My Board's a Little Warped

MiMi's Circular Celtic Cross Window is just the first of a pair of these windows.   She has a lot of irons in the fire however and I'm suspecting that next week we'll see a Peacock Feather Window next rather than her second Celtic Cross.   I know that she already has the second Cross cut out but it's all about priorities and even though she's bouncing from one project to the next MiMi always exudes perfection.  Don't miss checking out the beautiful wooden base that this piece is mounted into which allows it to sit upright on any flat surface. 

Look at this adorable large suncatcher of a Flower Watering Can!  Susan R finished the Water Can itself three weeks ago and then went to work on cutting out all of the leaves that are over-laid onto it.  It took a while to get all of the wire twisted and then  place and tack the leaves into position so that they would all be sturdy but all of that time was well spent!

Now take a moment to check out Lorrie's wonderful Bee and Daisies Window! Made in record time without sacrificing any detail or accuracy, Lorrie has proved yet again that no window is a challenge for her.  You've gotta love the bee's wings which are accented with small wire work.

 

 

Paula's Foxglove Window is all about exacting detail. If there's even a sixteenth of an inch gap Paula will re-cut a piece without batting an eyelash. Colors are equally important to her and getting the correct glass for the leaves and stems for this set her back a week but she didn't want to compromise. The end result proves that if you are insisting of something in particular you should expect to extend some patience for it.

Bee wanted to make a Magnolia Window but just couldn't turn up a pattern that she liked so she went ahead and drew up her own design!  Not only that but she worked on this almost exclusively at home!  When I look at this I see a student who is fast mastering all aspects of making stained glass.

 

 

 

Kandise made this little Ducky Suncatcher and accented it with wire work in the form of a pair of heart shaped glasses. The eyes were made with decorative flat backed glass beads which were glued onto the head using Stone Glue which is like a superglue that also fills voids and dries completely clear without haze. It's also VERY permanent! Kandise knows that after making this Duck she'll be making a few more as upcoming presents for work!

 

 

 

Nettie's newest Nativity Scene is very similar to her last one but its size had almost doubled. The first one was entirely too small and she had to deal with some uncomfortably tiny pieces whereas this version just has small pieces in it. Both turned out lovely but I know she appreciated the larger sized pieces in this especially since her hand has been giving her so much trouble.

 

 

 

We got to see Tracey return again this week and she set to work on foiling all of the glass pieces for her Dragonfly Frame. With just some soldering left to go I have no doubt that this will be a finished project when she returns.

 

 

Catherine spend the night grinding away on her Three Flowers Window and it looks as though she'll begin foiling her pieces when she comes back in because her grinding is 98% completed now.   This window will get a double border but those take no time at all to make thanks to the strip cutter.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that this window is going to be easy to work on from this point on.

 

 

 

Susan R managed to cut out this adorable Cardinal Suncatcher after she finished up the work on her Flower Watering Can and it all happened in less than one class. She'll be grinding this when she comes back in and that isn't speculation-- it's a fact!

  

 

 

Julie finished cutting out all of the glass for her Curving Geometric Window and all I can say is that all of the painstaking work that she did on her last window has come to fruition on this piece. Her cutting is wonderful and because of that her grinding on this is going to go so very quickly. This is going to be a highlighted window before you know it.

 

 

Let's Art Nouveau design is certainly a colorful affair that she now has ground and foiled. All that's left to cut is her background pieces and to make fitting them into position easier she's tacked the rest of the window together to prevent anything from shifting.  That will make grinding ever so much easier.

 

  

Next up we take a look at the progress that Sheri has made on her version of the same Art Nouveau Window that Let is also making. The colors may be different but the design is still the same.  I love seeing two of the same windows being made together with two different color schemes.

 

 

Lastly, to wrap things up here, we see that Betty is going all out with her Silver Spoon Butterflies. They literally fly out of the door for her so she almost always has a half dozen or more in the works as seen in our picture.

 

  

 

Well now, congratulations! You've made it to the end!

 

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

It's Better To Be Safe Than Soggy

Yes, I know that this is VERY late but we should be back to normal as soon as the new update is posted on Monday.

We'll start things off with Betty's Circular Luna Moth.  The moth itself is made from three different colors (one brown and two different greens) while the outer moon-like circular section was made of an iridized pale yellow.  She then accented the moth with 4 glass nuggets to create a beautiful window dressing.

 

 

Cindy's colorful Snake is what she believes to be an acquired taste but if that's the case then I have acquired plenty of taste because I love this. Cindy enjoys working with small pieces and so in that respect this pattern was right up her alley.

 

  

Lorrie had her two new Cat Face Mirrors soldered and practically ready for hanging before she even walked in the door. The only thing this pur-fect pair of cats needed were some round hooks affixed to the back of their heads and then a bath and some wax.  In the end they looked like this.

Martha's Alligator Head says, "Don't mess with me".  The color that she picked for him is literally spot-on but that border is what ties it all up nicely.  All in all it's another job well done.

 

 

Kandise has finished her smaller version of the Treble Clef Heart Suncatcher in record time.   She even managed to get fairly far along into her next project which we'll see a little later on.
 

Nettie managed to get all of the front side of her large Teardrop Nativity Scene soldered as well as most of the back side.  Time was running short though she she simply covered all of the foil that she had fluxed so she could do a better job on the back side when she comes in again next week.  

 

  

Bee came in and tacked together the scenery center section of her Magnolia Window and then she learned the simple way to cut the border for a window whose subject extends beyond the squared off section of the picture. It only took a few minutes and then Bee walked out the door with her window in tow so that she can hopefully have it completed next week. (Spoiler alert- she gets it done!) 

 

  

Catherine has the center flower of her window ground and worked on cutting out the glass for the flowers that bookend the center flower. Once everything had been cut she began grinding all of her pieces. Her attention to detail already shines through in this before it's even completed! 

 

 

Cheryl finished all of the grinding on her window and has begun foiling each of the pieces to her Mardi Gras Pelican. With only the crown itself left to go I believe this window will be completed very quickly after she returns from her trip.

 

  

Cindy not only completed her colorful snake but also has another Heart/Cross in the works. She had believed that she was finished with these but when you make things in bulk you almost always end up with a few extra or a few short.

 

  

Elaine's Emme Window has all of the hard parts cut out leaving her with just a few large background pieces left to go and then a border. This is certainly taking shape and Elaine is working at a nice steady pace which insures that mistakes are few to none.

 

   

Here we see the second project that Kandise worked on this week.   This cute little duck is going to feature glasses (the kind that rest on your nose so that your eyes can see things clearer) that will be made from wire and then overlaid onto duck.  Just wait until you see it completed!

  

  

Keri's Skeleton Hand sure makes a Halloween statement! I have to admit that this one really speaks to me. Her use of iridized white glass rather than a solid plain white is the icing on the cake for what is sure to be a distinctive Halloween decoration. 

 

 

Lara has so much work done on her second Lily Window that I'm sure it will be completed when we see her again. She's already got one of the two Stamens assembled with enough wire left over to make a second.

 

 

 

Let is in the midst of making a beautiful Art Nouveau Window using all cathedral glasses. Her colors are bright and vibrant which brings this to life even when it has no light behind it.

 

  

Lorrie's Bee and Flowers Window is so very close to being completed. Before the border was cut out using the strip cutter Lorrie asked if she could use 2x2 bevels in the four corners. Had she inquired after the border was cut into strips the answer would have been a firm no, but knowing ahead of time that the corners would be beveled allowed us to cut the strips 2" wide so that everything lined up.

 

 

 

Martha is making a second Rose/Cross and is again using bevels to accentuate the cross.   It would appear as though a lot of our students are all getting requests to re-make items that they've done before.  That's nice way of saying that other people are really liking our students work!  

  

 

Mary Grace has another eight (or so) Picture Frames to make and as you can see she'll well under way on the first one here.

 

 

 

Take a look at the first of a pair of Celtic Knot Crosses that MiMi's is hard at work on. With the front side completely soldered MiMi has flipped this over where she'll begin soldering whens she comes back in. I'm 100% sure that this will be completed when she comes back in because this post is late and she's already been back in!  

 

 

 

Paula has the front of her Foxglove Window all soldered (an looking perfect if you ask me) which means that she's going to flip this over, solder the back side and then get it ready for hanging. I can't wait to see what this one looks like when it has some light behind it.

 

 

  

Sheri's got her own version of the Art Nouveau Window in the works and she's already well along into cutting her glass. She's picking colors as she goes along which is how I always work. I feel you get a better sense of how all of the colors weigh in doing things this way.

 

 

Susan D has all of her next window cut out and is now working on grinding her Pelican and Fish. It already looks as though it fits together which means that her cutting has been spot on and the actual grinding process will go quickly for her. This is a commissioned piece which means that Susan won't be taking any short cuts and that she'll be paying even more attention to detail that normal because it's her work on this project that will speak the most to the person that she's making it for-- And Susan takes a lot of pride in her work.

 

 

 

 

Here are the 26 leaves that Susan R has painstakingly tap-tapped around. There's so small that they burn your hand if you hold them with your fingers and if you use pliers to hold them they become difficult to maneuver. Even so, these are ready to be tacked onto their vines and then onto the stained glass Watering Can that Susan completed two weeks back.

 

With all of that said and done we'll be sure to  catch you on the flip side before you know it.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks 

Show Me Some Appreciation

Keri's Peony Window is a thing of beauty.  The assorted colors mixed within the single flowers and each leaf give it a realistic effect rather than a coloring book feel.  As the topping on the cake she used an iridized clear background glass that pulled in the pinks and the greens of her flowers.  Finally, her clear heavily texted border doesn't distract from the subject matter yet makes a statement of its own.  Perfect.

 

Susan D's Birdhouse will actually become a Bird Bath with the addition of a small tray of water that will reside in the bottom.   This went together seamlessly due to Susan heavily focusing on making all of her straight lines perfectly even.  The colors match together wonderfully and the finished piece will light up her back yard marvelously. 

 

 

 

Annette's medium Teardrop Nativity Scene has a lot of tiny pieces that pack it with tons of charm. She said that realizes now that AI patterns need PLENTY of tweaking to be able to make them in the real world.   We cut down the number of pieces in this by about half and it's still a taxing piece of stained glass to make when you consider that it's only 7 inches wide!    Her next one has been blown up to 160 percent of the size of this one so although it will look the same when you see it done again it will be larger and somewhat easier to cut and grind (and foil).

 

 

 

 

Let's Circular Geometric window is actually a flower when you look at it closely. There are green trailing stems throughout the outside edge that are populated with leaves. When you make a window like this the symmetry is so very important and Let certainly excels at the attention to detail that it takes to make this look so darned good.

 

 

 

 

 Linda F's Mardi Gras Crown is now complete and has something special about it that we've only ever seen done once before.  Pay attention to the purple band near the bottom of the crown and you'll see the roman numerals XLIV.  This was achieved by applying quarter inch foil on top of the glass to form the letters and then soldering on top of that foil.  I think the end result really makes this crown fit for a King (or Queen).  It's a one-crown-fits-all kind of crown!

 

 

 

 

I wish the picture below did better justice to Paula's Unicorn Box. It was made with all iridescent glasses and sparkled so brightly but the lights in the shop kept reflecting in the glass when it really showed off its true colors so I had to settle for this slightly off version of its colors. It's still beautiful though and we already have two students saying that they'd like to make a box soon. Paula is apparently a trend-setter!

 

Check out the amazing amount of progress that Barbara made on her Santa head Window!  I can always tell when someone is excited about the project that they are making by the amount of time it takes for them to work through the various stages of it and this project is moving along at warp speed!

 

 

 

Sheri has had to put her current project (the Rooster Head) aside for a bit as she makes this Coffee Cup Suncatcher that will be made with shards of a broken painted plate.   She's made something similar to this before using willow ware in a similar pattern so this should go together fairly easy (for her) since she already knows the ins and outs of this type of construction.

 

 

 

 

Cheryl is doing some phenomenal work on her Mardi Gras Pelican.  She sometimes has trouble with small pieces but she's handled the top of the bird's Crown with relative ease!  She'll be foiling this before you know it!

 

 

Lorrie had to make another pair of cat mirrors quickly so she immediately set upon tracing out all of her pattern pieces onto her selected glass and then cutting everything out.  Unsurprisingly, she managed to not only cut everything but to grind them as well as foil everything before class ended.  That's a mighty impressive amount of work in an incredibly short amount of time, but that's Lorrie for ya!

 

  

 

Kandise is making a second Treble Clef Heart Suncatcher but this one is about half of the size of the last one that she made.  Regardless, in just one class she managed to pick out the color scheme, cut her glass and grind it all before calling it a night.  She's a go getter!

 

 

Next up we take a look at the Triple Flower Window that Catherine is now making.  Although it contains three flowers the right side is a mirror image of the left side.  Also, the flower in the center may look like the other two flowers but it actually is different altogether.  You'll be able to easily see what I'm saying when we come back next week when possibly the other two flowers will be cut out. 

 

 

 

 

Cindy's large Cobra Suncatcher is not only colorful but it's coming into shape quickly.  She's been grinding as she cuts so you can be sure that as soon as the head is complete she'll be able to begin surrounding all of her pieces with copper foil.  Once that's completed the soldering itself will take her far less time than it took to do the preceding work which means that this will be completed before you know it.

 

   

 

Susan R has cut out about 25 of these little leaves and began grinding them as well. When these are completed they will be tacked onto wires witch will form the stems that run throughout the front of her Watering Can. I think that there will be some foiling in her future with us!

 

 

With the letters all cut out for the name section of her Flower and Bee Name Window, Elaine will be working on the background pieces of the letters when she comes back in. I always say that Letters are tough to do and that's because the background sections are even worse that working on the letters themselves! That said, I have no doubt that Elaine will handle the next step with determination and ease.

 

 

 

Julie has the majority of her Curving Geometric Window cut out now.   She only has two and a half small sections left to complete and judging by the amount of time it has taken her to get this far I'm certain that this will be all cut out when she comes back into class. I think that choosing the colors for the missing pieces will be the hardest part of her next class with us (and that won't be hard at all).

 

 

 

 

MiMi now has all of her first Celtic Cross ground and has moved onto the foiling stage of the creation process. Everything is perfectly uniform and precise and her foiling is fastidious and precise as well. It won't be long now!

 

  

 

Lara got all but the border of her second Lily Flower Window cut out and ground now that the blue that she is using for her sky has been located.   This is a mirror image (of sorts) to the first Lily that she made but it's a different placement which is something that I love to see done in 'mirror image' pieces.   There will be a third flower panel that rest between the two Lilies and it looks to me as though she'll be working on that one soon now!

 

 

 

 

It would appear, with Martha's Alligator having its front side completely soldered, that this window will be finished in its entirety when Martha comes back in.  There's little that can stop that from happening at this point in time. Will there be a sewing machine in her future?  Come back next week to find out what that's all about.

 

 

 

Here's to Friday getting here quickly!

  

Paul

 

Bayou Salé GlassWorks