The Color Of Desperation

Our students are often confused about when they can turn their windows over so they can work on the second side.   Actually, the rule is very simple:  When all of the GLASS that will make your window has been tacked into place and you've finished soldering the front side you are free to turn your window over and solder the back side.   You don't have to tack the back side (it's already one solid piece) --you just begin soldering it.  Tacking is only done to properly position each piece and turn all of those individual pieces into one solid window.   If you tack the second side you are just wasting a huge amount of time because there's no need to do it-- the window is already secured.

Can you solder the second side if you don't have a channel on it yet?  Yes.  As I said, you can solder the second side as long as all of the glass that will make up your window has been attached.  If you don't have channel on your window you just shouldn't bring your solder lines out to the edge of your window or the channel won't fit on.  It's that easy!

First up in our completed windows  is Mary's Heron which is an amazing example of what Mary is capable of creating.   Her lines flow smoothly and there's not a crooked curve in sight in this standout window that everyone in class loved.  Her colors and craftsmanship are both top notch on this.

 

Jan's Fantasy Unicorn Window is certainly going to make a little girl smile when she receives it.    The soft colors that Jan used along with an iridized mane make this a perfect delicate design.  And did Jan ever finish this quickly!

  

Sheri's back and she wasted no time getting her first Bee themed Suncatcher completed.  Once she had this soldered she worked on the wire overlays which define the wings and provide the Antennas for each bee. She'll be working on a different variation of a Bee Suncatcher when she returns next week.

  

Melisa's finished up all the work on her Train Suncatcher by soldering it and then adding all of the wires that were soldered into the lead covered wheels and the trim that runs the length of the engine.  It was a lot of work but the end result is magical.  You also have to love how she numbered the train with a '25A' for that personalized touch.

  

 

Kerry's Pink Flamingo was also completed and its simplicity has been perfectly offset by a burst of brilliant pink and lime green glass.  You can't say that this doesn't grab your attention!

 

Angie put her spin on our latest Santa Claus Window by cutting her border from a heavily textured clear glass that looks like snowflakes.   With each passing week it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

 

Belinda modified her Cat/Wine Window to just plain wine bottles with a wine glass between them.   It looks just as great as her first Cat/Wine Window and you can see how her work is getting better and better with each passing week.

Lara made this beautiful Beveled Christmas Ornament from start to finish in one class while she contemplated just which lamp she plans on making.  She'll be bringing in a lamp base next week to determine what size lamp shade she'll need and we'll work from there.  There's no such thing as wasted time in our classes!

 

Rowena started with a standard Cardinal pattern and then removed the branch that it sits on and replaced it with two leaves.  Next she added a flower and another leaf on the Cardinal's back leaving her (and us) with a new Cardinal Suncatcher.  I've already passed out 2 of these patterns so there's a very good chance that we'll be seeing more of these being made.

 

 
This is Tracey's second Grinch Window and once again it's pure perfection.  I just love that the sneer on his face translated so wonderfully in glass.  This Grinch is full of character.

 

Mary Grace made a Crystal Hanger having started it while she was at home.   These go pretty quickly, especially once you've made your first one. 'm pretty sure Mary Grace will be making more of these in the weeks to come.

With his Flamingo Window under his belt Kerry has moved along and onto a Pelican Window that he hopes to finish before Christmas.  At the rate he's going I don't think that will be any problem at all because Kerry is almost ready to begin grinding on this

 

Cindy's Santa Claus Moon is all ground and she's close to the completing the foiling on this piece.   Cindy has texted me a picture of the next window that she'd like to make so I suspect that the lion's share of the work on this has been completed while she's been at home.  This is a wonderfully detailed face and Cindy has done wonderful work on it.

 

Patrice is back and she's making a very unique window indeed.  Her window resembles a Rorschach Test in which perceptions of inkblots are analyzed using psychological interpretation. Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality characteristics and emotional functioning.  Me, I see a Uterus.  How about you?

 

Becky S began making two Spinners and got all of her pieces cut, ground and wrapped.  Each spinner consists of six sides which Becky has grouped together so it looks like she's making two rectangular windows even though that's not the case.

 

Jeannette's Transom Window got a TON of work done on it this week.   First she cut the top border, then she attached it and even soldered the front side.  And let me tell you that her soldering is SUPERB!  She's used quarter inch foil on this which makes soldering tougher since there's more solder to melt onto the foil but that extra solder also gives her long window extra strength and stability.

With her border attached Linda F is free to begin soldering her large LSU Window (both front and back).  She found this pattern in our pattern drawers but didn't like the football that originally decorated the upper right corner so she swapped it out for a Fleur De Lis.  When this lights up you'll see how the purple border easily differs from the purple that she used in the Fleur De Lis. 

 

With the top (the Lid) of her Wedding Box completed Martha has moved on to cutting the sides of the box.  She has them ground and has taken them home to wrap which means that there's no doubt that she'll finish this upon her return and that she'll move along to another project as well.

 

Mary Grace has the front side of her Louisiana/Rifle/Arrow Window soldered and has turned it over to begin work on the back side.  Since this is the rear of the window you can't see how Mary Grace handled adding the year 2019 into the border but you'll easily see it when this is finished next week.

 

 

Rowena started this mini LSU Window (which technically is a suncatcher) and is ready to tack it together and then cut a border for it.  I'm not sure what color she's thinking but with the letters being  purple the border should almost certainly be cut from yellow.

 

Susan D's got 2 more Reindeer cut out and one even managed to get wrapped and tacked together this week.   This pair of black nosed reindeer will be finished before you know it. I can't wait to see what sled pattern she comes in with to go behind all of these reindeer.

  

Betty has the front side of her Sunflower Window soldered and all of her Santa Claus Window ground and ready to be wrapped.  I have to say that Santa is looking particularly good with that jolly expression on his face and his fluffy white beard.

 

And with her latest Grinch behind her Tracey's begun working on a series of Lawn Ornament Butterflies because Christmas is right around the corner.  This is just the first of a few.

 

MiMi's newest project will be a Cotton Blossom Window.  We've tweaked the pattern a bit and made it less 'line-y' to the point where the pattern now has an elegant flow to it.  I can't wait to see some glass on this!

 

 

Lastly, I didn't manage to snag a picture of Jeff's Window but it has been moved on over to a larger work board and he's now joining his three sections together.   I promise a picture of that in our next post.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks