Our tip this week has to do with blue skies and why we like to cut them from one large continuous piece of glass. Below is part of a sky that Jeannette made way back in 2014. Note how the grain and flow of the sky matches and connects even though the glass has been cut up into numerous pieces. This makes it appear as though the boat is in front of an unbroken sky even though it actually has been cut multiple times.
Now here's the same scene with one exception: this was put together by cutting pattern pieces for each piece of sky, laying them out onto a sheet of glass and cutting each piece independent from each other without caring about how it all lines up. Note how pieces of dark blue are surrounded by lighter blue sections of sky. Nothing joins together and the sky no longer has a peaceful flow to it. This is an important part of making professional looking stained glass. Skies should flow together with the grain connecting from piece to piece. Positioning sky pattern pieces on glass randomly will always leave you with a less than desirable looking window.
Linda L's Lamp was completed this week and it's so very elegant. Everything about this was hand made (meaning the base as well as the lamp shade) and although the base shows off some impressive wood working abilities I do believe that it's Linda's glass lamp shade that really makes this light right up!
Kerry's Boy Scouts Eagle Window is smaller than you might think (barely over a foot tall and wide) but that doesn't mean that it isn't as stunning as any larger window. We changed up the starts from the original pattern and I have to say that they look great.
Linda finished her Campfire Bears Window and the green border really makes this hard to miss. The nice thing is that it helps make the bears stand out by surrounding them with green. I've said it before and I'll say it again: This makes me think of Yogi and Boo Boo.
Betty's 4th of July Garden Gnome Panel was completed and is officially ready for fireworks. She has another one mapped out in her head and I don't think it will be long before she starts on the newest edition of her Garden Gnome series.
Never one to sit still for too long, Betty also finished working on two other Suncatchers. Her Cross and her Hummingbird are both perfectly made pieces.
Tracey's knocked out another pair of Butterfly Lawn Ornaments and now has a slew of them decorating her yard just in time for summer. These aren't only good for decoration-- they also make marvelous gifts!
Susan D has shifted from Winter to Spring and now back to Summer. This is the panel that she wants finished next so Spring will just have to wait a little longer before it gets any glass cut for it. Meanwhile we get to see this delightful window unfold week by week.
Shelley has modified a Flamingo pattern that we've used in the past by making it a little more lifelike. she's begun cutting her glass and the color choice is absolute perfection. She really doesn't want to section off the neck of the bird so we are going to remove the deep inside curve section with our glass saw next week.
Ann's newest Angel Hand Mirror is another project that is moving quickly through its creation phase. She's all cut out and more that half of her has been ground already. This will be finished before you know it!
Mary Grace resumed work on her Hoop Owl (hoop, not hoot!) which will find itself perched inside of another steel Hoop. By the time class was over with she had finished grinding on him and then moved on to the wrapping phase of this Owl's life. He still looks like he's blind because we haven't cut the eyes into place yet but that will certainly be rectified upon Mary Graces return next week.
Susan R completed the leaf portion of her 3D Mini-Trellis by soldering it and attaching a zinc post to the back of it. She's working on the 3D flowers now and once they are ground she'll tack them together and then attach them to the leaf portion of this project for a beautiful effect.
Mary's Redfish (or red drum) is another window that is moving along at an incredible rate of speed. She's even re-cut numerous pieces out of different colors just to see which color scheme she likes best. What you see below is what she's settled on (this week). With just the sky left to go I know she'll be grinding this when we next see it again.
Lisa has her 3rd of four Music Insert Panels completed for her next Lantern Project. She had two of them already placed into the lantern but I didn't want to take a picture of it until all four panels are finished and in position because I want the end result to be a surprise with a big reveal.
Bee's Cardinal has about 3 or 4 fill in pieces to go and then there's just the outer border. I know that she's going to use clear glass for that final border and she hopes she has more of the glue chip glass she used for the background at home. Even if she doesn't we have plenty in the shop so I have no doubt that this will gain another border when Bee comes back in.
MiMi has another Cabinet insert all cut and ground. She had some pieces left to wrap in foil when she came in but fear not because it's been taken care.
Lara's Flower Pot Window is looking incredible as she carefully chooses her colors and pays attention to their placement to provide some balance. With the bottom half essentially cut her flowers are next in line to be cut out of glass.
Judy's got her Texas Cowboy Boots completely wrapped now which means that she'll need to pick a border color for it. She's moved quickly and efficiently on this window even if she feels she hasn't and it's easy to see that there's quality in her work.
Lastly, Betty also worked on making even more colorful Hummingbird Suncatchers. As you can see she's well under way on three more of these cute birds.
Later!
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