I always hate to see people waste glass and sadly they often waste it for all the wrong reasons. Too many times I see patterns traced out as far apart as possible and when I tell people to position them closer they tell me that they can't possibly cut it out that way As long as you allow yourself a straight cut between each piece it won't matter how close they are. Look at the positioning in the picture on the left. If something breaks a second sheet of glass will be needed to re-cut even just one broken piece. Now look at the picture on the right. We can easily fit 8 more of the same pieces on the leftover glass. "Wait," you say. "I can't cut that out, I'm not as good as you!" Then read on.
The left picture below shows how most people (98% of our students) would start cutting these pieces. They'd start by separating the four pieces by cutting two straight lines through the center of the glass. "I can cut a straight line," I hear people say. Well, my positioning on the right cuts with all straight lines and it saves you 2/3rds of the glass to use for something else. And as an added bonus, your first important cut on an inside curve (the point to point cut) is already made for you!
Just remember to allow for a straight cut and you can position your pieces much closer and save yourself some money at the same time. The positioning on the left used $7.00 of glass for four pieces. The positioning on the right only used $2.33 worth of glass. That's a savings of $4.65 for every four pieces of glass in this project. Tell me that doesn't add up to a good tip of the week! Just remember to think ahead. Try to put straight cuts on the edge of the glass when possible, also.
So then, what have we to look at this week? Well, Gale completed her heron window which she finished off by learning how to add brass channel and then some hooks. After a quick bath she colored it and came back two days later to pick it up. Now let me explain-- I had a gut feeling when I set the window aside in a cardboard sleeve that we'd forget about it when Gale left for the night, and I was correct. Anymore they go straight to the car! At any rate, it looks great and was truly a perfect first project because the cuts ranged from complex to easy and she got to slowly work her way into the hard cuts after gaining confidence on the easier cuts. It's hard to fault this window.
Susan has completed her Abstract Rectangles panel which I like to call her Poly-Chromatic Non-configurative Askew-esque Parallelograms Window. All I can say is that Susan's avant-garde went full tilt with this one. It's actually very nice and the workmanship is spot on. I know it took a lot for her not to tidy things up on this project.
Carol finished another Bee Lawn Ornament and she put this together 100 percent on her own. That's some excellent works she's doing! It's been staked and is ready to decorate a lawn. Carol wants to know if we can come up with another 3D design.
Terry completed her V for Vendetta Window and is ready to begin something a bit more challenging as you are about to see.
So then, this pattern is Terry's latest Window. I know it's not the easiest thing to see since its been drawn in pencil so I'll tell you that it's a nice Egret Window with a lot of leaves and some water. Terry is changing it up as she moves along so I can't wait to see what this looks like when she comes back in.
Ann worked on the remainder of the flowers for her large Flower Window and they're all cut now. In fact, she's even moved on to grinding each of them. She's making incredible headway on this window and I think she likes the bigger pieces of glass that she's dealing with.
Jeanne resumed work on her Winnie the Pooh Window and has even cut out a few extra leaves that she plans to scatter throughout the tree to fill it out more. With just the background (the sky) left to cut, Jeanne has shown us just how far along she's come since she first started classes with us. She'll be grinding this before you know it.
Betty cut out the background glass to her Stylized Fleur De Lis Window and even got three sides of her border cut. The top section will be assembled when the sides are attached because the curved corner pieces need to fit exactly or the flow of the curve will be distracting and become a (negative) focal point. We want the FDL to be what catches the viewers eye so we're going to stack the deck in our favor and cut the top curve when everything else is tacked together to ensure a perfect fit.
Gale started a Louisiana Styled FDL window and has most of the hard part (the trim) cut out already. She dropped in the other day and picked up some background glass so I guess it's safe to say that she's got her Fleur De Lis portion all cut out. Gale is doing incredible work considering she's our newest student!
Brenda is just about finished with the last of her Transom window sections. This one just needs some solder and it will be complete.
And Myrt resumed working on her Outhouse window. The outhouse itself is all tacked together and it even has a birdhouse along with a nice moon in the door now. Myrt's attention to detail is worth singing about. Sha La, La La. Sha La, La La!
Mary Grace's Double Sunflower is all soldered up and just waiting to get washed and colored. Again, I like how the double border looks on this window. It's almost as if she made a border for each sunflower.
Carol came in with the majority of her latest window all cut and ground. She wasn't sure if she should cut out the background pieces from her pattern or if she should cut the background from one octagonal piece of glass that she would trace her finished pieces on to. In the end we decided to not use her pattern pieces because she's using a rainlike glass for her background and cutting from one piece will allow the grain of the glass to match perfectly all throughout.
And then there's Martha who began working on her circular Magnolia Window. It's the first round window that Martha has made and although it's different from a square window it really isn't *that* different--as she will see soon enough. Once you've done one stained glass window you've sorta done them all.
And that brings us up to date. We've been having a lot of posts lately and it's going to be good to take a break from sitting in front of the computer and typing all night!
Paul
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