It Certainly Glows It Up

It's been eleven months in the making and this week we get to see Cheryl's completed Harley-Davidson Window.  That may sound like a long time but there were many, many missed weeks during those months.  Also, this isn't a beginners window by any means.  There are plenty of tiny pieces and the letters needed to be perfect for it to be legible.   Flowers can deviate from the pattern here and there but letters not so much.  Congratulations Cheryl on following through!

 

 

Ann's first Chicken Head is what the word whimsical is all about and although it's a word that I don't use often it fits the bill perfectly here.  This was designed to be displayed in the extreme lower corner of a window so that it appears as though the chicken were outside looking in.   All I can say is, "Mission accomplished!"

 

Jan knocked out her Sunburst Flower Window and the two pieces that she redrew /added due to breakage are not perceivable at all. Her use of a heavily textured clear glass for the border sets it apart from the background glass so that the border is plainly evident while keeping all of the color within the center focal point. Nice!

 

 

 

Shelly's Tribute Window to her dear cat Toot's is ready to be displayed in a window at her house. He may be gone but he's with her as long as Shelley remembers him and this window will certainly make sure of that.

 

 

 

Cindy's newest Catch-All Tray features the same ears of corn that her last one did but this time around we see that she has a Crayfish on the opposite side rather than a Shrimp.   Both of Cindy's Catch-all Trays make such a cute and stunning pair that it would be a shame for them to go to two different  houses.  Here's hoping that they can stay together!

 

 

Linda L is using up all of the stained glass items that she's purchased over the years and this is the first of a number of 3D dragonflies that she's making.  Now that she's finished the first one and knows exactly how everything goes together I'm sure that she'll be able to assemble them faster than you can say 1...2...3!

 

 

As promised here's a look at the three Mickey Mouse Heads that Linda L made for her pool decoration now that they have been assembled. The frame work itself was instantly recognizable even when it was empty but Linda's three stained glass additions really make this shine!

 

Susan D has all of her planter and individual leaves soldered which means that when she returns she will tack solder everything together and then add tinned wires to form the stems and vines of the leaves. The final touch will be three wires to make the basket appear to be hanging from ropes the way a hanging planter would.

 

  

 

These cute little Doggies were cut, ground and foiled while Let was at home this week. She came into class, picked out a background glass, cut it and is now grinding it.  I think it's fairly safe to say that Let will be picking out a border for this upon her return.

 

  

 

 

Mary Grace has decided to make five Frames and this here is the first one. She's making this in its entirety to make sure that everything lines up and balances out before she makes the other four. This just needs to have three more pieces foiled and then she'll solder it and make a pair of 'legs' so this can stand on a table. And we'll see that completed next week.

 

  

 

 

Cindy has embarked on a Baseball Window that will feature a name inside of the banner that cuts across the ball. Alas, Cindy has learned that this can be no more that 12 x 12 inches (smaller than what it is now) and thus will end up doing some re-cutting when she comes back in. Looking at this I'm thinking that Cindy may not have realized that the circular item behind the banner is a baseball and it should be white rather than red.  

 

  

 

 

Betty's Curved Geometric Window is not only all cut out but ground as well. She's about to begin foiling after which she'll tack it together and solder it all up. This won't need a border for two reasons: 1) It would introduce too much 'straightness' to a window that features curves everywhere and 2) luckily enough there are enough lines to attach the channel and even the hooks that this will hang by. I believe that this window will hang as a diamond rather than a square and if you're not following me on that you'll see what I mean when it's been completed.  

 

  

 

 

Although it's hard to see while it's lying there on the work table, the color that Linda F Picked for her final border is root beer. It's a glass that gives a nice wooden frame effect to any window that it surrounds and it makes a far, far better choice than a bland neutral color. Me, I'm a little shocked that Linda didn't go with a green border since that's her favorite color!

 

  

 

 

The sheet of glass that Judy picked out for her background wasn't wide enough to reach across her window so she has a few pieces missing. However, there is enough glass left over in the drop off at the bottom to fill in those missing pieces and that will happen AFTER what you see in the picture has been ground, foiled and tacked together.   That said, I'm thinking that we'll see those three missing pieces filled in next week.

 

  

 

 

Let is officially ready to solder her Mardi Gras Mask Window now that her double borders have been attached. We still need to add some channel around the outside edge but that will only take a few minutes at most and Let will still able to flip this window over and solder the second side even without the channel being applied because all of the glass has been attached and that makes it OK to flip this window over to its back side to solder.

 

With all of her glass both cut and ground Lorrie has moved on to the foiling stage of her 'Sugar' Elephants. She's already got a respectable amount of glass foiled (in just one night) so the places where her lead lines will reside are now slowly being revealed.

 

  

 

 

This Tiger Face is coming together quickly. Bee held up a huge, long and twisty piece to me and said that there was no way that she (or anyone else for that matter) would be able to make a piece like that happen without it cracking when it's soldered and I agreed. Without any coaxing at all she said, "I think we should split it here to make life easier" and I can't give her enough praise for that. Sometimes patterns contain pieces that can't or shouldn't be cut in just one piece (most times it's just an oversight in the design process) but students can be reluctant to add cuts just because they are NOT on the pattern.  Thankfully, Bee is NOT one of those students!

 

 

 

 

MiMi has just 4 large egg cartons of glass left to grind before she can wrap her pieces and then tack together the first one third of her Louis XV Lamp. Slow and steady wins the race but MiMi's grinding here is nothing short of perfection and makes the anticipation very much worth the wait.

  

 

 

Lara's Stack Of Books is moving right along and it looks like the only thing left to cut out on this are the pages of those books. And the thing is, all of those red lines that make up the pages are actually wire work so there's only a few simple pieces left to cut on this project.

 

With the flat portion of her Sunflower repair all re-cut and tacked together, Paula will attach the 3D elements that surround the gynoecium of the flower (the brown center) when she returns. That means that this will easily be completed when we next see it.

 

  

 

 

Kandise has all of her pieces cut, ground, wrapped and tacked together which means that she'll be able to solder this when she comes back in. There's actually not much to solder her but there sure is a lot of tap-tapping around the edges of this oversized suncatcher which will take a lot of time to accomplish.  Also, there will be some hidden wire along the width of this hidden in the solder on the back side to give it some extra strength.

 

 

 

 

Lastly, all of June's border has been tacked into place and her front side had been completely soldered which means that she will surely finish this when she comes back in next week. I must say that her border choice was perfect for this since her elephant is multicolored!

 

 

 

Stay awesome,

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

I Like Big Pieces and I Cannot Lie

Annette finished her RN Caduceus Window with time to spare before it becomes a graduation gift this week. She moved along quickly on this but she never moved so fast as to sacrificed precision while making it. We can all agree that he end result speaks for itself!

 

Let finished her teardrop Sunflower Suncatcher and the extra leaf she added really does add a lot to aesthetically balance out this beautiful piece of art.

 

  

 

Cindy's Crab and Corn Tray was completed and the end result is both fun and functional. Her next tray will feature the same two ears of corn set in front of another crustacean that we will see a little further along in this post.

 

 

 

Cheryl made this Beveled Cross Panel as a quick gift while at home last week and plans on making two or three more which will be similar but with the added feature of a border surrounding it the next time. Simple and elegant, windows like these always turn heads.

 

  

 

 

This week Martha cut out all of the black glass that makes up the notes to her Music! Window and has begun to grind it all. I often hear people complain about not being able to see the lines that they've traced onto black glass but Martha never said a word. It could be that she knows the secret of positioning the glass so that the glare of the light above it makes the lines VERY visible.  

  

 

 

Zoe has begun work on a new project and it is a Luna Moth Panel with a uniquely shaped background.   She's got the pieces that make up the moth traced out onto glass and separated which means that she'll cut them into their respective sizes and shapes upon her return.

 

  

 

 

Let also continued working on her Mardi Gras Mask Panel and all I can say is that it won't be long before this is completed. Let doesn't leave her stained glass tools in her bag between classes so I can't wait to see how far along she is on this when she walks back in the door with it when she returns

 

  

 

 

Betty is revisiting a window that she made way back in 2015! This is a nice curving geometric pattern that she's moving along on in a speedy manor. There's a great deal of this cut already and I'm thinking that the remainder of the pieces will be cut when we see this again next week.

 

  

 

 

Ann has her first Corner Chicken Head Suncatcher all ground and let me tell you that a few of those cuts were pretty deep indeed (pay attention to the body of the chicken).   But Ann managed and this one is now ready for foil and solder. 

 

 

Sheri is wrapping all of the pieces that she's so painstakingly ground  in her Koi Fish Window.  With copper foil now surrounding a lot of her glass her window is starting to really show off its definition.

 

 

 

 

Paula has a 3D Sunflower Suncatcher to repair and what she believed to be only a few pieces to replace ended up becoming a pretty large handful of pieces after looking closely. Still, it wasn't enough to warrant a complete remake of the suncatcher. That said, Paula did end up disassembling the entire piece to make things easier. This may come back together again when we next see Paula.

 

 

 

Before Lorrie called it a night with us she was able to finish all of the cutting and grinding of her Sugar Elephants Window. It already looks fantastic but once these pieces have copper foil around them it will be far easier to see all of the detail that is currently hidden by the pure white glass background.

 

  

 

 

This black and white cartoon becomes more and more colorful with each passing week. The colors that we see here already tell me that this is going to be a very beautiful lamp. MiMi's work is definitely not slow but it IS steady and that is what wins a race in the stained glass world!

 

 

Melissa got her first flower cut out and ground for her Tiffany Styled Birds Window. If this is any indication of what this window will look like when she's finished with it (and it IS) well then we are in for a real treat here.

 

 

 

Lara's new Stack Of Books are coming together quicker than her first stack and that's always the case when doing a project a second time. You've already figured out all of the ins and outs of the cutting and grinding process and it makes the second iteration go quicker as evident in the picture below..

  

 

Judy has all of her glass foiled and has begun to tack together her Humming Bird and Flowers. When she comes back in she'll be able to pick out a background glass, put the flowers and bird on top of it and then trace around them. Then it's a simple matter of separating the pieces and grinding them here and there for a perfect fit. 

 

  

 

 

With the front of her Sun Burst Window soldered and the back side nearly completed I would say that it's time for Jan to begin keeping her eyes opened for an idea of what she may want to do next!

 

  

 

 

Next up is Cindy's second Louisiana tray which only needs a little more solder before the five pieces are  assembled into all of their three dimensional glory!  Similar in design to her first tray, this one has the exact same color scheme but features a Crayfish rather than a Crab.

 

  

 

Bee is as busy as a bee working on her Tiger Eye/LSU Window. She's decided to continue her work on this by completing the right side of the Tiger Face so that she can get the hardest part of this multi sectioned large window out of the way.

  

 

 

Cheryl has officially arrived to the soldering portion of the creation of her Harley-Davidson Window now that she's finished cutting, grinding, foiling and attaching the background glass and her transparent black border.  The end is near!  

 

  

 

I apologize for any and all errors that you find in this as I haven’t had my afternoon coffee yet.

 

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Dads Against Daughters Dating

Zoe's Mallard Panel was cut perfectly and then soldered just as wonderfully.   She really didn't want to add a glass border to it and because it's a panel and not a full fledged window we were able to just add a large zinc channel which, after drilling holes into the zinc,  gave Zoe a place to hang her window from.   Since she decided to color the lead in black patina the zinc channel ended up matching the lead throughout the window perfectly!

 

 

 

Lorrie's Stack of books go together perfectly with the flowers that adorn it as well as the fancy cup of coffee that resides on the top of the books.  There's a lot of work in this stack of books but Lorrie worked her way through them almost effortlessly.   I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get a picture of it once she completed it since that happened over the Easter Holiday, but Lorrie brought it back in this week so I could look it over before she colored it to finish it off.  Bravo.

 

 

 

Paula finished up the work on her Flowered Hand Mirror which came together wonderfully for her.  Looking at her work on this it's hard to believe that it's been almost eight years since Paula made her last project with us!

 

 

Let made this Cardinal Heart in no time at all.   She deserves an extra round of applause because she ended up re-cutting the pieces that make up the flower in the lower portion of the suncatcher.  Why? Because even though they technically fit into position they didn't fit as nicely as she wanted them to be.  A lot of people are fine when something fits, period.  But Let wanted perfection and that's what she got.

Ann is working on 3 Chicken faces that will go in the corner of a window to make it appear as though the chicken were looking into the window.   All three are delightful and playful designs that are definitely 'cartoony' in appearance.  This is the first and there will be at least two more variations of this to come.

 

I have to admit that I talked my way out of a picture and therefore have only an approximation to show you what Susan R accomplished this week. At the end of class I just kept running my mouth and after she left left I realized that I didn't take a picture. So what you see below is something that looks somewhat close to what she was making that I made in photoshop. I'm pretty sure that the orange pieces aren't the same shape that she actually cut out because I recall the pieces being hexagonal but I can't figure out how they formed a circle! Oh well, we will see an actual picture of her work in our next post. I just wanted to show something to prove that she was indeed here this week!

 

With her RN Caduceus all tacked together and almost completely soldered, Annette will come back in, add a border to this and then solder the back side to finish it all up just in time for graduation (yes, it's getting to be that time of the year already!) Expect to see this completed in our next post.

 

 

 

Let must have teardrops in her eyes because she certainly comes up with a lot of these beautiful teardrop designs. This week we see that she's not only cut out but also ground a stunning new Sunflower design that she found on the internet. She felt that it wasn't as balanced as it could be so she added a second leaf into the mix and I love that she's making adjustments to patterns!

 

  

All of Kandise's Bird's eyes have been ground and placed into the tiny little holes that hold them. The eyes themselves measure only about an eighth inch in diameter and certainly no more than that. Those are some tiny pieces but luckily they don't need to be foiled as the foil around the holes will allow enough lead to surround the eyeballs and secure them into place.

 

 

 

Lara needs to make another Stack of Books and that's what she's doing here. You'll notice that both of or 'book stacks' this week also feature flowers strewn throughout the books. This is more than a design choice- it's to prevent straight lines from running throughout the pattern and allowing the finish piece to fold along hinge points. The flowers are a beautiful way to add stability to the books.

 

 

 

This may look like a sea of pins but they all serve a purpose and that's to keep all of MiMi's tiny pieces from sliding all over the place on her 'cartoon'.   We call this type of pattern a cartoon because unlike a pattern the pieces that are drawn in a cartoon are not touching one other which (somewhat) explains why there are gaps surrounding each piece.   Because of those spaces you need far more pins to hold everything into position.  Luckily MiMi has plenty of pins (and patience)!

 

 

 

Belinda's Tiger Face is now officially halfway cut and ground. She was thinking about taking a bit of a break from these crazily shaped stripes by working on the LSU portion of the window that goes below the tiger face but she didn't have the glass with her or the pattern pieces. It will be a bit of a surprise for me to see exactly what part of this window she will be working on when she comes back in to class.

 

  

With only the upper left corner left to cut and grind, Lorrie's Colorful Elephants Window is  surely coming to life. This looks fantastic already but once she begins foiling her pieces you'll get to see a more complete picture that includes all of the detailed cutting that she's done. 

 

 

 

Now that her birds have been ground and foiled Melissa has tacked them together to prevent them from sliding about on the pattern while she's cutting and grinding all of her flower pieces. She'll be doing them the same way that she did the birds- one section at a time to prevent confusion and elevate the exactness of her details.

May the force be with you!
Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks