Friday, August 30, 2019

I'm Gonna Google you!

Something I see all the time are pieces of glass that students say that have ground that have slanted edges.  When a piece is properly ground the ends should be perfectly flat and smooth.   The edge of the piece will also have a white coloring due to the grinder wheel having ground it.   If your edges have flares on them as in the diagram below you MUST grind that flare off so it looks like the correct piece on top.   The white-ish coloring that the grinder wheel gives the edges needs to go COMPLETELY around the perimeter of the glass.


Cindy's Mermaid Window is completed and the background and border glass are spectacular (as is the rest of this piece).   You've also got to love that shell bikini top as well!  And to think that this window came to life because she found two 3D glass shells in her garage...



Jan's Jessie Window was completed and you have to admit that the end result was worth all that work.   I always say that you get out of a window what you're willing to put into it and this proves my point.



Tasha's Umbrella Lady turned out very elegant and refined.  Her soft colors work wonderfully with this design and her workmanship is top notch.  Interestingly enough, this pattern can be done in many different color combinations even with its minimalist design.

  


Susan D's Sailboat Suncatcher was completed this week and just look at the glass she used for the body of the boat itself.  Gorgeous.  Looking at this picture you might think this is window but it doesn't even measure 8 inches in diameter which makes this a Suncatcher for sure.

  


Martha got all four of her  Cross Panels completed and they all look great.   There's something about beveled crosses that just works.




Betty finished making a  Snowman and it's definitely the first one of the year.   She also put the finishing touches on a free form Jewel Frame that I like to call the 'Ice Tongs'.   She has three more of these 'Tongs' cut out so they may become a regular on here! 



Rowena Rainbow flag was constructed 100 percent at home and had no input from me at all.  Hooks, channel and the tinning of the channel are all done to perfection.   I'm just worried that she doesn't need us (me) anymore!



Tracey and Mary both completed Butterfly Lawn Ornaments this week and if I didn't make a mental note to mark who made which I'd never be able to tell because the work on both of these is flawless.  For the record, Tracey's is the Green/blue Butterfly and Mary's is the orange/yellow one on the right.


 
Linda  L was able to finish her Flower Panel after tacking it together and getting the border attached.  Soldering this didn't take very long for her at all but she wasn't able to get it washed and colored before the class was finished.   Also, I was correct in our last post when I said that I thought I had pictured this on its side.   This is the way it will actually hang.



Lara got her inner border cut for her large Peacock Window and even got it ground and tacked into place.   This border took a little longer than your average border because of the iridescent white pieces that split it to give the effect of a ribbon wrapping around the border.   Lara's going to cut two peacock feathers to fill the circular sections of her two curved which will really set things off.

  


Rowena wanted to make a small window with  a pair of pumpkins in it and we ran with the idea.  Instead of making it look cartoonish I found a few painting of pumpkins and we ended up with this design.   Rowena had to take her time with those small leaves but by the end of class she had it all ground and ready for foil.   This is going to be stunning. 



Sheri got the last of her puzzle pieces ground out and she's now ready to solder her Autism Suncatcher.  Interlocking pieces are difficult but well worth the effort. Her grinding is spot on.



Jeff's flower is coming together as his red petals(?) have been cut and ground.  These thin pieces could very easily be problematic but they sure weren't for Jeff.  He certainly understand the concept of taking your time and doing it right.



Well now, I'm one week late typing up Melissa's description but better late than never!  As you can see Melissa got all of her birds cut out and now she's working on grinding each of them.   She hasn't cut any eyes yet and won't do that until everything is ground and then we can grind the eye holes to fit the eyes that we cut.

 


Becky B has very nearly finished grinding on her Springfield Fish Window.   She'll surely begin wrapping this upon her return because the three eyes won't take long at all to finish.  Yep, I said THREE eyes.  To anyone who hadn't noticed it before well, I feel the need to point it out!

  


Belinda came in with all of her Hummingbird Window ground and most of it wrapped.   By the time class ended her remaining pieces were foiled and she then quickly tacked it all together.  That means that she's ready for her border.

  


MiMi's Seafood Window is almost completely wrapped now with just one single crab left to foil.   I can't wait to see the background get cut for this because you'll never see another piece of glass like it and I can't wait to see how it works out.

  


Susan R's Swan just needs a channel around it to finish it off.   She was able to get a border that matches both the sky and the water cut and attached.   You may be wondering how we are going to finish this with channel since it's an oval.   Well, the answer is that we're actually going to use lead came to surround it.  You'll see that end result in our next post.

  

 
Jeanne L's Rose Window is so very close to being finished as she only has the straight lines of the border on the back side left to solder.  Like Tasha's Umbrella Lady, Jeanne used soft colors in this window which makes a definite statement indeed.   Look to see this completed upon Jeanne's return.

 


Mary Grace wrapped her last background piece and then tacked it into place.   Once that was done she wrapped the bevels that she used for her inner border and then tacked them into position as well.   When working with borders it's best to cut and attach them one at a time.   Finally she cut her red border and almost had it wrapped before class was through.  Next week she'll begin soldering this.


 
Jeannette's Guitar Window also got its border attached and once the neck was ground she was able to cut it up into individual pieces to make up the frets.   Rather than grinding eight separate pieces she cut and ground one long piece into place and then broke it into 12 pieces.   Recognizing when you can utilize this trick can save you a ton of time when making windows.



Linda F is all finished grinding her Sunflower Window and has moved on to the wrapping phase of this project.  Since the borders on this are curved they will be cut without the use of strip cutter.  Yep, it's that rare breed- a border cut by hand.

 


Angie worked on a new LSU Window during the week and came in just needing to get it bordered and channeled.  As you can see she succeeded which means that this window is all ready for solder.

 

And that brings us up to date about a month after I fell behind by one week.  It's good to be back on our normal time schedule again. We'll be back bright and early Tuesday Morning!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks






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