This Post Just Might Boar You To Death

We've had a few people make some comments that told me something that I hadn't thought about. The Bonnie that is taking classes right now and who did the Ballerina Slippers last week is not the same Bonnie who made all of the Fleur De Lis windows and the Magnolia Window last summer. I figured that I'd best state something here about it since I learned that the Tuesday night class was shocked to learn that Bonnie had restarted classes. Sorry ladies, it's a different Bonnie. :-)

Ok, first up we have a look at our first ever Boar window! Yep, it has now been completed and Cindy got it done just in time for father's day. There's a lot of work in this window and it's definitely NOT a beginner project but Cindy made it look rather easy. Even her color choices are spot on!

Pam was concerned about biting off too much for her to chew on her first project so she decided to do 2 suncatchers. Both were more elaborate than the butterfly but as you can see, this Dragonfly suncatcher is really nice. And she had NO problem at all making it. I'd say that her fears were completely unfounded. :-)
Here's the second suncatcher that Pam decided to do. This is is one of the standard stained glass humming bird patterns that are always so popular. Pam took it and ran all the way to the finish line with it. Another job well done and she gets extra points for remembering to start and stop her foil on sides where another piece of glass is touching.

Terry has been hard at work making her first small(er) clear beveled window and it's all coming together now. This one only needs to be soldered and then have some zinc channel added to the edges and it will be complete. Terry took this home to work on and has already started cutting the second one out.

Roxie has decided to add wings to the 3 stained glass faerie bodies that she has in her bag of things to do. This is the first one all cut, ground, and wrapped. In case you haven't noticed, it's already June already and Roxie is thinking about gifts for the holidays. I guess it's safe to say that Roxie is not a procrastinator!!
This is the center piece of Myrt's Fancy Fleur De Lis windows. It's now all ground and ready to be wrapped. She also worked on wrapping all of the purple globs for her grape window but I don't seem to have a picture of that project. I guess I'm slipping! Look for an update to that one in our next post.

Bonnie P. has decided that her next project will be 2 boxes. Both will be flowers, one being a rose and the second an iris. She had her rose all cut out and ground so she took it home with her to wrap. Next week she'll be tackling the Iris. And then she'll be close to doing the bottoms of these.

Anita's peacock is REALLY coming together. It's all tacked together save for the rather elaborate border that will surround this. It's a difficult border to work on because you have to make cuts based on sections that aren't cut yet, but when it's done you'll see that it was worth all the extra effort. Pay attention to stained glass windows and you'll noticed that the ones that garner the most attention all have fancy, extravagant borders. This peacock will be one of them.

And Sonia has her stand completed and all the glass cut for her first Oil Scope. I'd say that this means she'll be completing this during her next class. This was an excellent choice of glass for this project. When I first saw the glass I liked it but was unsure of what it could be used for. I think Roxie all showed us what we could do with it. I'm betting that Sonia's going to be thrilled at how this turns out.


So there you have it. All the news that's fit to Blog about.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

No Laughing Matter

A Bird in ballerina slippers walks into a bar and orders a sot of whiskey. The bartender looks up at him and asks, "Hey, what's with the long face?"

Wait a minute, that was supposed to be a HORSE in ballerina slippers. Or maybe it was just a horse-- I'm not really good with jokes. But I do know that Bonnie's Ballerina Slippers Window went home with her this week and they looked GREAT! The Pink Baroque glass that she used added a lot to the look of this window and her workmanship was nothing short of perfect.


And on the same night we got to see Sonia complete her Sunflower window as well. You couldn't find the change that we made to the pattern if your life depended on it (unless, of course, you read about it last week). It just goes to prove that you can alter your pattern on the fly and still have a window that comes out perfect. Great job, Sonia!

Roxie is going to make a 5 foot by 6 foot window made of nothing but tiny little butterflies. Each butterfly is less than 3 inches tall and made up of 22 pieces of glass. Mathematically that comes out to 480 butterflies in 1 large window! The butterfly wings that she cut out this week are much larger than the ones she'll be cutting for her 5x6 window but she's hoping that she can add more pieces to each wing. I say we up the ante to at least 30 pieces for each butterfly. What do you think?

I hope that no one really believed all that stuff in that last paragraph because Roxie is NOT doing a 5' x 6' window filled with insanely small butterflies. Instead she's making 3 fairies and this is the first of 3 sets of wings that she'll attach to the pewter fairie bodies once they're soldered together.

And moving on over to this table we get a gander at Janice's Rose Window. It was hard to see what was going on with it last week since it wasn't wrapped and the background still had some uncut sections but this week it's all perfectly clear to see. The border doesn't go across the top of the window because there's a smaller section that will sit above this. The smaller window will have a border on the top , left and right sides but not the bottom. When the windows are installed the scene will run together and even though it will be made up of 2 windows the border will allow the viewer to look at it as one complete scene. Pretty tricky, huh?

A boar walks into a bar with a horse and a ballerina and orders Whiskey Sours for each of them. The bartender looks at them and asks, "Is this some kind of a joke?"

Well here we are with Cindy's Boar window and it's just about complete. The front side is soldered and the back side will be done when it comes back in next week. I think it's safe to say that this is not only going to be finished next week but that it's the prettiest looking Boar I've ever seen!

Anita is working on her Peacock window and it's moving right along. With only the background and the borders left to go this will be nearing completion pretty quickly. Normally the border is a quick simple process but Anita is going with 3 borders that are very fancy. It will add time to the window but the end result will be worth it. Mary Lynn and Jane have both done these staggered borders in some of their work.

Terry has just the 4 corners left to go before she starts soldering this clear glass beveled window. And when it's finished she'll be starting up another one of the same design. But the second one should go a little faster for her -- it almost always does. Terry says she wants to do something with some color in it next.

And that will do it for this week. Oh, and did you hear the one about the blind carpenter who picked up a hammer and saw?

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Striving for Less Bulky and Funky Solder Lines

We're nearing the end of a number of projects here in the shop. and I have a funny feeling that the next 2 weeks are going to be very busy during classes.

Of course, that doesn't mean that we don't have any completed projects this week though. Cindy wrapped up the soldering job on her last window and after she washed and colored her 3 windows I managed to remember to take a picture of them just before we lost the sunlight outside. Aren't these nice? The funny thing is that this is Cindy's SECOND project but her first to be completed since she had to wait for some glass to come in for her first project.

And Roxie had a friend who saw Terry's Pittsburgh Steelers logo here on the Blog and asked Roxie to make a smaller version for him. So this is what she came up with. The picture you're looking at is almost the exact size of her finished project give or take a quarter of an inch or so.


Bonnie is ready to add the border to her Ballerina Slippers Window and that won't take more than a half hour to do. Then she'll solder it and dance them out the door. I like how Bonnie wasn't afraid to but blue into the window. Pink and blue go together so well yet a lot of people are afraid to put blue in a window for a girl. In my opinion it really makes the pink stand out.

Speaking of blue, here's a look at Sonia's window now that it has its border attached and the front almost completely soldered. She deviated a bit from the original pattern when the leaf on the left lost about a 1/4 inch of it's tip. Rather than re-cut it we simply made it touch the border instead of cutting into it (like the sunflower petals do). And there's nothing wrong with that at all. Look to see this one completed in our next Blog update.


Terry has the center cut for her 1st small beveled window. With the corners attached she'll be cutting straight bevels and a final border for this window during her next class. I'm going to confess that we (Terry, Russ and I) made a miscalculation and forgot to order the end pieces to her bevel centerpiece. Rather than waste a week or more waiting for the pieces to come in we improvised when we discovered a small bevel cluster made of 4 identical pieces that we were able to drop in place for the original bevels. And I'll bet you can't guess which bevels are the replacements because they match perfectly. Sometimes you can still score a goal even on a fumble and this is one of those times.

Wow, I really like the way this Boar's Head looks. It's all cut and ground and there are only a few pieces left to wrap before Cindy tacks it together and then adds her final border. This window is just about finished now and I know that Cindy is anxious to get her first (technically her second) project completed.

Patty's Seafood Medley Window (meow!) is really taking shape here. This week she finished up her oysters, her two lemons, and she even had her last piece of corn on the cob. I think that she's down to the seafood now (and once again I'm hungry due to looking at this).

Myrt started the Grape/Cheese and Wine window that she's been talking about doing since the first class she took. I wasn't sure how many purple Globs she had found so the pattern I drew up only had one cluster of grapes but when she came in I saw she easily had enough for 2 clusters so the pattern has been altered to make room for more grapes. This is going to be a nice window but I'm not sure if I want to be around when Myrt cuts the cheese... (groan)

And Myrt also brought in her Fleur De Lis that she cut out while she was home last week. All it needs now is some grinding and then the majority of the work will be completed on this window. It's actually cut from a deep, rich red glass which will really stand out quite nicely when it has a little light behind it.

Well then, that's it! We're up to date again and just waiting for our students to arrive on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so we can show you what goes on this week here in the bayou at the Glass Studio.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

The Buzz This Week

Well, Roxie wanted to make something completely different and she did. I think this is the first Mobile that a student has made and who knows, it may not be the last. Those 3 bees were hard to keep still for the picture but as you can see we managed. I think Roxie had fun making this and I know we improved on the pattern that Vicki Payne provided for this project.

Sonia is all tacked together and ready for her final border. She's decided to use the same blue that she used to make the birds feathers with which will give the border something to tie into color-wise. I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll be seeing this window completed within the next 2 weeks. And like Roxie, Sonia seems to be having a fun time making this.

Terry has begun working on the first of her two companion windows to the large Beveled window she finished last week. These are much smaller but the centers have a lot more work in them. With the center piece to the first one cut out Terry is well on her way to completing this one.

Pam has begun to work on her first project. She was concerned about getting in over her head so she decided to start with something a small. After seeing her cut and grind this in one class I'm going to go on record and say that Pam has NOTHING to worry about. She's doing just fine. This humming Bird will be finished when she next shows up for class.


Janice really jumped out ahead of the class with her window this week. Not only did she cut out all of her background but she even has it all ground already! If you look at the enlarged photo of this you'll see 5 small holes where single leaves will be cut to fit. After those 5 pieces are cut Janice will be adding her border and then she'll solder this one.

Myrt began working on the Fleur De Lis that Terry had drawn up and made a few weeks back. She altered the pattern a bit and then set out cutting the FDL in a nice dark Red glass. The only problem with the red glass is that it's hard to see your lines on it. But I know Myrt will manage. As you can see on the top part of the photo she's already got a number of the pieces cut out already.

Now would you look at this. When we last checked in on Cindy she had 6 pieces of glass cut and 3 square bevels picked out. This week she walked in the door with all 3 of her windows cut, ground and wrapped. By the time she left class she had 2 of the windows completely soldered and the front of the third window completed. Talk about moving along!

Bonnie has her ballerina slippers all ground and tacked together. She has the background glass for the oval section picked out and will have that part completed next week as well as her four corners that will turn this from an oval into a rectangular window. This window is very near completion and Bonnie is doing a wonderful job with it.

That pretty much sums up what happened during the last week of May except for the fact that I forgot to show you what Roxie did after her Bee Hive was completed. She began working on this Pittsburgh Steelers emblem. It's a quick little suncatcher that only needs 7 more pieces cut before she calls this finished.
I'll leave you all with these words of wisdom: If you don't have any blood on your project you're being too careful!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

These Three Bees

Terry's window is now out and about. Using nothing but clear glass and bevels Terry opted to color the lead black which creates excellent contrast against all the clear for a striking look. Measuring 48 inches wide this isn't a small window by any means. It took a steady hand to make sure everything lined up evenly but she was up for the challenge. Next up for Terry are the 2 companion end pieces that will bookend this window.


Anita's Egret window was another project to walk out the door this week. I think Anita has a thing for feathers because she's got another bird window all lined up to be started next week. She handled the feathers on this window one at a time and found that it wasn't nearly as hard as she had originally thought. Small steps is the key to everything in stained glass.

And Myrt also brought home a window this week. Wow, I just noticed that all of the projects completed this week were done in our Tuesday night class. Myrt's use of bright colors make this a window that's hard to ignore. The antenna on the butterfly was made by tacking on some thin gauge wired after the window was completed. Making actual cuts into the glass to for the antenna would be far too tedious to even consider.

And speaking of moving along, Sonia is making big progress also. Although her window isn't complete (yet) her background is. It was all cut from one sheet of Krinkle Glass so it pretty much just dropped into place and requires barely any grinding at all. With just a border left to cut the hard work on this window IS completed.

Oyster Patty! That's who is making this window. This week she saw her oysters take shape and I think her colors are perfect. She wasn't sure of the colors should have been reversed or not but I think these look better than fine. There will be no mistaking what they are when this window is complete. Hmmmm, suddenly I'm hungry for some crab legs.

Janice managed to get all of her flowers and leaves fitted, and tacked together. She'll be making 3 windows this size with all of the flowers being different colors and in different positions. I'd say its safe to assume that she'll be doing some background work next week and that we'll see some MAJOR progress on this 1st window. Here's the basic layout of this one.

Bonnie has finished cutting all of her ballerina slippers and ribbons and still managed to find the time to begin grinding them. Once these are tacked together she'll cut out the oval background. And then once that's tacked together she'll cut out the rectangular background. It's sort of like working in layers and it's how we make sure that everything lines up perfectly.

Look out! These three Bee's are completed and their hive is just about ready to bee finished as well. Next week Roxie will surround the hive with a thin wire which will be embedded into the soldered edge so you'll never even see it. This will give the hive the strength to hold the 3 bees from small hooks along its bottom edge. Once the hooks are in place she'll just attach the bees with some fishing line and call this another completed project.

Lastly, we have a look at Cindy's newest project. She was waiting for a specific piece of glass to come in for her Boar window and although the glass arrived in time for class we forgot to make sure that Cindy brought her pattern pieces with her. So rather than waste a night Cindy started her next project by designed 3 small windows to be inset into a door. The pattern has a distinct Mission style about it. And talk about a stroke of luck--when the pattern was completed she said that she'd like to put a bevel in the center and wouldn't you know that bevels we happened to have in stock fit in perfectly! Why don't things ever work out that way for me????

That's all the news that's fit to be printed this week during our classes.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Ducks On The Water

Ducks on the water,
and flying in the sky!

Fran's Duck window is finished and it's been quite a trip getting here. We've seen different ducks and backgrounds and patterns and colors but in the end it turned out looking beautiful. And she's even sold it already. Now sit back and take a gander at this.


Meanwhile, Bonnie has begun work on her latest project. This will be a a pair of ballerina slippers and you can already see that they've begun to take shape with just one night of work done on them. The ribbons and slippers are almost completely cut already. Bonnie is a natural at this!

Ok, this Boars Head window is REALLY looking good. When Cindy said she wanted to add leaves to the background I thought it would be a look good but that it would also add a lot more work for a first time window. But now that they're almost completely cut out and ground into place I have to say that Cindy has handled herself wonderfully on a complex first project.

With the front of her window soldered and the back almost completed I'd say that we'll see Anita's latest piece of stained glass finished next week. For some odd reason I took a picture of the completed front rather than the 75% completed back side. Trust me when I say that this project is just about ready to make it's debut in a window next week.

And Sonia is moving right along as well. She's also got a fairly complex window for a first project and she's really doing a great job. Her flower is ground and wrapped and the only thing left to grind before she cuts her background is the bird on the left and the leaf that it is resting on.

Patty's ear of corn is ground and wrapped which means that she's managed to keep it all together (both herself and her project) which can be VERY difficult with tiny pieces like this. I'm telling you, this window is starting to take shape and it's going to be a show stopper. Mark my words.

Myrt came in and finished wrapping her pieces. Once that was done she tacked it all together and then she cut her border out of the same orange glass that appears briefly in her butterfly. I always recommend that the border be a color that has already been used in the window-- preferably something that was used minimally as an accent color and which doesn't actually touch the border itself. These orange border pieces have all been ground and Myrt will be taking them home to wrap.
Janice has been cutting out flowers left and right and this week she's cut all of the leaves that surround them. She has 15 flowers and the leaves for half of them have been ground to fit. It won't be long before these will be tacked together and traced out over her background glass.

And here we take a look at Terry's beveled window. It's all ready for solder now-- even the zinc channel has been attached. It's a beautiful design and I can't wait to see this completed. Talk about impressive...


And there you have it.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks