3/16 (Small)
7/32 (Medium)
1/4 (Large)
3/16 foil is used on pieces that are VERY tiny. We're talking about pieces that are so small that they would be or almost be completely covered in foil if we used the regular sized foil on them. We also use 3/16 foil to wrap bevels and for any glass used to make a curved lamp.
7/32 foil is what our standard foil. It's what we use on about 98% of our pieces.
1/4 foil is used when you are making a large window about 3 foot by 3 foot, or bigger. The larger foil ensures that more lead will be used therefore making the window sturdier.
Remember that these three sizes are just the tip of the foil iceberg-- there are plenty of other sized foils out there but these are the ones you will find yourself using most.
Okay then, with that out of the way we take a look at the Madonna and Child window that Tracey completed this week. It's certainly a beautiful window indeed. Her soldering really blew my socks off because as one of our newer students, Tracey showed soldering skills that usually takes years to master.
Myrt completed her small Christmas Ornament which is actually about the size that you see here on your screen (unless you're looking at this on a phone). I don't think it's more than 4 inches wide which means that all of the pieces that make this up are VERY tiny. Yet Myrt used 7/32 foil on all of it. Although the pieces are tiny they were never in any danger of being completely covered by the foil. Myrt wrapped all of these pieces perfectly with 7/32 foil.
Rowena started and completed this Modern Angel Suncatcher in just one class. With a beveled head and a hand spun wire halo this is a very stylish and fun Suncatcher to make.
Melissa finished two more crosses and that means that she's only got one more left to go! I know she's thrilled about this fact because working on projects 'en masse' can really get to you after a while.
Lara spent a lot of time at home on her grinder but her work was very rewarding indeed because her window is all ground! She's begun wrapping her pieces and this now looks very much like the famous painting it's been drawn from.
Mary had finished wrapping all of her pieces while she was at home and immediately set to work on tacking her window together when she walked in the door. Once that was done she learned how to cut the angles on her octagon border to get a perfect fit. (It's a simple process once you know what to do.) By the end of the night she had wrapped her final 8 pieces of glass. Next week she'll add a channel to this and then begin soldering.
Cindy almost finished up her Santa Window but when she left class it still needed to be soldered. Have no fear though because the next day she brought it back in all soldered needing just hooks and some channel to finish it off. Sadly, we wont see this completed because she's delivering it Friday before she comes back to class. I did see it completed and the end result was incredible.
Jeannette came in and tacked together the center JOY ribbon section of her Christmas Window and then tacked together the poinsettia in the bottom right of it as well. Once that was finished she started cutting the bells that reside in the upper left. Now that she has her bells all cut and ground she'll definitely be adding the background and even the first border to this LARGE window when she returns.
Mary Grace cut out the multicolored border for her Tree Of Life Window and I was correct-- she loved doing it. From the angle of the cuts to the color placement, it was all whatever she had closest at hand. The only thing that she purposefully avoided where two of the same colors being next to one another. She's in the process of wrapping all of these pieces and once that's done she's going to be able to start soldering this tree.
Beth soldered the front side of her Dragonfly Window and let me tell you that this girl can solder! I was astounded at how wonderful a job she did on her very first window. She moved her soldering iron slowly across the window, never 'painted' (traveled back and forth over the same line) and always allowed the tip of the soldering iron to rest on the glass as she soldered. By paying attention to these three tips the soldering on the front side of her window looked almost like perfection. Consider this finished when she comes back in and does the same on the back side of her window!
Meanwhile, Bonnie is hard at work grinding her own Santa Face Window and she's down to the whiskers on him now. She also worked on a smaller Christmas Tree Suncatcher which she's just about ready to solder now.
Linda has her Quilt Block Square almost completed now. Made from four repeating smaller squares that 'revolve' along a center point, this is a very stylish project that will certainly be completed upon Linda's return.
Ann is back and resumed working on her Stylized Crosses. I do believe that she managed to cut out four of them while in class and then even managed to completely grind one of the the large Crosses. As you can see from the picture below it's ready to be wrapped and soldered already.
Sheri continued working on her Peacock Window and got all of her background glass ground. Once that was done Sheri added small glass globs to the points in the background where lines intersected. Her first border is all cut out and almost ready to be attached leaving just one border left to go.
Susan D is working on a Christmas Poinsettia Bouquet which will be finished in a 3D fashion. She got all of her pieces cut, ground and wrapped while she was in class and you can see the previous rendition of this design resting behind her glass pieces to show you what the finished project will look like.
Becky got a round zinc channel attached to her Geometric Window and then completed soldering the front side of her window. She's added wire accents to the pieces that have been covered in lead which I'll be sure to focus on when we see this in its finished state. Since Becky is already working on the back side I'll say that I wouldn't be surprised if this is finished upon her return.
Terry is working on a beautiful clear textured cross Window that doesn't photograph well at all since you can see through almost everything while it's lying on the table. In person it looks great but the best I could do to let you see the effect is to get some glare on the glass so you know it's there. I only wish the picture did this some justice.
Barbara H resumed work on her own Madonna and Child this week and is all set to start soldering it. Since both Jan and Tracey were able to solder theirs in one class I'm thinking that Barbara will easily finish this next week and then move along to her Beveled Turtle project.
Linda L's Easter Mickey Mouse is coming together right before our very eyes. She's been busy at the grinder and you can see what a great job she's doing getting these pieces to fit together. Next up is the face which is the most important part of this window because if the eyes are off at all the entire window will look 'off'.
Next we have Martha who resumed work on her Day Lilly. She spent her night at the grinder and started at the bottom of her project. She's up to the flower petals now which means that this will be completed before you know it.
Shelley is working on her own Tree Of Life and seems to be a bit jealous of the work Mary Grace has done on hers, but MG started before Shelley and I say Shelley is doing just fine. She's discovering that a lot of the leaves that make up this window look very similar and that it's okay of one or two get swapped around while she's grinding as long as they fit into place when the grinding is done.
Susan R forgot to bring in her sheet of glass for her Christmas Package so she did what she could with the glass that she had with her by managing to get the bow portion of top cut out and ground. The ribbon of the top section just needs four pieces of clear textured glass cut out to finish this up now.
And that's all of it in a single Blog Post-- everything that occurred in our classes during the week!
Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks
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