My Sage Ain't Got No Smell

Lately I've been hearing people say that they don't care what the work on their small projects look like because it's 'only' a small project.   I always cringe when I hear this because your work will still be judged by that little suncatcher that you didn't take the time to care about.  And shouldn't the fact that it's *just* a suncatcher make it easy anyway?  If you are going to take the time to make something then you might as well take the time to make it right.  You never know when someone is going to look at a piece you've made and say to themself, "If she can't handle making a simple flower suncatcher then she certainly can't handle a larger window that I'm looking to have made."

In other words, it's your work and you should be proud of all of your work, not just the big pieces.
 
Okay then, Here's Myrt's latest Fleur De Lis Window all washed, waxed and ready for hanging.   It's beautifully symmetrical, wonderfully soldered, and something that Myrt can surely be proud of.

 

Next up we have Betty's medium sized Angel Suncatcher.   It's bigger than a standard suncatcher but smaller than a window.  That makes this very noticeable wherever it hangs.  You've just got to love those Christmas Angels.

 

And speaking of Christmas, Linda F made this cute Bell Suncatcher.  The white bell is made from iridized glass and you can just barely see the the hints of pink, yellow, green, and aqua throughout the body of the bell.  Then Linda went with an actual leaded clanger on the bottom of the bell for a nice little effect.   Perfect!

 

And our resident Cross lady, Melissa, is still going at it.   The nice thing about all of the repetition in making all these crosses is that she's able to see what each little change she makes along the way  does to the finished piece.  She's now pointing out details to me that takes other students months or years to notice.  She's got about 3 more of these to go and then Melissa will move on to a window which I'm sure she can't wait to start!

  

And with her final border now firmly attached, Becky S can begin the soldering process on her Geometric Window.  I have no doubt that she'll be working on something new soon because Becky can solder like a pro.

  

Barbara H's version of the Madonna and Child is moving along nicely.   Once this is wrapped and tacked together she can add her two background pieces and the border.  She's taken her pieces home to wrap so this will surely be tacked together when she comes back into class.

 

Beth got her two borders attached to her Dragonfly Window and what great colors she picked.  The inner border was done in an orange which is a close match to the body of the dragonfly while the outer border matches the background.  Beth is ready to solder now!

 

Betty made a minor change in her Mother Mary Window and that was done to add some depth to the mountains in the background.  She achieved this depth by cutting the mountains into four separate pieces rather than making them just two large pieces.  This is a beautiful window and I have a funny feeling it will be completed upon Betty's return.

 

Bonnie's Santa Face Window is being ground now and you can see that she's working from the top down.  People always ask where they should start grinding and the answer is always anywhere.  It all needs to be ground so it doesn't matter where you start.

 

Lara is also busy working at a grinder and as you can see she has more than a quarter of this multi-pieced window fitting together beautifully.   I know that this is going to be another exquisite window when it's completed.

 

Martha is grinding her Daylily Window and she now understands how to grind one piece from the next (which is a BIG time saver).   With a great deal of the bottom of this oval fitting together I'd say that Martha is doing great on this project.

 

Mary's completed the grinding on her Octagon Iris Window and she's now begun wrapping each of those pieces.   Once this is tacked together she'll learn the easy way to cut a border for it.  (Octagon borders work a little differently from square or rectangular windows.)

 

Terry's first project this week is this wonderful red and clear Caduceus.  This is yet another Terry Design and just look at how perfectly the two snakes entwine around that staff.   That's what I call attention to detail.

  

Then we have Melissa's next Cross Suncatcher.  She was hard pressed to pick out a color for the four ends of the cross so I recommended using a clear iridized glass that I really think works great.  I will say this-- Melissa's really plowing through these now!

 

Sheri's Peacock Window has completely taken shape and when she came in and saw the curved corner background that I made for my small peacock window she decided to do the same thing with hers.  But then she went even further by breaking her background up so she could add small colored globs throughout it.  You can't see it now but you'll see exactly how that looks when we return.

 

And here's Tracey's Madonna and Child Window just about ready to be soldered.   This week she got the background cut out as well as the border cut, ground and wrapped. She's making excellent time on this and I suspect that it will be completed when she comes back into class.

 

After Myrt finished her Fleur De Lis Window she then started work on this tiny little Christmas Ornament Suncatcher.  It's very easy to screw up all those tiny angled pieces but Myrt is doing just fine.

 

And to wrap things up we look at the Name Plaque that Terry is also hard at work on this week.   It's no more than 8 inches wide so the pieces are rather small making them difficult to work with.  Still, she's doing excellent work here as always.

 

And that about wraps things up this week!  We will return on Monday night with even more to see and marvel at so be sure to come on back.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks