Career Day at Glencoe Charter

November 9th was Career Day at Glencoe Charter and Bayou Salé Glassworks was invited to speak before 2 classes of third grade students about making stained glass windows. Our experience was so wonderful that we'd like to share a bit of our day with all our readers.

We gave 2 presentations and started off the day with an excellent breakfast buffet provided by the wonderful staff at Glencoe Charter. Obviously there's no better way to start the day. While we were there in the cafeteria we got to see Anita, Bonnie, Ceil, and Myrt (who all happen to be students of ours) among many other people that we didn't know.

Although we weren't able to actually demonstrate the construction of a stained glass window we were able to handle it in a TV-like fashion where we would explain the next step in the process and then suddenly we'd have that step completed by showing a piece we'd worked on the night before.

One thing we were able to do was to score a piece of glass and then break it into 2 pieces. It was a simple straight cut that couldn't possibly go wrong but both times the room filled with Ooooohhhhhhh's and Ahhhhhhhhhh's. Cutting glass is pretty amazing stuff!

We passed around pieces of glass, some that were just ground and others that were both ground and wrapped. We demonstrated how a piece of glass is wrapped and then explained how it is then soldered together with a soldering iron that melts the lead onto the window.

When we were finished we answered questions from the kids who were not shy at all about satisfying their curiosities. The questions came fast and furious ranging from "How long does it take to make a window?" to "What's the biggest window you've ever made?" When we answered the question about the biggest window we'd ever made we opened the pattern for a Vineyard Scene that was 6 feet wide by 5 feet tall. When we had the pattern opened just half way the room filled the sound of amazement and when it was completely opened I almost had to laugh at how impressed the kids were.


Words can't describe how wonderful the children at Glencoe Charter were throughout the 45 minute presentations. And the older children that helped us set up for our presentations can't be ignored either because without their help we wouldn't have been able to manage.

Thank you to everyone at Glencoe Charter.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks