It's been a while since we've seen a lamp made and Cindy's Panel Lamp fits her base perfectly. We took a pattern that she liked and then adjusted the angle of the sides so it would perfectly mimic the shade that originally came with the lamp. Then she added a small crown to tidy things up and hide the metal assembly (which is called a spider) that secures the lamp to the harp. Her colors are a wonderful match to the base and when we joined the final two pieces to make the lamp circular they lined up perfectly. And that's what this lamp is: Perfect.
Jeannette's Boat Window is now complete and in this window it's the things that you DON'T notice that makes it look so good. Jeanette's sky was cut out of one piece of glass cut to fit the entire sky portion of the pattern without any cuts inside of it. Then she traced the lines of the rigging, the clouds the light and the roof of the boat onto it and carefully began cutting the glass so the pattern of the sky would line up again behind the boat when it was done. Take a look at the end of this update to see what a difference this cutting procedure can make. That said, Jeannette's window looks marvelous! (And she has another one on the way!)
Terry's Horse Window is a slightly altered version of a window that was done before but the color scheme makes it look completely different. The horse looks extremely realistic and the double teal border is a perfect fit. Terry said that the three clear corner pieces that turn the window into a square gave her problems since they come to such delicate points, but it looks to me as though she handled it wonderfully.
Here's the first completed Transom Window Insert that Myrt is currently working on. There will be a total of three windows altogether. This is one of the two smaller end pieces and she's making another of these as you read this. The beauty of this pattern is that you don't have to reverse it to make a mirror image, you just make it again and turn it upside down!
Jane's Sunflower Lawn Ornament is hard to miss when its sitting in the midst of green grass. the vibrant yellow glass really stands out nicely and the fact that this is a 3D sunflower really makes it all the more noteworthy. This is another job well done by Jane.
Cindy saw this Birdhouse design and decided to start working on it in between the assembly of her lamp. She's done a great job and as you can see, her colors light up wonderfully.
Brenda's B window has been completed this week and it's a variation of the B that Ann is working on, just set in a simple square. I think she has these initial windows down to a science now!
Then we have Betty's Round Magnolia Design. Yep, Betty is back and her window is very close to getting a border put on it. There's just some wrapping left to do on the leaves and then she'll cut the few background pieces and 'borderize' it.
Martha doesn't want her window to be pictured but I explained that when she began class she signed a paper which, among other things, stated that her work would always be displayed each and every week. (Okay, so I lied there a little bit but she didn't know that.) But, as you can see, the ever resourceful Martha came up with a loophole in the contract-- I got to take my picture but you can't see all the fine work she did this week.
And were we ever right about the double border on this Detroit Lions Window that Carol is making. There's nothing else to say other than stating the fact that it is a stunning window. And her work on it is exceptional. This design would really take off in class if we weren't in Louisiana! Look to see this finished next week.
Jeanne has begun the soldering process of her Stylized Cross Window and has most of the front side completed. As she moved from one side to the other you could watch her soldering abilities improving. She told me that what she wants to do is finish the front and then make another pass over it to straighten out any soldering inconsistencies. I think that she's got the hang of this soldering business.
Well, we found the B, although it wasn't in the state that we thought it would be which is why we had such a hard time locating it in the shop. It's funny how you can't find something if you're looking for the wrong thing. But Ann got her borders all cut and fitted into place and just has 8 small fill ins to go before she starts soldering these three windows.
Bonnie somehow got skipped over last week so I've took a picture of her newest project, a Triple Sunflower Design (similar to Betty's but 'enhanced') before she began working on it this week. The second picture shows that she got her leaves and flower centers cut out this week. Now it may look like she has it ground as well, but she doesn't. What you're seeing is the end result of cutting off the lines when you cut your glass. Bonnie will basically just have to skim this to get everything to fit-- but not before she cuts her background.
Lynn's Initial Window is looking more and more like a Crest every week that she adds more glass to it. I love the sweeping, flowing design. I'd love to take credit for it but it was actually drawn by Lynn herself-- all I did was enlarge it to the size she wanted.
Oh boy, there's a story behind this window by Mary Grace this week. She was all ready to put a brass channel on it so I said I do that for her. I cut the channel, picked up the window, set it on it's side and pushed the top channel on. But the glass on her border (which I have to say I LOVE!) was a little thicker than normal and the channel didn't quite fit. Instead of stretching open the channel I used the brute force method and just pushed harder. BIG mistake. The window folded along the outer border pulling off some of the inside border pieces and some of the bottom as well. NEVER FORCE THINGS! But it's fixed now and will be ready to go home next week.
And last of all we take a look at the pattern that Brenda will be starting. It's the same Iris Window that Mary Grace made a few weeks back but Brenda added a few more leaves into the mix (they've been penciled in using a red pencil. I love the look and can't wait to see what Brenda walks into class with next week!
Okay Dokey then. We're at the end of the blog so I'm going to show you why Jeannette took the extra time to get her sky cut from one piece of glass. Here's a bigger picture of Jeannette's sky. Note how the grain and flow of the white and blue have been preserved. It looks as though the boat and its lines are in front of a continuous, flowing sky.
Here's the same scene with one exception: this one was put together by cutting pattern pieces for each piece of sky, laying them out onto a sheet of glass and cutting each piece independent from each other. Since there are no common edges the flow of the sky is non-existant and the boat no longer looks to be in front of a continuous sky. This is an important part of making professional looking stained glass. Sometimes backgrounds (in this case the sky) should flow together and positioning your pattern pieces on your glass randomly will certainly leave you with a less than desirable window.
And that's about it. Next week we may cover the order in which the breaks in the sky were cut to show you how this was achieved. There were two scary cuts, but after that it was a piece of cake.
Paul
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