Butterflies Don't Have Antlers?

Well here it is. It was a lot of work but as always every bit of the effort put into this window shows in the final product. Anita did a wonderful job of picking up where Ceil left off on this and my hat goes off to her for volunteering all of her time and effort. Anita has picked out the pattern for her next project and it's another one with a lot of cutting but like this it will be beautiful when it's completed.
Terry finished off her Pittsburgh Steelers logo and it came out very nicely. She bordered it in a clear, iridized black baroque glass that really makes the white circle stand out. Just wait until you see Terry's next project. It has lots of clear glass and bevels which always stand out nicely.

Patty has completed her beveled boxes and Roxie has decided that she just HAS to get in on some of these boxes. These are perfect for just about anything (depending of course on the size you make them). Boxes are tricky at first but once you have 1 or 2 under your belt it all starts to make sense as to why certain steps must be done in the seemingly bizarre order you do them. As you can see the end result proves that it all comes together without a hitch.

And since we had a new student this week we get to look at a really spectacular butterfly that she made. I have no clue if Sonia saw the Oil Scope that Roxie made a few weeks earlier with a VERY similar glass but once again this type of glass has really made the project. But I don't want to belittle the work that Sonia put into it. She seems to really have a knack for this so I'm expecting big things from here on out from her. :-)

Grace's invitation plaque is moving right along. It's all cut and ground and wrapped and tacked but I only have this picture of it in pieces because somehow I forgot to take a picture of it when it was all together waiting to be soldered. I'm expecting to see this finished next week. Grace doesn't waste any time on her projects. :-)
And Myrt jumped in to help Ceil finish up the windows in her classroom by making this flower and bumble bee window. Before she completely solders this she's going to take it to the classroom and see if it fits in the window (which isn't a perfect circle). So I'd say it's safe to assume that we'll be seeing this completed next week.

Janice was on the ball again cutting out more flowers for her windows. There will be 9 windows in all of varying sizes. She's got a lot accomplished now and pretty soon we'll be cutting these into their backgrounds.

And lastly we have Roxie's 2 boxes. They have beveled sides and a glue chip bottom and they are all set (complete with feet) and are just awaiting the colored glass lid which she'll attach next week.

In our next post well get to see these two boxes, Myrt's Bumble Bee window and Graces wedding gift completed. The update should be happening sometime during the weekend. See you then!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

A Deep and Vibrant Significance Is Reflected in her Art Form

This is the 4th and final Oil Scope wand in the set that Roxie cut out a few weeks earlier. They're easy enough to make but there's a lot of extra work that you don't really see when you look at these. The stands take extra time to make and then there's the added steps of assembling the double sided mirrors and then affixing the mirrors to the inside of the scope. And you can't finish the body of this until the mirrors are in place. So it all boils down to a lot of work. But completely worth it in the end.

Here's an example of the ever shifting view that you see when you look inside one of these Oil Scopes. It's sort of like a firework show with no pauses between the bursts.

Terry was hard at work on a Pittsburgh Steelers Logo that she drew up. She's going to have this one completed next week without any doubt since she has this all ground and almost completely wrapped already. Terry's a real go getter!

And Janice isn't wasting any time on her new set of windows either. There are going to be 3 sets of 3 windows in the series. All will feature various colored flowers with twisting vines connecting them. The beauty of this pattern is that although they will all be similar (because of the flowers) they won't be identical. Janice is working on assembling all her flowers before she starts cutting the backgrounds. Once these start to go together they'll go quickly.

Graces Wedding Plaque is looking great. She has the lions share of the work completed and all that's left is joining everything together with the border now. Next week we'll add the actual Invitation and the picture of the Bride and Groom.

Here we are. This is the home stretch now and this window has REALLY come together. Everything is in place and the final channel has been added. The front is soldered and the back is nearly completed. Anita will be moving on to a new project very shortly now and I think that this window shows that all the time you put into a project really makes a stained glass window shine all the more.

Next we get to take a look at the new version of the lower duck in Frans Duck window. The colors were off in the first one she did and rather than saving 5% of the feathers from the other one it was easier to just redraw a new duck with the correct feather placement and then remake it with the proper colors. Now that this is cut out she'll just have to grind it, wrap it and tack it all together.

Patty had a few bevels hanging around and she decided to make a few boxes out of them. Here's a look at the bottoms of her boxes without the tops attached yet. That part will come next week. Roxie liked the look of these so much that she's about to start making a few of her own. I have to say that once you start making stained glass boxes it can be hard to stop. They're quick, inexpensive projects that are very functional. And they make great gifts!

We've got new students arriving shortly and we have plenty of new projects being started so come back and see what shows up next on the cutting table.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

She Thought It Was A Crack In The Glass

Roxie was hoping to finish off her 3 Oil Scopes this week but making the stands really takes a lot more time than you'd expect. That said, she has her 3 Oil Scope almost complete. It just needs a stand and some soldering done which will surely be finished next class. She did a great job matching the glass body to the glitter in the Oil Wands, didn't she?


Terry's Stylized Fleur De Lis window is complete and ready to hang. In the end she went with 2 different types of Root Beer Brown for the accents and the borders. I think the mixing of the 2 glasses helped give some separation to the border and the fancy over sized corners. It's a subtle difference, but I've found that subtle differences are the ones that hit you on an subconscious level and work best. No matter how you look at it this window is a keeper. :-)

Janice completed her standard Kaleidoscope in just 1 class. I have to say that the camera angle on this is a bit odd. There's a second leg hiding JUST out of sight behind the image wheel. These 2 legs are what keep the front of the scope raised so the wheels aren't holding the body up at an odd angle. Although this is far easier to make than the Aeroscope the view inside is identical.


Meanwhile Grace began working on her Wedding Plaque. Rather than making a box she went with a larger design that has both the actual invitation and a picture of the bride and groom on the front along with two small stained glass scenes. Here's the basic layout.

Ok, Anita is IN the light at the end of the tunnel with this rather large undertaking. It's all tacked together and all the missing pieces have been filled in. The border is cut and the front has a good deal of the soldering completed. This is almost finished!

Myrt's Bumble Bee window is moving quickly. Her next step is to cut out a background and then this window will be ready to bee soldered.

And lastly we have a look at Frans Duck window. She has a rising (or setting) sun in a orangy yellow sky. Alas, she's decided to change the sky and redo the bottom duck with different colors so expect to see some major changes to this window before it's soldered.

So that's where all of our students stood on the 3rd week of March. The forth week will be coming up sometime during the weekend so keep your eyes opened.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Mardi Gras Week-- Everyone Partied!

It was Fat Tuesday and just about all our students decided that they'd rather spend their time off having fun rather than slaving away working on stained glass. Patty and Roxie had the same idea but by the time Thursday night rolled around they were ready get back to the old glass cutter and grinder. Since they were both going to be finishing projects you just know that they'd be eager to come in.

As you can see, Patty managed to attach the final border to her address window (she had taken the pieces home with her to wrap during the week) and then set to work on soldering her project. At the end of the night she took this home where she will display it proudly in the front of her house for all to see. Especially the mailman!


And on the other side of the table we had Roxie working on the 1st of her four Oil Scopes. And I have to say that it's one of the nicest looking Oil Scopes I've ever seen. This is the first time we've had any of this glass which is aptly named 'New Orleans' and Roxie is the first to use it. It certainly makes for a vibrant Kaleidoscope. With 3 more lined up to be made Roxie will be busy knocking these out over the next 2 weeks.


And that was it for Mardi Gras week. Although not much may have happened we still managed to get 2 completed projects and a foot well in the door for 3 others on down the line.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Like a Fish Out Of Water

Well, it's been a while but we're about to play catch up during the next few days. Somehow March has managed to slip away without my completing any Blog updates so I have 4 weeks worth of pictures to share with everyone. Let's start off with Paul's Terrarium. Here we get to look at it all cleaned up and ready for plants. The biggest question is, how do you get the plants in it? And the answer is simple-- you lift the top off of it. Once the plants are in place the lid gets snapped back on and from there on out it pretty much takes care of itself. This was a fun project for Paul to make and a very functional one as well.


Janice has completed her Aeroscope this week. If you recall, all she had left to do was to clean up the body, add the mirrors and make 2 glass wheels to reflect colors in the mirrors. Grace decided that she'd help make one of the wheels so by the end of the night this airplane was ready to fly (but not literally). These make such great gifts it's no wonder so many people make them.

This is Terry's completed Mallard window that she made almost completely at home. She brought it in so we could put some brass channel around it and to let us take a picture. Terry is really keeping busy with stained glass projects and she's getting better and better with each one. Great job!

As I said, Terry made 95% of her Mallard window while at home so now we get a look at what she's been doing while she's in class. Her highly stylized Fleur De Lis is very near completion. All that's left to go is a final border and she'll be able to start soldering this. There were a lot of intricate cuts in this window and it's all coming together nicely. I can't wait to see it completed which should be soon.

Julie has been working on sections of her quilt window and has her latest square not only cut but ground and half wrapped as well. She's taken the rest home with her to wrap so this one is just about finished which puts here more than a 3rd of the way through her entire quilt window.

This week also saw Patty get her background cut for her address window. She couldn't do the background until the numbers were ground and wrapped along with the corners. Doing it this way ensured that everything fit together snugly. All that's left is the final border and some solder and then this will end up on her front porch.

Wow, Anita's window is REALLY coming together now. It's pretty well tacked together and all that she needs to do is fill in some missing pieces and add a border before she starts soldering this window. Undersea windows have become very popular lately and I think the variety of colors that you can use in them has a lot to do with their popularity.


Roxie has begun making Oil Scopes. An oil scope is an interesting variation of a kaleidoscope that uses a clear tube filled with oil and glitter to make the symmetrical patterns. Since the speed and density of the falling glitter varies with each use you never get the same image twice and you don't have to manually move anything to make the image appear. I really can't wait to see the multicolored scope completed. Roxie is the first person to use this type of glass and it lends itself perfectly for a project like this.
And lastly we have Ray and Paul's combined project, the Court Jester window. The pattern is uniquely styled and I must say that I really like it. It's intricate without being overwhelming and you can really go wild with colors in this if you want. Look how nicely those pieces fit into place. The thing is-- they aren't even ground yet! I must say that Ray and Paul would appear to have wonderful teachers! :-)
There are only 3 more posts to go before we get caught up here, expect another update notice in a day or 2.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks