But that IS the sun!

Let's start with Grace who finished her medical themed window after she got her border and final Zinc channel attached. Since she had soldered both the front and rear sides of her window last week she didn't have much to do in terms of completing this. The real work was in cleaning it. She washed off all the chemicals and then took a brush to the the front and back sides of her window. Next she went over all the lead with some steal wool to prep it for the black patina. It may not sound like much but there was well over an hours worth of work in just those simple steps. Once the window was dry she applied the black patina and we let it sit for about 5 minutes or so before washing it clean. After a second good scrubbing we waxed it and took this picture. Even without any sunlight behind it I have to say that her window looks GREAT!


Gerald is trying to set a record here by making the most number of windows in a small time frame. In a repeat from his performance from last week he came in with nothing started but left with a finished window. What you see here is the finished product of about 3 and a half hours of work. It may not be the most complex window there is but it's more than enough of a window to keep a beginner student busy for at least 4 or 5 weeks. Next up we'll be seeing Gerald finish this series of 4 windows by taking on the final section of his tiger's tail.


While Barbara was at home this week she wrapped all of the glass she ground and then got them all tacked together. When she came in she traced everything out onto her background glass and then cut it all out without breaking a single piece of glass. This means that the swirled design in her backgound runs perfectly thoughout her window which really makes it shine. She even got 80% of her backgound glass wrapped! She's taken it home with her again this week and has taken some clear iridized glass to make her final border which means that this will be in the soldering stage when we next see it.


Sheila wasted no time and jumped in on cutting out all the ribbon sections of her inner border. She used a medium purple and did remarkably well. Those pieces were traced onto that glass as tightly as possible which means that she was able to waste very little glass at all. It's always difficult to utilize glass efficiently because if you place your pieces too close together you may very easily break a lot of pieces when you try to separate them. We had no problems with that this week though. Next week she plans on tackling the purple flower itself.
Cheryl cut out the yellow glass for her sun and her moon and then ground all that she accomplished in glass. She's taken it home with her to wrap so I suspect we'll be seeing her working on the rays that radiate from the sun. There's really only straight cuts left to finish this window and it's really shaping up nicely. She was concerned that the blue 'wind' was getting lost in all the blue glass but not that it's wrapped you can easily make out the face of the wind.

Janice got all 12 pieces of her final border cut, ground and soldered into place. We thought about putting the Zinc channel around it but ended up deciding to wait another week since the zinc reacts so badly with the solder when you leave them together for any length of time. So Janice began soldering her window and has actually moved along quite far this week. This window is almost ready for hanging. Janice will be doing a second version of this one when this one is completed. In fact, she already has the center Fleur De Lis cut, ground and wrapped!


Although we missed a few students this week we did get a surprise visit from Joey who helped Cheryl by grinding some of her pieces while he was in. It was an unexpected (and great) surprise to see his smiling face walk through the door.

We'll see you all next week,

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Talking About Janice ( And Grace)

Rumors abound if you miss your regular night. I, personally, wouldn't say anything but the rest of the class begins speculating and that's when dirt comes out! Of course I'm only kidding-- only nice things were said when Janice and Grace were MIA on Tuesday Night.

And speaking of Grace, look at what she finished during class this week. All she had to do was attach the four corners and solder this so we knew she'd be taking it home with her. Wait until the sunlight hits this window...

Ellen hasn't been wasting any time while she's at home. I got this picture from her the other day along with an email that said that many a time she almost drove to Bayou Sale for me to help her, but in the end she persevered on her own and succeeded. I can't find any fault with this and I must say that I'm very pleased that Ellen was able to tackle a project like this all on her own.

Which brings us to Janice. She and Grace managed to sneak quietly into the shop without my even knowing they were here! At around 6:15 my phone rang and they wondered if we were having class or not! My ears and my eyes must be going because I never heard them pull in and I kept looking out the window expecting to see their car in the driveway, but I never saw or heard anything. I hate getting old!

Once we were all in the shop Janice got her edge bevels cut to match the curves of her fancy corners and then she made two passes to wrap them. Once all the bevels were tacked into place we made the final measurements and cut the straight sections of her final border. Next week she'll begin the final process of filling in the corner sections.

Gerald came in and immediately began tracing out his Tiger Stripe Window. Grinding each piece as he cut it he quickly had it all together. I know I planned on helping him wrap his glass but he had it all wrapped before I could get to him. The next thing I knew he was tacking it together and then he washed it, colored it and finished it all in one night! I'm going to guess that we'll see another window finished next week and then the last one will follow in 2 weeks. This job is halfway done now with only 2 windows left to go.

Fran finished not one but TWO Fleur De Lis Windows this week after she added the brass channel to them and then hit them with a finial soldering job. The one on the left has a Black Baroque border while the one on the right is finished in a Green Rough Rolled Glass. Fran planned on doing some Beveled Stars next but at the end of the class she decided to finish off two more Fleur De Lis Windows while she's on a roll here. I think she has different border colors picked out and I'm sure she wants to try a different color finish on the lead when her next two are completed.
Mary Lynn came in with all the glass she had cut the previous week all ground and wrapped. It's amazing how fast you can work when you have a grinder at home! :-) This week she cut out the pieces of fruit (including the dreaded grapes) that she didn't get to the week before and then she re-ground a piece or two in order to get her bowl to fit within the border on her pattern. She picked out the blue glass she'll be using for her inner border and I think she'll have it cut next week since there are only 6 pieces of glass in her background. It won't be long before Mary Lynn has to decide what she'll be making next.


Grace not only finished her Beveled Window but she also returned to work on her much larger "EKG/Medical" Window. The red Spectrum glass she had picked for her border came in 3 days before she arrived for class and she cut it up, sized it and then managed to get it all wrapped before the class ended (which I didn't realize until the next day). With all the soldering in the center section completed on both the front and the back side, I'd say that there's a good chance that Grace will be taking this home with her next week. Rmember that the background glass she's using is clear and that the tan coloration you see in the picture is actually the table-top showing through the clear sections of her window.

When we last saw Barbara she had her pattern traced out and ready to go. She took it home with her along with a lot of the glass she had picked with the intent of getting a lot of work done at home. This week we got see see the fruits of her labor. She said she thinks her cutting has improved and I'll say that it most certainly has. She was doing fine before but I can tell just by looking at her work that she is more confident with both the cutting and grinding processes. When she left this week she had everything but the background cut and ground. She'll be wrapping her pieces at home and then we'll cut her background out next week. The tough part is just about over!

Cheryl cut all of the blue "Wind" pieces to her window and then spent some quality time with the grinder getting it to all fit together. Her pieces are ground just right-- not tight but not too lose. This means that when she foils them at home during the week the window won't grow beyond its intended size. It's important to allow room for the foil because even though it's not very thick you will have upwards of 20 pieces of it in a given horizontal or vertical line on a window of this complexity. Grinding not only involves getting all your pieces to fit together but also consists of knowing how much space to leave for the foil to fill in. I've lightly traced out each of the blue pieces that Cheryl cut out to allow you to see the pattern of the glass easier.


Lea was in this week and we pretty much ironed out her next project which will be even larger than her last window. She'll be making inserts for 2 French doors that she has in her home. They won't be extremely fancy but will incorporate clear glass and possibly a few bevels which will definitely leand them a very elegant look. Bevels and clear glass always get a lot of respect in the stained glass world. Also, next week Jane will be back and we'll get to see her working on a large Trellis/Golden Trumpet window for her kitchen. Be sure to come back and see what's happening next week here on our weekly Blog.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Steering Clear Of Rotten Bananas

Gerald has completed the first of his four part 'study' of an LSU tiger. :-) The series will be installed in the four windows that make up a garage door. This will be the far right window while the far left window will show the tiger's tail. Hopefully we'll be able to post a picture of the four windows when they are all installed. Once again this is another job well done by Gerald.
It's finished! After about 7 weeks of hard work you can now see that it was worth every minute. Lea's beveled window sparkles unbelievably when the sun hits it. I only wish the sun were out when I was trying to take a picture of it! Even without the sun this window comes alive. Job well done, Lea!
Sheila got to work soldering her Fruit Bowl Window and finished the first side. She's taken right to the soldering process and the front needed very little touching up. I have no doubt in my mind that we'll see this one finished and hanging up next week.
Cheryl cut out all the white for her Wind/Sun/Moon Window. We've come to realize that for some reason white glass has become a 'beach' to cut . It's very hard and breaks wherever it wants to. After grinding all her pieces she traced out all the blue Wind sections which she'll tackle next week. She brought her white pieces home with her to wrap so next week we'll see some foil around the glass she ground this week.
Grace had a dilemma when the glass she had picked for her border hadn't arrive yet. Rather than waste a night she started another project-- a small beveled window like Cheryl had made 2 weeks ago or so. Grace got all but 4 pieces cut, ground, wrapped and tacked before the night ended so that means this one will be finished next week for sure. And we should have her red glass in for the border of her large window as well.
Mary Lyn was back in class with a vengeance! She picked out a lot of the glass she'll be using, cut out her paper pattern pieces, traced and cut out all of her bowl and then got a good portion of the fruit cut for good measure. I suspect that this one will be finished shortly since she's flying through it! I'm curious to see what color she's going to use for her inner border.
Fran managed to get her borders cut and attached on both of her Fleur De Lis Windows. One window has a green border and the second is made of black baroque. After some brass channel was added to the edges she began to solder. She's taken them home with her and there's a good chance we'll see these finished next week.

Barbara began working on her newest window with a humming bird design. We fleshed out the pattern a little to give it some more depth by replacing a lot of the straight lines with curves. Since Barbara is set up to do work at home she's taken her project home to work on it throughout the week. I can't wait to see what she comes back with.

That pretty much sums up what happened here! Look for more activity in the weeks to follow...

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Precut Pieces

Judith has finished her window and doesn't it look wonderful? She went with mixed colors rather than solids that really give her window an old-world charm. You can easily lose your subject if you don't pick your colors carefully and Judith picked them all perfectly. Each time she was about to add a color that I was unsure about she's turn around and say, "No, I'm going to stick with this instead". Each time she chose wisely. :-) Here's her finished window.


Barbara 's window was completed this week and although she worried about it towards the end I think she has every right to be proud of this window. She changed the colors of the cloth that drapes over the cross when the window was almost complete but in the end it made the window stand out all the more. Rather than living with something she wasn't entirely pleased with she took the extra time to fix it so it would look better. And doesn't this window look GREAT to you? It does to me. :-)




Sheila got all of her background cut out and then spend some time cutting her amber border out using the strip cutter. Once that was finished she ground wrapped and tacked it together so we could start working on her final border which turned out to be a bit tricky because we couldn't find her pattern with the size of her window on it! Also, the amount of glass that we had left for the final border looked like it was going to be cutting it close. But in the end everything worked out and Sheila is ready to start soldering when she comes back in next week! Although this most likely won't be finished next week I can guarantee that it will be ready for her to hang the following week. I love the colors in this window.


Our next two windows are every similar in both size, design and glass textures. We'll start with Lea's Fleur De Lis. When we last saw her window she had tacked her beveled border on after wrapping each of the bevels. She also got to work with the strip cutter and cut the strips for her last border. Borders are always easy and even though this is Lea's first border she still had enough time to cut, grind, wrap and tack them. To save a little time I cut the Zinc channel that finishes off her window for her before she came in and then she spent the class soldering the entire front side of her window. I went over it after she left but there was very littlle to fix. She seems to be a natural when it comes to soldering! It looks like she will finish this one up during her next class. Look for a finished picture next week!


Janice came in with her two of her center Fleur De Lis' all ground, wrapped and tacked together. We recut a piece that had accidentally dropped to the floor and broke but that took no time at all to repair. We laid out 2 sheets of Glue Chip glass and with a little bit of tricky cutting we were able to cut out all 4 of her large background pieces from the 2 sheets of glass. once they were assembled into a large square she placed one of her Fleur De Lis in the center of the Glue Chip and traced around it with a marker. A few fancy cuts here and there and a trip to the grinder made for a perfect fit. But she wasn't ready to begin wrapping yet. She still needed to cut the corners to insert her fancy corners. It didn't take Janice long at all before all 4 were cut, gound and ready to be wrapped. She'll be adding the final border next week for sure!

Grace wasn't feeling all that well the week before but she did manage to get all of her window tacked together. This week she added the top and bottom borders of her background glass. We needed these because the size of the window has to be taller than it is wider. Normally this wouldn't be an issue but the emblem she is making is a perfect square. Because of this the emblem touched the border on her left and right sides, but we needed to add another inch and a half to the height of the background. When the final border goes on you won't even notice this extra glass as it is the same glass that her background is made of. Grace would have added the final border to her window this week but we didn't have the glass she wanted in stock. Rather than wasting a class she soldered both the front and back sides of her window. Her glass won't be in for another 2 weeks so I'm afraid we won't see any more progress on this next week but it should be finished the following week.


Fran wrapped and tacked together 2 Fleur De Lis bevel clusters while she was in class this week. She then made background patterns for each of the bevels and proceeded to cut out her Glue Chip background. Everything was read to be ground by the time class was over and she's taken everything home with her so she can more or less finish them up next week when she comes back in for class. Next week she'll attach borders and start soldering them.

Well, that about wraps it up this week. Our next post will be up much quicker now that I have 98% of the kinks worked out of making a posting. My only complaint is that I can only upload pictures to the top of the Blog so I ended up writing this in reverse, starting with Frans project and ending with Judiths!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Happy Birthday Sweet 16!

[Some of the pictures in our last 2 posts on our old Blog have disappeared so I've reposted them here.]

We had a birthday the other night so I want to start this off right by saying:

She even brought a cake for all of us! Happy Birthday Janice, we hope the day was as good as the cake was.

Fran was back in and managed to finish up her Fish window and a beveled star. She’ll be working on a few more Fleur De Lis windows next as well as a few more stars.

Lea continues working on her beveled window and is all ready for solder now. All of the glass cutting is finished and her channel has been cut. She’ll be relaxing next week with the soldering iron in her hand.

Barbara, like Lea, completed all the cutting on her window and has begun to solder it. She’s doing so well that I told her to take it home and solder it there when she has time! If you think it looks great now just wait until you see it with some light behind it (next week).
And Judith followed suit by finishing all the cutting on her window as well. When I saw how her tack soldering had a bead to it I suspected that she would catch onto the final solder quickly. And I was correct. Like Barbara, she’s taken her window home to complete there.
Alas, Sheila didn’t finish with all her glass cutting this week but the worst part is over for here. She had a lot more pieces in her window which took a little more time to complete but I can guarantee that she’ll be ready to solder by the end of class next week. Here’s her Fruit Bowl window ready for its final borders.
Jane’s latest window looks wonderful — the bible has a real 3D feel to it. Jane finished cutting and grinding everything in class and took it home to finish. I told her that she’s have to bring it back so I could get a finished picture of it for the Blog so expect to see this one hanging up next week.
Our Birthday Girl cut out 2 Fleur De Lis. One for the window she’s working on now and the other for a second window that will match this one. With all the excitement going on during class I forgot to get a picture of the pieces she cut but I do have a picture of the pattern which will show you what Fleur De Lis she picked to set in the center of these 2 windows.

Mary Lynn was in for a visit this week and attached some brass rods to the last window she worked on so it can be displayed in her front yard. The she picked out the pattern and some of the glass she’ll be using when she begins making her new window next week.

Grace was feeling a bit under the weather but that didn’t stop her from getting everything tacked together on her Medical Window. All that’s left to finish this one off is a red border.Gerald got all of his Tiger Eye window cut and ground and took it home to wrap. He plans on starting the second window of his set of four next week and it should be easy since he did the most complex one first. I love these tiger eye windows…

Christine is almost finished with her Indian Window. With only two wolves left to cut out I think we’ll be seeing this one soldered soon. Not only is she making 2 of these Wolf/Indian Windows, but she’s also knocking out stained glass crosses while she’s at home. Here’s a look at both of the projects she has in the works right now.

Denise has all of her ducks wrapped! She managed to get them tacked together before she left which means that she’ll be working on her background the next time we see her. It’s still not completely decided upon but I know the bottom part will be water and we’ll have some sky on top. There may even be some reeds, but at this point I can’t be entirely sure. We’ll find out next week though!
Last, but not least, we have the second finished bevel window that Cheryl made. This one is a bit taller than the first one she made but the pattern is nearly identical. There’s nothing quite like a beveled window and the picture below only proves my point. Just wait until you see Cheryl’s next project. It ought to be stunning!
Well, I’m sorry this post got out so late. I was beginning to think that we were going to have our next class before the Blog was update-able again. It seems as though you have to click 2 times to get a full sized image of someones project but I may be able to change that when I upload them. Bear with me and we’ll have this figured out soon!

See you all next week,

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Port Allen House

Everyone has been wondering just how these windows looked when we installed them so this post will hopefully answer that question.

There’s an upstairs balcony with 3 walls that overlooks the back yard. There are two windows that we made trellis designs with some bright orange stained glass Golden Trumpet Flowers. This is the left side window:

The right side window was a mirror image of the other but the flowers, leaves and vines were drawn independently from the 1st window and positioned differently so that the two windows would match without being identical.

The master bathroom had one thin window sitting above the Jacuzzi-Bath that we filled with stained glass as well. I loved the fact that the bath has no faucet. If you look at the ceiling you’ll see the spigot that the water pours into the bath from. I thought it might splash water after falling from that height but it doesn’t.

Here’s a better view of the window itself. I regret to say that there were stickers on the outside of the windows that we couldn’t remove before taking the picture. You can see their shadow on the left side of the window. (The master bathroom is located on the second floor of the house and we had no way to reach it from the outside.)

The Office was built around 4 windows that were made for the house when it was first constructed. We matched the glass and the bevels of these original windows to create the other 9 pieces that would rest in the 2 new newly constructed walls that make the office. This is the entrance wall with 5 of the 9 windows that we made.

Here’s a closeup of the transom above the doorway to the office.

The right wall of the office already had 4 beveled windows on it so we matched the design and the glass and repeated it on the newly constructed left wall.

Here’s the left wall again as seen from outside the office from the living area of the house.

Which brings us to the biggest windows of the house located in the dining room. Although there are only 3 windows here they are by far the largest ones in the house. The center panel is 5 foot wide by 6 foot tall. Here’s a shot of them in the darkened dining room.

Here we are with some lights on so you can get an idea of the size of these windows.

And here they are from the right side of the dining room table. You can see some color variances though out the pictures here that are hard to correct. The path in the center window is actually more of an amber color than the pictures show.

I hope this helps give you a feel of the house and of the work that we did for it. Although it took a while I feel the end result was VERY much worth it. And the owners were thrilled with all of the windows.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks