Our tip this week is about watering your grinder. Yep, you must feed it water every now and again and 99.9% of the people reading this already know this fact but what numerous people don't know is that the sponge behind your grinding head needs maintenance also. As you grind your pieces the sponge becomes infused with ground, powdered glass that needs to be cleaned out from time to time so water can flow through the sponge freely. Simply remove your sponge, immerse it in clean water and keep squeezing it until it easily compresses. Also, when I add water to my grinder I always pour a little onto the sponge itself. It may not do much but I feel it primes things and helps get water flowing more freely onto the grinding wheel.
Okay so our first completed project this week is Belinda's Oval Iris Window. Look at how smoothly that oval flows! Her cutting is wonderful and her colors make this a strikingly eye catching piece. Impressive indeed but Belinda made it so why would we be surprised about how wonderful this is?
Melissa finished her Ribbon/Cross Suncatcher which is a symbol for Hope and if you look very closely you'll notice that the cross itself is actually the letter 'T' which stands for the last name of the family it was made for. It's a very clever mixing of symbols that Melissa designed herself. To top it all off Melissa had the words "Power Of Prayer", "God Watches", "God Listens", and "God Answers Prayers" fired onto the cross so they will always be remembered. Inspirational indeed!
Linda F put the finishing touches on her Butterfly Panel and walked out the door with it ready to slide into its metal frame which resides in her yard. She's making a lot of these for all of the seasons and for both herself and others that have the same frame!
Angie's newest Cross/Heart Panel was done quickly and succinctly. Those reds are so very vibrant and they are proof that you can mix textures within the same piece. Yep, the red in the heart is different from the red that makes the border. I usually try to match the color but change the glass when I make borders for my windows. Not always, but a lot.
Betty got all of her Address Window cut, ground and even tacked together for the most part. She only needs to attach the final border and then this will be ready for solder. Although you can't see it in the picture she's mixed different blacks between the border and the numbers in this window. Variety can make some wonderful pieces, don't you agree?
It's a me, Mario! Shawn is making this Mario Window for her son, Parker and I think it's going to be stunning. Cartoon characters always work exceptionally well in stained glass as you can already see just by looking at the pattern. This is going to be a fun window indeed.
Tracey's latest Cardinal Window just has about 5 pieces of background glass and 2 pieces of black to cut out and then she'll be ready to begin grinding. Those yellow flowers contrast perfectly against the bright red bird. Tracey is the Cardinal Queen for sure!
Jeannette has her latest Wine, Grapes and Cheese Religious Scene Window all tacked together and even has 98% of it soldered. She'll without a doubt be coloring this when she comes back in so expect to see this completed in our next post.
Linda F is already making another widows for the Iron stands that decorate her yard. You saw her completed butterfly in the beginning of this post and this is her Sunflower design. These panels are easily slid into place allowing her to change up her yard by simply changing the stained glass panel within it.
With her borders attached and the front side completely soldered, Annette's Cross and Dove window is also very nearly completed. This is another window with a 'broken' background (not literally broken!) that is becoming VERY popular in our classes. It's a very antique looking effect.
Our Wednesday class was so very nice even though it rained most of the day. Why? Because Linda L spent the day making Mixed Drinks for us! Do I even need to point out just how GREAT these look. I just wish they'd been real!
Roxane's Angel Window is taking shape quickly as well. She finished cutting out the dress of her angel and has the head and the wings are ground already. Once this is tacked together we're going to make it the center piece of a rectangular window so there will be some background glass and border(s) involved later on down the line.
Jeanne L has her fruit officially wrapped in foil and now you are beginning to see some of the definition that this window consists of. Once the brown basket itself is wrapped you'll see all of the work that Jeanne has invested into this project. Gorgeous.
Mary's Magnolia has been completely cut out and if you look carefully you'll see the heads of pins lining numerous pieces in this project which means that Mary spent her night standing in front of the grinder. This looks like it will be completed before you know it.
Speaking of completed before you know it, Shelley's Titus Window will surely be finished when she comes back in. She's not adding a border to this so a simple black zinc channel will surround this stained glass interpretation of a painting. If there weren't two lead lines extending to the each side we'd have to put a border on this for structural stability but it meets the requirements to skip a border.
Next up we look at Lisa's Butterfly Emergence Window which is all soldered and just needs to be washed and colored. Since she's using black patina we like to leave the patina sit on the window for about 45 minutes to allow for a nice solid,even coloring. Even then I still like to wait 24 hours before waxing it. That said, you can wax it right away if you use VERY little pressure with a thorough amount of wax.
Kerry's working on the back side of his LSU Window now and that means that the end is near. He's got about a quarter of the back side soldered so he's probably got at least one more class to go before he gets to wash this off, patina it and hang it up!
Martha has one of her street lamps ground and fitting together perfectly. I forgot to ask her if she's reducing the size of the overall window or not. That I will find out and reveal when we come back again next week. If you look closely you can see the red outline that perfectly surrounds the lamp and will mark the edge of the window if she decides to make this smaller.
And lastly we look at and empty frame that Cindy hollowed out which will soon contain three birds. You'll see just what that looks like next week when the pattern is officially drawn up.
And that's it this time around!
Paul
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