit of wire work involved to make the hook that this Fish is going after but that will take only a minute or two to add at most. Look to see this as a completed window when we next return.

 

  

 

And lastly, with her border attached and the front side of her Polygonal Window all soldered Sheri has flipped her window over so she can solder the back side while she's at home throughout the week. This is nearly completed and only needs an initial tacked to it once the soldering has been completed. I think Sheri is just about ready to call this one 'finished'.

 

 

 

As I always respond to our students when they ask if they can do something, "Let’s make it happen!"

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

I'm An Atari Girl

Martha's newest Beveled Cross features a Cardinal in the center unlike her last one which had a rose.  Careful planning and grinding allows this bird to perch steadily within the confines of this graceful cross.

 

 

 

Susan R put the finishing touches on her latest 'Rain Gauge' which I was informed is NOT a rain gauge but a plant holder!  So that means that I mislabeled her last two pieces as well.   This doesn't measure the amount of rain but rather holds a small plant in the glass tube that you can barely see in the center of the piece! 

 

 

Nettie completed the soldering on her third and final Nativity Scene.  Next comes the part where we connect all three together.  We had an idea but I may have to re-think it...  Meanwhile, Nettie is just about finished with a small Cross and Dove Suncatcher as well.

 

 

 

Susan D is making a bird feeder that she will repurpose for use as a bird bath of sorts. She'll simply place a small container in the bottom of this filled with water and then the birds will have their own spa!

 

  

 

 

Tracey is back at work on her Cross Window and is very close to finishing it off.   She already has the center soldered and is now foiling a few remaining border pieces.  This is the part we call the 'home stretch'!

 

 

 

Lorrie's newest window is of a Bee buzzing around four white Daisies. She's grinding as she's cutting and the Bee itself already looks amazing. She also has a flower cut out over on the bottom right but the white glass isn't showing up very well against the white paper that the pattern was drawn on.

 

  

 

 

Barbara is early for Christmas with her Alligator Santa Panel. The pattern itself came from a cookie jar proving that ideas can come from anywhere!

 

 

 

 

Mary Grace has begun a new project and it's a large suncatcher in the shape of a Heart with a Cross in the center of it. As you can see, she's moving right along with it. 

 

 

 

Cindy is back in action and she has her Frog Suncatcher all cut and ground. Rather than wasting time foiling those pieces while in class she opted to work on her Louisiana Suncatcher by cutting out glass for that. She'll foil her Frog at home and then come back in with it ready to be displayed in a window.

 

  

 

 

Betty is working on a pinwheel design or possibly a geometric design.  Or is it a Flowing Ribbon?  Who knows, but it sure is pretty and colorful.  It's an old Spectrum Glass Pattern but I can't find any text on it that explicitly reveals what it is.  Nonetheless, it's gonna be a looker.

 

 

 

Kandise has her Treble Clef and Heart Suncatcher  ground and foiled which means that she'll be soldering this (as well as completing it) when she returns.  There's something about this that I really like.

 

  

 

 

Catherine foiled and tacked together the background glass for her Traditional Stained Glass Window and then picked out and strip cut the remaining 16 pieces of her border. After she skimmed them on the grinder she bagged them in four separate zip lock bags (left, top, right, and bottom) and took them along home with her so she can come in next week ready to tack and solder! 

 

 

 

Cheryl soldered the back side of her Fleur De Lis Window which means that we will, without a doubt, see this hanging up with some light behind it when we see her again next week. All it needs now are some hooks and then she'll be ready to wash and color this.

 

 

 

Bee has the first of her borders cut and ground for her Long Tall Iris Window and her color choice is spectacular! She's going to follow this up with a slightly wider clear textured border and then she'll be able begin soldering. This has always been a favorite window of mine and when I get some free time I think I'll make one again.

 

 

Kerry has all of the grinding done on her stunning Flower Window and her use of and iridized clear background blends perfectly with the colors she has used in all of her flowers. Composition is just one part of a window. Color choices, no matter how nice the pattern, will either make or break a window. In this case it definitely makes it!

 

 

 

Lara's first Flower Panel is all set to get its stamen attached when she comes back in since she got all of her soldering completed this week. The stamen won't take long at all which means that next week we are going to be over run with beautiful completed windows!

 

 

 

As I was saying, here's another window that only needs some solder added to it which in turn means that Let's Clear Abstract Window will also be featured as a finished window next week. I know that because Let would never allow a window that's this close to completion just sit around all week. This will be soldered by her while she's at home for sure!

 

 

 

Then Linda F got all of the soldering for her Vegetable Window completed while in class but we still need to get some hooks on it. Once that's done she'll wash it, color it and then hang it up as a completed project.

 

 

 

With the front of her Fish Window soldered Mary has flipped it over and begun working on the putting lead onto the back side. Since she got the front soldered in just one class I have no doubt that she'll get this finished during her next class which amounts to another completed window!

 

 

 

Sheri has her project all tacked together save for the border. She would have had that completed this week but we didn't have the frame that this will fit into and we therefore didn't want to cut any border glass without being able to double check the measurements. Measure twice, cut once! 

 

 

 

And here at the end of this weeks post we look at the fancy Flower Pot that Susan R is about to make. She got her pattern traced out onto card stock this week which means that she'll begin cutting glass when she returns!

 

 

 

 

And with that all said, thank you for your time!

  

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks 

 

I'm More Garage Sale Bougie

Lorrie's Woman in a Bathtub in a Hoop turned out to be exceptionally beautiful.  Placing it in a hoop allowed her to have negative space (in this case the walls) which is what really sets this piece off.   We've seen this pattern done before in many different ways but I've only ever seen it done as a Hoop one other time and that was when I made it that way.   I must say that Lorrie's is equally impressive.

 

 

 

Let's Cross that she completed this week is a bit of a marriage. It uses a cross whose center I could never get to work out elegantly but which works out perfectly here due to the cloth draped over it which hides the center (and makes the marriage).  Look closely you can even see a dove hidden within the cloth!

 

 

 

Susan R had a trying day but ended up finishing two of her three Rain Gauges.   The red, white and blue one even features solder 'dots along the outside edge.  In the end Susan decided to put these on stakes since we both agreed that hanging them from a chain would make them hang crookedly due to the weight of the glass tube on the front combined with any water in it.

  

 

 

Betty is knocking out more Silverware Dragonflies and this week she completed three of them (but I only took a picture of two of them).  It's a fair assumption that we know what these look like in all kinds of assorted colors.  I will say this though.  Betty's 'dotting' abilities are formidable!

Tracey is taking a bit of a break from her Cross Window by working on this picture frame. She only had a few pieces left to go before she begins grinding which means that this project will be a very short diversion from her much larger Cross Window.

 

 

Let is about to begin a clear Geometric Window complete with assorted bevels. This should go together lickety-split for her since all of the bevel work has been completed.

 

 

 

Catherine's  Standard Stained Glass Design is moving right along.  She's already got the centerpiece cut ground and foiled which means that she'll tack this together when she comes in and will then cut the background for it.  That should go fairly quickly.

Bee's Long Tall Iris Window is coming together in a delightful way. Now that there's only a stem left to cut for the main scene I'd say that she'll be needing to pick out some border glass soon. 

 

 

Julie's got all but one piece of her background glass cut and ground. She'll wrap these when she comes back in and then work on her final border! I knew the background would go quickly if she cut it from one piece of glass as a whole rather than individual pieces spread about on the glass.  That's always the case.

 

  

  

With her last border cut, ground, wrapped and tacked into place Cheryl has begun soldering her Fleur De Lis Window.   I don't think it will be long before we see this hanging up in its completed form.

 

 

 

Lara ground all of her glass for her Flower Window and has it all foiled and ready to be tacked together. She's picked out some wonderful glass beads to form the flower's stamen but that won't get attached until the entire window has been completely soldered.

 

  

 

Sheri has made excellent progress on her Polygonal Window.  She's pretty sure that she's going to add an initial to the center of it by making a suncatcher of the letter 'D' and then tacking it into place on top of all of her triangles.  You should know that what you see below is just three quarters of her entire window.  It's all that would fit on the longest board that we had at the time so she's making this in two different sections and then tacking them together to form one large window.

  

  

This is Annette's third and final panel for her Nativity scene. She still has to solder the back side of this camel but once that's done she'll be ready to add channel and fit the three windows together.

 

 

Martha's latest Cross features a Cardinal in its center and it appears as though she's all set for soldering next week. She was able to complete the grinding on it this week and even even managed to get everything foiled as well! That's fast work but it's also accurate work which is the most important part of making stained glass.

 

 

And in the end we see that Mary has her first inner border attached to her Fish Window and that she's hard at work foiling her last border. She asked what she's going to end up doing for the hook part of the fishing line and I explained that we will add a wire hook once the window is finished (much like Lara's window).

 

 

And that, as they say, was the way the croissant crumbled this week.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks