Thinking Evil All the Time

Some people come here for the tips and some people come here for the pictures.  Hopefully you're here to see what everyone accomplished in the last week of 2015 because this post is seriously late and I have no tip springing to my head.  I promise to have a tip in our next post but for now let's just dive into things here.


Here's the final look at Mary Grace's Clear Textures and Straight Cuts Window.  She really took to the pistol grip like a fish to water.  Because she used the pistol grip for all of her cuts everything is nice and straight.   I really like the window but I absolutely love the quality of work that Mary Grace put into it.  She even  had so much fun making this project that she's making another already!

  

Paula's Ragin Cajuns window is complete and like I predicted in our last post, you can clearly see the letters that spell out the words now that it's up and off of the table.   Sometimes it's a bit scary when you're working on a window and all the colors look like they're blending into one another.  But as long as you hold your glass up to see what they look like with some light behind them (or use a light box), you'll always be fine just like Paula's Window here.

 

Brenda's final three Christmas Suncatchers were all completed in time for Christmas Day.  She did a phenomenal job on these but she says she's over them already and wants to move on to something that isn't red and green.  Maybe I can get her to make a zebra window.

 

Linda F put the finishing touches on her own Straight Cuts Window which is slightly different from the one above because it has a big circle in it.  It may not be all straight cuts but it still requires perfectly straight lines to make this window work.  And Linda F certain has this this window a-workin'!

 

Bonnie came in and put this quick and simple (yet elegant) card holder together within a half hour.  It may only be made up of four pieces of glass but it's sturdy and functional.  It's also a great way to use up those extra strips of border glass that you probably have lying around. 

  

Here's another 3D Flower that Becky S completed this week.  It features an unseen wire ring that surrounds the bottom and helps make this Rose far more sturdier than the Roses we've made without a wire ring.  These Roses are getting better all the time.

  

Ann's latest Hand Mirror shows just how perfectly Ann cuts and grinds.  And the reason I'm pointing out those talents is because Ann finished her mirror early and then loaned her expertise to Charlie by helping him grind  a hand mirror of his own.  Ann's come a long way and teaching is certainly in her blood because she was doing a great job teaching Charlie some of the tricks to grinding.

 

And speaking of Charlie, here's what's turned out to be his second to last Hand Mirror.  It's fair to say that he's got these down pat now so getting that last one finished should be fairly easy for him.

 

Here's a look at one of a pair of UL Suncatchers that Terry completed this week.  Cindy certainly started a trend when she asked for this pattern because everyone seems to like it.  And when people see how nicely Terry's turned out I'm sure even more will be done. 

 

Carol completed her latest Poinsettia Nightlight and Fleur De Lis Window.  The amber fibroid glass that she used was a perfect fit for this not large but not quite small Fleur De Lis panel.  The nightlight still needs a clip to attach it to it's base but it's essentially a completed project.

Cindy's making tremendous headway on her Harley-Davidson Window and all of the text cut out save for the word 'CYCLE'.  She's also got all of her straight border strips cut and ready to be sized so this difficult window has already proven itself to be not so difficult in Cindy's hands.

 

Sue resumed work on her pair of book end mermaids. She has them both ground and all they need is a little foil before she starts soldering these.  We have two weeks between classes so I won't be surprised if Sue has these foiled when she comes back in after the new year.  But since this is a holiday week she might be too busy to work on her glass.  Either way, these mermaids are close to being completed.

 

Janet loved the pair of owls that Gale made and was looking through the pattern draws looking for the same pattern when she stumbled across this owl that I drew up from a spectrum pattern a while back.  It was never actually made but I always liked the pattern and now that I see it all cut out and ground I like it even more.  Of course the fact that Janet has everything fitting together perfectly helps!   

 

Jeanne's Ship In A Bottle is all cut, ground and looking great.  This just needs some foil and solder to finish it off which I don't think will take long at all.  This is going to be another stunning project that Jeanne can add to her portfolio of stained glass accomplishments.

 

 

Linda L worked on this Christmas Tree insert and has all but a few small fill ins left to go.  She also asked if it were possible to add hooks to finished windows that weren't originally meant to be hung.  And the answer to that is a definite YES!  But before we add any hooks anywhere check out Linda's very tannenbaumish project.

 

Susan has all but one piece of her background cut out, ground, and (for the most part) tacked together.  she got all of these pieces cut out of one sheet of glass that was considerably smaller than the width of her window due to some creative placement.  We were still one piece short but Susan will have that in place before she comes back next week for her borders.  Yes, this window will get two borders-- it's the next version of this Tiger that will only have a single border.

  

Martha got her second Duck and Dragonfly Window all ground and only needs sky cut for both of these windows.  We're going to tack everything together first and make a continuous sky that flows perfectly.   Martha was concerned about cutting the small round eyes for the dragonflies but then I showed her the trick.  Straight lines cut easier that curves so we cut out four small squares and then just ground off the four corners which turned them into tiny, perfect circles. 

 

Terry's Louisiana Tiger is all soldered with just the border left to solder on the back side.  There's no doubt at all in my mind that this will be completed when she comes back in.    Look for this window to be featured in our first post covering events that happen in our first classes for 2016!

  

Myrt has everything cut out for her Cat in a Window Window save for the clear glass of the window which make up only a few scant pieces of glass.  I think that like Martha's window, we'll tack this together before we cut those few scant pieces of glass.

 

Here's Mary Graces newest window which is identical in design to her last one save for the textures that she's used.  The best part is that she cut all of this out in just one class.  Since she made sure to cut the line off as she was cutting her glass it already fits together without even having been ground.  All this needs is a quick skim on the grinder and Mary Grace will have this window ready for foil and solder! 

Jeannette worked on cutting out another Sunflower Lawn Ornament and she got really far along on it considering she started out the class with nothing started.  By the time she left she had everything cut and the main flower section all ground and fitting together perfectly.

 

 

Lastly, even though Charlie got all of the  hand mirrors he thought he needed made in time for Christmas he discovered that he needed to make one more.   With Ann helping him out he was able to get the his last hand mirror all cut out and ground.  He said he doesn't HAVE to get this one finished in time for Christmas but it's very close.  So close that he may be able to finish this one at home.  We'll see how he made out when he comes back in to class.

And that almost wraps up 2015.  I still have two Weekend Workshops to post that happened in November right before the Christmas rush hit us without any warning at all (it seemed to start early this year).  I promise to get those posts up as soon as possible but we may see our first 2016 post before that happens.  At any rate, we'll be be in less than a week so I hope to see everyone again then.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks