Monday, October 2, 2017

Patina Hands

We've had a few cutter incidents in the shop when it comes to students transporting their tools back and forth from home to class and vice versa.   The problem is that flux is a rust  activator and even its fumes can cause your tools to rust.   Pliers are generally not a problem but the small rust-able parts in your cutter can rust so quickly and badly that the wheel can become seized and no longer spin.  This can easily  happen in the course of just one week.  Below we will show you a nice easy way to protect your cutter.   I always have mine soaking in oil when not in use and this will allow your to do the same with yours.  All you need is a large prescription pill bottle (or something similar) and a dry sponge. 



Simply trace the open end of the pill container  onto your sponge and then cut along the inside of the line you traced.  It should be a bit bigger than the opening so it won't just fall into the container.  


Push the circular sponge down into to bottom of the pill container and then wet the sponge with 3 in 1 oil (NOT WATER!!)  The sponge should be soaked through and through but not dripping wet.   Now place your cutter into the pill container with the head pointed down on top of the sponge.  Your cutting wheel is now being lubricated and you need not worry about it getting damaged.   Secure this in your stained glass carry-all and you are all set for traveling and easy cutting!  Just remember to add a few drops of oil every few weeks  so it doesn't dry up and your cutter will be fresh and ready for cutting each time you go to use it.




Well, as I expected, Lara's African Woman has turned out to be another standout window in what's becoming a long line of standout projects for her.   Everything from the colors, to the pattern, and even the work itself is perfect in this project.  Don't you love the clear bamboo textured glass that she's standing in front of?  The moment we brought it near the semi completed window we all knew there could be no better glass to use for the background.



Mary has completed her Bird Window and as I've been saying all along it looks fantastic-- marvelous even!   There is never any wasted extra work when it comes to stained glass.  Every little detail that you add to a window always pays off and this window with its many many tiny pieces more than proves that.   Mary did a fantastic job on this and will be moving on to and Iris Window next week.

 


Carol completed her Yellow Rose Box and I think she pretty much has box making down pat.   She's done an amazing job on this almost entirely on her own.  Sadly, I have to say that  Carol will be taking a bit of a stained glass sabbatical.   Things are hectic at home for her but when things settle down I'm sure she'll return to fill our lives with laughter and cute little snorts.

  


Rowena made her own version of the Modern Angel that Angie made last week.   Rowena actually found the pattern but was unable to show it to us last week because she missed class.  However, she got to use braided wire for the halo which I might not have thought about if Angie hadn't shown me her angle last week.    So everyone's a winner!


As you can see, Linda F completed her newest Butterfly Lawn Ornament and finished it off by curving each piece of the wing.   I'll admit that a 2D picture makes it hard to see those curves so I've also included a side view which hopefully shows just what Linda accomplished.  you simply hold each piece in you hand as you tack it together providing a little curve for each piece.   The trick is to remember that less is more--too much curve results in a project that won't fit together anymore (since it was ground flat).


As you can see, Ann finished the Stylized Yellow Cross that she got cut out last week.   This week she ground it, wrapped it and then got it all soldered before calling it a night.  In all actuality she cut out another cross as well but she's unhappy with one of the colors and plans on re-cutting some pieces when she comes back in.   As for this cross, well, it's flawless.



Janelle completed three of these beautiful Angel Suncatchers this week but she was washing the last one while I was taking pictures so we can only show you two of them.  She did a wonderful job grinding them and you can see how perfectly they fit together.  Sadly, we are losing Janelle as a regular weekly student but we hope to see her again soon.  She's just too good at this to stop now.



Shelley began this Kokopelli Window this week and made some awesome choices when it comes to the glass that she's using.  The two colors compliment each other wonderfully as do the flow of the colors.   It's hard to explain but quite easy to see when you look at the picture.  I can't wait to see how this looks when it's completed.



Susan R is just about ready to wrap her Welcome Window.  She spent the day at the grinder and did a fantastic job getting her pieces to fit together perfectly.   Hopefully she'll have this wrapped by the time class ends next week so we can get it tacked together and ready for solder.

  


Wow, is Barbara ever flying through her Tulip Window!  When you consider how long it took her to cut out her autumn scene window as compared to this window, well, anyone can tell that Barbara has really been paying attention and honing  her glass cutting abilities.  At this rate she'll be finished with this stunning window in no time at all.



Now then, Rowena started this beveled 'S' Window today with nothing started at all-- not even a pattern.   She originally planned on embelishing the sides of the window with extra bevels but when she saw how beautifully the 'S' fit into an oval she decided that the extra bevels weren't needed.   So she constructed the oval 'S' section, tacked it together, cut a background, tacked it together and then got her border cut.   Now that's what I call progress.


Martha has all of her Deer Window soldered and will surely complete this upon her return.   All she needs to do is touch up some of the solder on the back side, add some hooks and then wash and patina it,   Next up Martha will be working on a different deer window and she'll begin that during her next class.



Brenda tacked her first beveled border together and then she drew a line horizontally through the center of the bevels that make up the border.  The she placed her beveled clusters on the line she drew and marked  where the clusters points overlapped  the border bevels.  After re-shaped the points at the grinder so they fit perfectly within the border,  Brenda wrapped them as if nothing had been changed.   Next week she'll tack the four clusters together and then work on cutting some background glass for these windows.



Terry certainly got a lot accomplished on her Circular Ribbons and Flowers Window.  I do believe that she was able to get it completely cut out in pretty much one class.   Of course we all know that means that Terry will enter the grinding phase of this window when she comes back in.  And that night will be Beatle-less.



Fran was able to come in this week and got to work on cutting out some glass for her Fish Window. As you can see, she got her green pieces all all traced out onto the glass and then she was able to get all of those pieces cut out.  That means that  she'll be working on cutting out a new color when she returns. 



This week saw Tracey soldering the front side of her own Deer Window and then flipping it over to do the same to the back.  With a good third of the second side soldered I'll surely state for the record that this will be among our completed windows next week.  And does it ever look good.


 
Jeannette is yet another student who's making excellent time on a large window.  This week we got to see her wrap the last of the pieces to the center section of her Pumpkin Window and then get the first thin inner border cut, ground, wrapped and tacked into place.   Next week she'll add the final border to this and after that she'll be all set to begin soldering.



Becky now has all but the border cut out for her large Geometric Window.   Once this is ground (which she'll begin doing next week) she'll wrap these and cover the amber pieces that you see in the center of the window with foil to completely encase them in lead.  As you might suspect, Becky really enjoys incorporating leaded pieces into her work-- she gets that from me I guess because I'm currently working on a window that involves this process as well.

 


Bonnie started working on a pumpkin Suncatcher and already has it  completely cut and ground!  And that was all inside of one class, which is a round about way for me to say that she did some quick work this week.  Most importantly though--look how wonderfully it fits together.



Linda L has officially got her Love Window all set for solder.   She wrapped all of her glass, tacked it together and then cut a one inch border so she could use one inch square bevels in the  four corners.   Now that the window is tacked together (and slid slightly to the right) you can easily see how her glass follows her pattern.



Cindy was so close to getting her Panel lamp completed this week but it just wasn't going to happen.  The only thing left for her to do  is to solder down the lengths of each panel where they join each other and then Cindy can wash this, color it, and call it a lamp.



Myrt remembered to bring in her background glass so she stopped grinding the pieces that has cut out and went to work on getting her remaining pieces cut.   With only had a few pieces left to go I'm thinking that she'll be back on the grinder when she comes back in.  Since she already has a head start on the grinding this could move quickly for her.


Tasha resumed work on her Woman Window and managed to get it all tacked together and ready for solder inside of one class.   Tasha doesn't take time off from her stained glass work while she's at home so I won't be surprised if this is completely soldered when she comes back in.  I guess I'd better draw up her next pattern so she has something to do when she returns!



Melissa now has the front side of her large Birds With Eggs In A Nest Window all soldered and has even flipped it over to begin soldering the back side.  I was very impressed when at the end of the night I saw that Melissa had about 80% of the second side soldered.  I'm thinking that she'll be able to finish this off completely when she comes back in to class next week.  She's done outstanding work on this window even though it's only her 3rd project with us.   She tends to worry about her soldering but it's far, far better than any soldering that you see done on windows that you see in stores.   



Susan D spent her day wrapping all of those leaves that she got ground for her Flower Cornucopia.  There certainly are a lot of them and after they're all wrapped she'll need to put a lead of lead around all of them.



And that's about it here!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

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