Power Down

We're going to start this year off with a tip that's simple yet incredibly time saving.  When wrapping your glass pieces with foil you occasionally get what we refer to as 'stair stepping'.  That's when the end of the foil doesn't line up perfectly with the start of the foil leaving a jagged edge.  I always make sure that our students cut these ragged edges off with a razor knife because once they're covered with solder they're going to be there forever and they are a sure sign that the window was made by an amateur. Trimming these stair steps takes extra time time but there is a place on a window where you can ignore these stair steps-- on your final border. But only if your window is going to be surrounded by a channel.  If your window will be finished with a brass or zinc channel then I recommend starting your foil on the outside edge of the final border.  Any stair stepping that occurs will (most likely) be covered by the channel and can be ignored.  Even if it isn't you can easily trim off the excess foil with a razor knife after the channel is in place.  The channel even helps keep your trimming even!  So any more when you foil your outer borders ask yourself if your window will be getting a channel added to it.  If it will then start your foil on the outside edge of the border piece and don't worry about any stair steps that occur.  It's fun to break the rules!


Wow, Terry's Louisiana Tiger Window is complete and she's done another wonderful job with this project.  The workmanship is top notch-- just look at that tiger's face (especially the whiskers).  And again, like so many of her patterns she drew this pattern up all on her own.  Call it whatever you want but I call it amazing work.

This wise Owl by Janet is one of my favorite Owl Suncatchers.  I just wish you could see how nice the eyes look outside of this picture and in real life.  We painted the black pupils with glass paint onto the back of the amber globs Janet used for the eyes and when you move you can watch the pupils  follow you!  It's a great effect that was completely unintentional but very welcomed. 

 

Rowena put together her 3D Poinsettia and once it was washed it sparkled beyond what I would have imagined.  She's decided to just use this as a table decoration and I think it's perfect as that.  Then for good measure she also made this yellow Butterfly as well.  Rowena's a glass making machine!

 

 

Sue's pair of Mermaid Lawn Ornaments are certainly striking.  Making mirror images of them will really help make these stand out when she places them in her yard.  Linda L likes these as well so expect to see more of these being made in the weeks ahead.  Great job, Sue!

 

Vickie completed her Geometric Window and then threw together this Butterfly suncatcher as well.  Remember when it took Vickie an entire class to make one of these?  Well, not any more!  (What is it with all of these yellow butterflies all of a sudden?)

 

Here's a look at Becky S's latest 3D Rose.  This has got to be the sturdiest one I've seen anyone make and it's all because Becky took her time soldering each petal and leaf together.  It's not just about the amount of solder-- it's about placement also, and I know that Becky understands the process completely.

 

 

Linda L's Christmas Tree Window really turned out nice.  She was concerned that the ornaments might be too big but I think they work perfectly.  Chalk this up as another great job by Linda.

  

Jeannette made this window a while back but wasn't thrilled with how it ended in a light green border.  She asked if she could add another border to the window and as soon as I said, "Sure!" Jeannette was ripping of the brass channel and adding a dark brown border to it.  Here it is with its second border attached and all I can say is that it does look much better this way!

  

Linda L also completed this American Flag window but she finished it right at the very end of class so I didn't get a picture of it all cleaned up.  But you can certainly see what she accomplished and there's little doubt of what this is.

 

With only one piece of background glass left to go Natalie's Pelican Window is really shaping up to be a phenomenal looking piece.  Her background glass is gorgeous and makes this look more like a painting rather than a piece of stained glass, and in this application I think that's a very good thing.  I'm going to try to talk her into a double border on this because it just looks too nice to frame it out with only a single border.

 

Jeanne's Ship in a Bottle is all ready for solder.  Jeanne has this fitting together wonderfully and we'll certainly see this completed when she comes back in.  This is a great design executed flawlessly by Jeanne who even replaced a piece of glass because it wasn't fitting as well as she wanted.  The replacement piece fits in seamlessly and I defy you to tell me which piece it is.

 

As you can see, Betty has been busy cutting out her Ribbon De Lis Window.  Picking a border proved to be somewhat difficult so we solved the problem using the old double border method.  Since we didn't have a pink glass that matched perfectly we simply made a thin border out of a similar (but different) pink, and then followed that up with a thicker border of her background glass.  As you can see, you can't lose handling it that way!

Wow.  Cindy's Harley-Davidson Window looks spectacular already and it isn't even completed yet.  We're going to have to square this out so that it will be sturdy but that only involves adding six or eight pieces of glass to surround it which means that this is just about ready for solder!

 

Brenda is currently working on this emblem Window but I hate to admit that I don't know what it stands for.  That's pretty bad, but to make matters even worse I don't even know if I have it upside down or not!  You would think that the person who drew up the pattern (me) would know these things. At any rate, it sure looks graceful!  I'll get more info on this window for our post next week.

Bonnie is making a Straight Cut Window and has picked out the bevels she'll be using for the outer border and an inner section.  All she needs now is a pattern!  (Which she'll have when she returns.)

 

Myrt's Cat Window is just about ready to be soldered. With everything wrapped and only the clear glass and a border needed to be cut there's a good chance this will be completely cut out in Myrt's next class. 

 

Martha has her ducks all wrapped and they'll be tacked together when she comes back in.  She has her sky glass picked out so I'm sure we'll get to see both skies (they'll be different) all cut and ground by the time Martha leaves from her next class with us. 

  

Susan's Tiger is just about ready for solder also.  With all her borders cut there are only three pieces of glass left to cut out-- an eye, a nose and the background glass that fills in the mouth which is a tricky one of I do say so myself.  After this is completed Susan will move onto her third and final Tiger Window.

 

Carol was as busy as a beaver during our Christmas/New Years Hiatus.  She came in with this Stylized Fleur De Lis tacked together needing only some background and a border.  As you can see she managed to get the background cut, ground, wrapped, and tacked.  Then, just for good measure, she got her border cut out as well.

Linda F is in the midst of making two medium sized Butterfly Lawn Ornaments.  She's got one completely wrapped and ready to be soldered while the second one isn't very far behind.  That's what I call progress. I like the way she's chosen to separate the two colors of glass in her butterflies.  It's a very natural pattern.

 

As you can see, Ann now makes short work of these Stylized Crosses.  This one is all tacked together and will get a background cut for it when she comes back in.  She wraps so fast I think she may very well get her border cut for this as well!

 

 

And Shelley's latest Duck Head Window is just three or four pieces away from being wrapped.    This one is a little larger than her first one so hopefully the grinding isn't giving her near as much trouble as the first one did.  Larger pieces are always easier to deal with and I think that Shelley will attest to that.

  

We're going to finish things off looking at Mary Graces latest Straight Cut Window.  She has all of it wrapped but has found a few lines that weren't quite square so she's going to re-cut those and then start soldering this when she comes back in.

It's a new year already but before this next weekend hits I hope to have a Weekend Workshop from last year posted.  Look for that soon!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks