Shattered Dreams

Sometimes it's hard to see the forest from the trees and in stained glass that could lead to problems.  Often times there are shapes within shapes that may be hard to see at first glance but if they don't line up then the entire project will appear 'off'.  Take a look at the Peacock on the left.  It all looks good but now look at the one on the right to see where the hidden lines are that can screw up the flow of this peacock if they aren't followed,   I've outlined the shapes in orange, red, purple, blue and green lines.  If these sections don't line up precisely then the entire project will appear out of kilter.

 

Here's another example.  Although there are only four colors in the pattern below, the light orange and dark orange form one distinct curve that must be followed for this design to line up properly and look correct.  Sometimes it's about what you DON'T see rather than what you DO see.  Always look for hidden shapes and pay attention to how all of your pieces line up.  It can make an astounding difference in your work.

Now here's a window where everything lines up perfectly.  Ann's Cross Window is certainly a beautiful sight to behold.   She's done excellent work on this and her soldering skills have grown by leaps and bounds over the past year.  I barely touched up any of her soldering because Ann had it looking great right from the start.  That's what I call amazing work.

Linda L's Santa Micky was completed this week and it turned out perfectly.  Her eye for detail is amazingly accurate and it shows in the work that went into this window. She's even done some wire work which helps to 'flesh out' this mouse (just look how rounded his shoes look and how the fingers gain definition with the wires).  Linda said that she considered skipping some of the wires but that in the end she's thrilled that she went the whole nine yards.

 

Mary Grace finished her Rose Window and then I put the hooks on it for her while she worked on her next window. Sadly, I put the hooks on the bottom of the project so it was hanging upside down!  What you see below is the 'repaired' edition -- there was no way I could leave these flowers upside down.

 

Terry worked on this Texas Star window throughout the week and brought it in completed with a second one as well!  Her work was fast but as you can see, all of her straight lines are straight and her circle never wavers at all.  Even the center merging point for all of the lines is nice and even.   That's what I like to see because I always like our students to aim for perfection which Terry did here.

 

Terry also completed her new Butterfly Window which is based on the pattern that she had done two weeks ago.  I love how she's able to rework a basic idea into a completely new design all on her own.  Drawing patterns is something that I don't even attempt to teach because it's an art course all in its own, but Terry has figured it out.

 

Barbara H's Beveled Fleur De Lis Window is now officially a wrap and boy did she ever do a wonderful job soldering it (not that I'm surprised, mind you). She did some beautiful work on this project and what I like best is that I can see her confidence growing with each passing week.

 

Cindy completed  numerous small projects this week and these are a just two of them.  Her Rabbit and Tulip were beautifully done 100% by Cindy (I'm usually the hook and eye guy).  Hopefully she'll sell these while at the show she's doing (by the time you are reading this the show is over).  Myself, I don't see why these wouldn't sell.

  

Jeannette finished another Rabbit Lawn Ornament and although she has one more to go she's decided to take a bit of a break and begin the new project that we'll see a little further on down.   One thing's for certain-- she's got making these down to a science.

Myrt resumed work on her Pair Of Cardinals Window and it appears that she's just about ready to cut out her background.  She might have mentioned a double border and if so I'm all for it.  I just love those double borders.

 

 
Carol loved Tasha's Owls so much that she's in the process of making two of them for herself.  They're all cut and ground and she even has one of them wrapped already.   I have no doubt that we'll be seeing at least one of these Owls completed when Carol comes back in to class.

 

Tasha has her Comedy and Tragedy Masks well under way as she ground both of the faces and then cut out her background glass.   She's picked a wonderful multi color swirled glass that blends in rather than standing out which is exactly what you want for a background glass.   You never want your subject matter to have to compete with the background for prominence and Tasha's choice is absolutely perfect. 

  

Becky S ground all of her Cheetah Pieces and the end result is stunning.  Her subtle color variations and the grain of the glass is used to perfection in this window.  Even the nose is textured beautifully-- bumpy on the outside and smooth inside the nostrils.   When we return we will see how Becky gets spots to adhere to the glass and give this Cheetah Window its full effect.

  

Linda F has her Wise Men Window all ground and has started wrapping all of her pieces in foil now.  Apparently she felt the beards on the wise men were too long because she cut two of them a tad bit too short, but she's going to fix that before this gets tacked together.

 

Jan returned to class this week and resumed work on her Baseball field window.  She's got it all of it ground already so this is all set to be foiled.   Once that's done it will be easy to tack  this together and then cut the final four pieces of glass that make up the corners.   This window looks like a home run to me

 

Last week Mary cut out the thin blue trim that will surround her bevels cluster.  This week she has almost all of the trim ground.   She got a little over zealous with the grinding on four of the pieces but she's conquered that problem and will re-cut and then fit the final four pieces into place before she begins wrapping them next week.

 

So we're back to Jeannette who has begun cutting out this Mermaid Window  in an effort to get the Rabbits out of her head!  This is about as polar opposite as you can get from a rabbit and Jeannette probably finds that very refreshing.  The nice thing is that this is a simple enough diversion to get her mind off of the Lawn Ornaments without taking too long as to make her lose the roll she's on in making them.

 

Brenda's Mardi Gras Comedy and Tragedy Masks are, in a word, amazing.  In just one week she got these all cut, ground and  fitting together perfectly.  I remember when Brenda started and thought that she wouldn't be able to do this at all.   I love when a student overcomes her fears and turns out something this amazing.

  

Sheri got the double borders all cut and ground for her mystery window.  Once these are attached she'll start soldering this and be ready for her next project.  Hopefully I can share what this looks like with you soon!

 

Lara has all but the edge pieces of her Parishes ground and fitted together which means that she's free to wrap what she has ground now.   This window is much larger than you'd suspect and it doesn't altogether fit on one of our large work boards.   To get around this inconvenience Lara will tack together what she has ground and then slide everything to the right, finish that side and then slide everything to the left to repeat the process. Once the background is cut and tacked we'll be able to transport it from the work board to the table for easy work to attach the border(s).

 

And Betty has essentially completed her Industrial Fleur De Lis Window.  With all the soldering finished and double checked for run-through issues the only thing left to do is add the final channel to this, texturize it and then wash and color it.  One more class to go!

 

Paula has her Panel Lamp almost ready for action!   She has all of the panels tacked together and more than half of them soldered.   It all looks beautiful already just laying out flat on the table so just wait until you see what it looks like when this is tacked together.   There are only a few (8) lead lines left to go before these are transformed into an actual lamp.  We will see this take its final shape when Paula returns.

 

Shelley's Stormy The Cat is ready for its borders (and pink ear centers).   She's got the front soldered now so she'll get her border cut and tacked onto this when she returns.   This is almost finished now.

 

Tracey is cutting glass like a pro already and has almost all of her Jester Window completely cut out.  She just has a few background pieces left to go and then she'll be doing time at a grinder.  Fun times ahead for sure!  I will say this though, it looks like it's fitting together beautifully already

  

Mary Grace started working o this Rainbow Bevel Window and to do it she's doing something kind of novel.  She's taken a standard bevel cluster and omitted the middle-inner pieces.   She's replaced these pieces with rainbow colors making this a kaleidoscope type pattern.  I can't wait to see it completed because she'll be doing a multi colored border on it as well which will be both different AND fun to do.

 

Rowena got all of the center of her Olivia Window cut and ground and has even gotten all of her pieces wrapped and ready to be tacked together.   Once that's done she'll size out the two end pieces so that this will fit into a beveled border and then add borders to finish this off.

 

As you can see, Susan D has her Santa all wrapped so she'll be soldering this next week.   If that's indeed the case then I don't see how this wouldn't be completed when we see her again.  She has her next pattern picked out and it's all drawn up so that may help give Susan an extra surge of energy.  Seeing the pattern for your project always helps to get some adrenaline flowing!

 

Susan R is cutting out some festively colored purple, green, and gold glass for her own Mardi Gras Mask Window.   I found a piece of this in the yard the other day so I know Susan's missing the gold piece resting near the number 27 but by this point in time I suspect she's already cut out a new one.   Susan's not one to cry over missing pieces-- you just move along!

 

Martha's cross is looking nothing short of stunning.   I've always loved all clear windows because of their high elegance factor.  This window is  no exception.   Before you know it this window will be finished-- perhaps even as soon as next week so expect to see its closeup soon.

  

Here we have another window under construction by Betty.  Since she hasn't been able to work on her Industrial Fleur De Lis at home she's filled in her free time by working on this Sunflower Window that she loves making. With only the back side left to solder I'd say that this is about finished.

  

And that about does it for this week.  I still haven't gotten our last Stained Glass Workshop covered yet but I have all of the pictures sorted and resized so expect to see that soon.  Until then, have a great week!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks