Saturday, October 29, 2011

The FI Option

This week we've got quite a few finished projects. We'll start off looking at Fran's latest Duck Window. The change we made from last week involved the lines in the sky running from left to right. The original pattern had a heavily slanted cut on the right side that looked like the glass had been cracked and repaired. Now that we've removed the slant everything flows more smoothly. The reason for the top piece having angular cuts is simple: the window was wider than the sheet of glass so we had to piece it together. We thought about adding a cloud or two but Fran was afraid it would take away from the ducks.



Cindy completed her 'At Home' project this week. Her Humming Birds and Flowers Window was done almost exclusively outside of the classroom. About the only thing that she did in class was to cut the background out one night. Another job well done.


Anita said she wanted to do something quickly one night while she was at home so she cut this Cross Suncatcher out of scrap glass that she had lying around. You can't lose when you made projects out of scraps!





And Cindy also came in with these two suncatchers just about completed. The first is this round Bird in Flight that she wasn't sure how to put an eye on. We used an old trick of mine and cut a glass head pin down to about 1/4 inch in length with some wire cutters and then soldered the pin section into the lead line nearest the eye. The we repeated the process on the second side.


Cindy's second suncatcher of the week is her Pelican. I have to say that I like this one a lot. It's simple but very charming. And it went together perfectly for her. All we had to do was show her how to add a hook to hang this and it was ready to go.


I have to confess and admit that I don't recall who worked on this Mallard Window first this week. I'm pretty sure that Anita started grinding the window and then Myrt continued on it the next night. Or it could be the other way around. Nonetheless, the Mallard Window is being ground and this is what it looked like after the first night.

Meanwhile Terry soldered the font side of her Fish Window after her border was cut she'll be finishing this one up at home so I expect we'll see this one completed any day now. She'll just walk in the door with it ready to be colored so I can take a picture of it. Terry's soldering is nothing short of superb and touching up her windows is no work at all.


And that wasn't all that Terry accomplished. She also worked on this last section of her newest set of 3 windows. With the background and the borders all cut she's well on her way to finishing this as well as her Fish Window.


Ann is another student who's moving along quickly on her window. I was amazed when she had it all cut out before class ended. And not only did she cut quickly but she cut precisely which means that she won't be spending more than a class an the grinder getting this to fit together.


She's close now! There are only five shrimp on the far right of Patty's Seafood Window left to cut. Her Crawfishin' days are over on this window! Once she starts cutting the background she'll be rounding 3rd base and headed for home plate. Hmmm, have you noticed there aren't any potatoes in this window?


Cindy not only completed her Humming Bird window this week-- she also made some serious progress on her front door panels. These are the last 2 sections and she's got them all cut out now. She'll be at the grinder during her next class getting these to fit together.


This is the back side of Janice's 3rd window. It's just about finished now save for the brass channel that will go around the outside edges. There's still a smaller section that will sit above this window and the vines and flowers will all line up perfectly . We'll post them all so you can see how the borders line up when the last 3 windows are complete.


And here is our second look at the Anita/Myrt Duck Window. I think Myrt took over the grinding duties from Anita the next night and she got a lot of the feathers completed. She's thinking about re-cutting one or two of them due to the color variations in the glass but we'll make a final decision on that when we have everything fitting together better so we can see the big picture.


Roxie has the window that changes names every time we see it! I have to confess I've been messing with her a bit and that this is her real window. It says Yellow Camp and that's where it's going to reside when she finished it. With the border all cut there will only be some soldering left to go before she packs this away in a sleeve and takes it home.


Next we see that Susan has all of her pieces lined up perfectly. She spent her class grinding every piece and making sure that her lines weren't cock-eyed and that everything flowed together just right. She's bringing it home with her to wrap which means that next week she'll have this box top soldered and will possibly begin working on the sides.


Sonia has her background cut. After she cut it she ground it. After she ground it she foiled it. After she foiled it she tacked it. After she tacked it she went home and called it a job well done. :-) Next week she'll start on her fancy 3 layer border that will really set this window off nicely.


And lastly we have a look at PeeWee's latest project. He's making 2 more Fleur De Lis Windows so rather than cutting them out one at a time he's cutting everything out in sets of 2. That explains why you're seeing double when you look at the FDL's he worked on this week. He got them both cut, ground, wrapped and tacked together before the class was over. He'll be cutting some background glass to set these in next week!


And this brings us yet another week closer to getting caught up here. I was amazed at how many projects we have started here. It's no wonder I have no room in the shop! Have a great weekend, expect another post before it's over.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

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