Monday, September 10, 2018

Is This Really The Hill You Want To Die On?

A big problem that I see people ignoring deals with foiling.  One of the most important things to remember is that solder will not conceal bad foiling.   In fact, bad soldering will always happen wherever there is bad foiling.  When you overlap the foil at the end of your piece you should never go much further than 1/4 of an inch.  Any more is just asking for trouble.   Next, burnish the side edge of the glass with your burnishing tool of choice followed by the top and then the underside of your piece.   If your foil doesn't line up perfectly (as in the image below) you MUST trim the overhang with a razor knife or an Exacto blade.  Start with your blade at the large end of the overhang (the red arrow) and then pull downward while applying a light pressure.   With a  little practice the blade with follow the edge of the foil underneath the overhang giving you a clean straight edge.  Eliminating these 'stair steps' will make your soldering look less like a beginner's work and more like a professionals.



Ok then, take a look at this Cardinal Window that Tracey made-- It's gorgeous!  Everything from the colors, to the graceful curves and perfectly fitting pieces make this a window to be proud of.   And I didn't even mention Tracey's excellent soldering because it really speaks for itself.   Tracey has come a LONG way from her first class with us.



Martha completed her Lighthouse and Sailboat Window this week and now that it's all cleaned up you can easily see each of textures that she used in this transparent piece.  I have to say that the picture doesn't really do this any justice because in the sunlight, this SPARKLES!!!!

  


Next up we just say 'NO' to Fleur De Lis'!   Actually, this is Angie's New Orleans Window and it's another sparkler.   Angie did a wonderful job on this and I can't believe how quickly she knocks a window out these days!   Her workmanship just gets better and better with each passing window.

  


Barbara finished her Humming Bird and Fuchsia Window and as expected, when it is lit up it's even more beautiful  The green/pink inner border was a perfect choice for this very elegant design.   Barbara has been making complex windows and her skills get better and better with each project because of that.

  


What started out as a Lawn Ornament has turned into a full fledged window.   This is Jeannette's Flamingo that she added a background and some water to.   You'd never know that this window started out life as anything else other than a window.   Jeannette can create a window in no time flat, that's for sure.



Is it Christmas?   Maybe not but it's about time to start all of those Christmas projects because it will be here before you know it.   Betty certainly has the right idea having completed her Noel Window this week.   Is there another in the works?   Betty is well known for making two or more of the same window but I'll be honest and say that I have no idea.  We'll see next week what she decides to do next.



Love is in the air and in Carol's latest stained glass piece as well.   She likes the idea of this design so much that she's making a series of them with different phrases which we'll see in the weeks to come.



Our last finished project is Patrice's large Duck Suncatcher.   She's used multiple color s in this piece which gives it a nice colorful look.   Her cutting, grinding and wrapping are top notch as you can see by the way this fits together.   For essentially being a new student, Patrice is showing everyone that she more than has what it takes to make a quality piece of art!




Jeannette's newest window is already coming together both beautifully and quickly.  Using soft pastel colors has really given this window a unique look that we normally don't see.   I love it!   It's a new spin on things that I hope to see more of in the future.



Jan's working on a new Mother and Child Panel and Barbara likes it so much she'll be starting one next week.  I must say that Jan's cutting on this is phenomenal.   The curves all flow beautifully and the the outer curves appear to have been taken in just one cut which means less flaring and less grinding for Jan.   This is going to go together so easily for her!



Now here's something I haven't seen in a while.   When I was in PA in the 80's one of my lamps lost in a 'Best Of Show' contest to a variation of this window.  I was told that my lamp (an original design) looked too much like a Tiffany reproduction and the award went to the window you see below with one minor exception-- The artist left off the horn and called it her own design.  TANJ!  That said, Angie is doing a great job on her Unicorn and it even has a horn.  You know what?  This has a very good chance of being completed upon her return.



Carol's also got a little Faith going on along with her Love but I see an issue.  It will be a simple fix but I need her to bring in the glass she used for her hearts as well as the glass she used for her background.   Sadly, I think I steered her wrong with my pattern!!!  Can you see the issue?



Lara's African Woman Window is closer to completion than you might think when you look at its picture.   The white background glass on the right hand side has been cut out (but you can't see it on the white pattern) leaving just three pieces left to cut next week.   After that it will be time to pick out border(s)!



With just five pieces left be be wrapped, Mary's Dream Catcher Window is just about ready to get a border attached.   All of her hard work is already paying off because as you can see, this window is beautiful. Will she chose a single or double border, well I really don't know but either way will look good.



Melissa is making steady progress grinding her Autumn Leaves Window.  This week she discovered that moving your glass from left to right across the grinder wheel can help keep your marker line on the glass longer.  Pay attention to which way your grinder spinds and make sure that the water sprays onto the glass where you've already ground and you won't have to re-mark your pieces as often.



Roy stopped in only for a minute so he could pick up some more glass but he shared a picture with us as to where he stands with his large Transom Window.  It's really taking shape now and we hope he feels better so he can join us for a full class next week.



Susan is missing a few pieces of hair for her Woman Emerges Window but she isn't letting that slow her down!   She's wrapping what she has ground at this point and will tack all of it together next week.  Once that's done she'll be able to fill in those missing pieces far easier than she could if she did it now.  We'll show you what she ends up with when we return next week.



Well, it's officially tacked together which means that MiMi has begun the soldering on her Crab Window.   With the front side basically completed I have little doubt that this will be finished upon her return.   It's looking great if I do say so myself! She's already got her next project picked out and it's going to be a wild one!



Beth's Sand Dollar Window is all wrapped and ready to be tacked together.  Once that's done she'll re-cut two pieces that just don't fit now that things have shifted due to the foil.   The interesting thing is that a piece we thought she might have to re-cut didn't need to after things started shifting on her pattern.  Foil-- it may be thin but it makes a big difference.



Rowena got the double border cut out, ground and wrapped for her gorgeous Fish Window this week.   She also replaced the piece of clear glass that she originally placed in the center of the fish when she was sure that she was going to use clear glass as a background.   This window is almost finished and I can't wait to see how it looks when Rowena walks in the door with it upon her return.



This week we also got to see two of Becky's Geometric Windows get fully tacked together and also get a channel added to both of them.   Size wise they match the wooden template for the opening perfectly so I have no doubt that they will fit into place without a hitch.  She's working on soldering the back sides of these two windows and will start grinding the third to complete this set when she returns next week.

 

Next up we see that Tracey has already begun cutting out her second Cardinal Window.   Since she handled the first one so effortlessly I'm betting that this one gets done even faster than the first one that we saw at the start of this post.



We had a parade of Bi-Planes almost on the runway here on Tuesday night.   There's even a 6th plane but I forgot to include it in the picture and I'm too lazy to go out and take another so you'll just have to deal with it.  lol   Brenda, Cindy, Martha, Myrt and Terry got their plane bodies all tacked together with the wire work all attached.   They will color these when they come back in and hopefully get some color wheels attached to finish them off.

 


And in the end, Sheri has resized her Coffee Window, traced out her pattern and is now cutting out the paper pattern pieces so she can start cutting glass when she comes back in.  Look to see some big time progress on this when she returns.

 

When I saw that we only had two completed projects last week I knew that we'd be overwhelmed this week.   With eight finished works in this post I guess I can say that  I was right!  Next week looks to be shaping up to be a more 'normal' work week if there is such a thing as normal here.   Be sure to come back and see what we have to offer in just 7 short days!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

(TANJ= There Ain't No Justice)

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