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
