Now here's the same design with the extra lines removed. Much better don't you think? Still, we can go just a tad but further.
By enlarging the cross (or by shrinking the background) we can make the points of the cross touch the edge of the background and get rid of four more lines that clutter the subject. Yep, I thinks we've cleaned this pattern up substantially. The difference is striking-- inspirational even! So remember to only add lines where they are absolutely needed and to try to keep them down to a minimum. Next week I'll show you how to disguise lines that are needed to make certain cuts.
Well, it was a close race but Myrt did mange to finish her Cardinal Window before she left class. This is the second time she's made this window and she made it look easy this time around. Interestingly enough, Martha likes this window so much that she will be making one of her own soon.
Angie completed her Dove Window and decided to change things up by leaving the lead silver. She's done a wonderful job creating the pattern for this as she went along (not unlike what Jeannette is doing with her Lawn Ornament this week).
Carol's two large Kaleidoscopes were each finished this week but she still needs to make a stand for each of them. The stands go together quickly because all of the pieces are cut using the strip cutter. Why a stand? Because the large color wheels hang lower than the body of the kaleidoscope which puts stress on the axle assembly when the kaleidoscope is resting on the wheels.
Roy has finished his variation of an Airplane Kaleidoscope and it would be a keeper for sure but alas, he's giving it away as a gift. Patterned after his son-in-laws plane, Roy went so far as to substitute pontoons for the normal landing gear which makes this kaleidoscope a one of a kind. I love his ingenuity.
Roxane tacked together the center of her Compass Rose Window and then cut and ground the border for it. However, her window doesn't stop here as Roxane has decided to square this project off so it will fit into a door that she has. Look to see four corner sections get added to this when she returns. Oh my, look at that-- I've inadvertently rotated the picture a quarter turn! I'll be sure to give you a more accurate view next week.
Beth has begun cutting out the glass for her Sand Dollar Window and has some really wild curvy pieces in it. As you can see she's having little trouble cutting them so I won't be surprised to see her working on her background pieces next.
Susan D is so very close to finishing up the grinding on her Tree Of Life Window. What you see here is what she left class with but I've received a text from her telling me that everything is now ground and that she's ready to begin wrapping. I just love the colors in this!
Jeannette started making a Pink Flamingo Lawn Ornament but has changed it to a Pink Flamingo Window instead. She tacked her flamingo together this week and the traced its outline to create a pattern to 'square' this off. next she'll add some water under the bird and some background glass.
Terry is all about stars and stripes forever with this stunning American Flag Window. She spent the night grinding and I must say that her pieces are lining up PERFECTLY. The flow of this flag is looking mighty good indeed. And she'll even have stars on the blue glass. We have a better method for firing the stars on now and I love the look that it achieves.
Barbara came in with all of the pieces wrapped for her Fuchsia and Humming Bird so she quickly tacked them together and then traced them onto a piece of glass big enough to form the entire background of her window. Once that was done she learned how you can cut directly through the areas of glass that the bird, flower, and leaves would replace. With hardly any grinding needing to be done at all Barbara ended her class with the main center portion of her window all ready to be wrapped.
Carol just about got her first LOVE Window completed this week. The only left left to do on this is to wash it and then color the lead with black patina. Since that takes 45 minutes Carol didn't have time to color it during class but she's promised to bring it back so we can get a good picture of it next week.
Sheri is busy making a kaleidoscope of her own and she's got the plane all soldered and ready for some wire work. She's using a John Deere color scheme and since she already has her colored propeller wheels cut and soldered I have little doubt that this will be completed upon her return.
Melissa got all of the clear background glass cut for her Autumn Leaves Window and spent her night at the grinder. Right now, yes, this window looks a bit of a mess but trust me-- that's only because things have been shifted all over the place to make room in the bottom left corner where she's begun grinding. This will easily come together as the weeks progress.
Patrice came in and got all of the glass cut out for her large Duck Suncatcher. She had a small refresher course in cutting glass and she finished her cutting on a definite high note since her pieces are all fitting together nicely before they've even touched the grinder.
Lara finished up the grinding on her African Woman and cleaned up her new hair style. As I said last week, those long dreadlocks were going to be impossible to cut (because of the glass Lara is using, not because of the curves) so a bun was formed thus eliminating the long thin wavy dreadlocks that you can still see on the paper pattern. That corner will be free of hair now.
MiMi is making wonderful progress on the grinding phase of her Crab Window. With almost half of this ground it's really taking shape now and you can easily see just how nice this is going to be. With all the work she does at home, I suspect this will be ready for foiling before you know it!
Linda L got her dolphins attached to the ocean floor (in a manor of speaking) with the glass that makes up the water. Interestingly enough she only used one sheet of blue glass to get all of this done and she still has extra from the first sheet to do some of the smaller fill-ins. I have a sneaking suspicion that she'll only need one more sheet to get the rest of the water done and that may happen next week.
Tracey got her Cardinal Window tacked together and the cut out two of the pieces that were missing. From there she added her first border and when she comes back she'll get her final green border (for which the strips have already been cut) attached. Getting solder on this will happen sooner than you may think!
Mary spent her night wrapping glass with foil and she's fast approaching the tacking phase of her Dreamcatcher Window. She's having to skim a few pieces to get everything fitting back together since things are growing now that foil has been. That's to be expected when you have a lot of pieces in your project like Mary has.
Shelley's Wine Ladies is all tacked together and even got a border attached to it before she left class. She wanted something to brighten the window up and there's no doubt that this yellow border does just that. Look to see this completed and hanging up with some light behind it when Shelley returns.
Brenda got the final border attached on her Magnolia Window and then added the finishing Brass Channel around it. That leaves only the soldering left to go on this. We probably wont see this next week because our entire Tuesday night class will be making Airplane Kaleidoscopes! Let's call it Flight School.
With all of the soldering completed on her Lighthouse and Sailboat Window, Martha will finish this very soon. Maybe even before she gets out of Flight School.
Becky S has the first of her three Geometric Windows all tacked together and ready for its final border. All of her lines run straight and clean making this a perfect window indeed. She's also ready to tack the second window so yes, she's moving along quickly on this three part project.
Jan's Poppies Window is all cut out, ground, wrapped and tacked together. That means that she'll be soldering when she comes back in and Jan says that she can't wait to get this project finished so she can start something new. It won't be long now.
And that wraps things up this week. As you can see there will be even more completed projects next week so be sure to check back with us again for our next update!
Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks
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