All of our students know that there are three main foil sizes that we use: 3/16 for small pieces and bevels, 7/32 for most pieces, and 1/4 for large windows. We generally don't use much 1/4 foil so we're going to forget about that size for now and just concentrate on the normal 7/32 foil and the smaller 3/16 foil. Below we see two different pieces of glass. The piece on the left was wrapped in 7/32 foil and the piece on the right was wrapped with the smaller 3/16. You can plainly see that the is considerably less foil covering the triangular piece of glass as compared to the piece on the left. There are times when we can use this for our advantage.
It doesn't matter how good you are, we ALL cut (or even grind) pieces smaller than they need to be from time to time. It happens and we deal with it. Most times we re-cut the piece that's too small but there can be ways around that which will allow us to use the small piece without drawing too much attention to it. When a piece is too small there's a gap which makes the lead line appear to be thicker around the problematic piece. The triangle in the center of the both circles below is a perfect example. There's a lot of space around it because the piece has been cut too small. When wrapped in the standard 7/32 foil the lead line will be much thicker and noticeable. However, for the circle on the right (which is actually the same exact pieces of glass) I've wrapped the too-small triangle in 3/16 foil. That means that less foil is covering the glass which also means that less lead will surround that triangle when it's soldered. It will still be a slightly thicker lead line but it certainly won't be as noticeable.
Always remember that the thickness of a lead line is measured by the end of the foil on the two connecting pieces of glass, not the gap iself. If there's less foil on one of the pieces of glass there will be less lead on it. This is a tip that can be used more often than you might initially think.
Okay, so first up we have Kerry's Santa Claus which was completed well in time for use as a window decoration this Christmas. Had it been finished sooner I'd bet my bottom dollar that we'd have seen a few more of these smiling Santas being made. Kerry's use of blue rounded gems with black pupils painted on the back side give the eyes a very realistic depth. What's not to love about this?
Now this is a first! Steve created this Chicken Diorama that he and Lisa will be using a a table centerpiece for the holidays. I have no doubt that it will certainly raise some eyebrows and make people smile. That baby chick peeping away on top of that stump makes me almost laugh out loud! And check out the moma and papa chicken's feet. The wire work on this helps sell the entire scene.
Judy finished her Louisiana Hot Sauce Window and it's the bomb! The label itself is going to be painted on when Judy gets home but rather than show it to you blank I photoshopped an example of what it might look like when it's completed. Pass me an oyster and some hot sauce- I'm ready to eat!
Lisa could very well start her own side business and I have a name for it: Lisa's Lanterns. Alas, it's one thing to make something for fun and another thing to have to make them because they are an order. When you HAVE to do it all the fun is lost and it just becomes work. I speak from experience. That said, Lisa is making these with the greatest of ease but I think she's abut reached her limit. Time will tell but boy, I think this one is actually her nicest one yet.
Annette made this delightful Female Gnome that she's named Simoné the Gnome. She actually goes hand in hand with Gerome The Gnome who, as you might recall, she completed last week. And she also made a new Joy Suncatcher as well. Interestingly enough, she had to redesign it a little bit to be able to use the small amount of glass that she had left over. The end result is completely readable which proves that she's done a great job on both of these.
Betty made this N window as custom order for someone who wanted no color in the window at all. To achieve that goal and still make the letter legible Betty needed to pick at least 2 or 3 different clear textures that contrasted between each other. In this case Betty picked a heavy (or tight) texture for the N itself, and a very light (loose) texture for the background glass. Since the border touches so much of the background and so little of the letter she couldn't use a lightly textured glass for the border. Rather than going back to heavy she went for medium which allows contrast between both the letter and the background. Great job, NNNNNNNaturally!
Susan R put the finishing touches on a pair of Poinsettia Flower Pot Decorations that she designed. She said that these really stand out and that they are hard to miss when they are affixed in her flowerpots (by way of a stake that I cropped out of the photo below). All I know for sure is that they are hard to miss even when they are laying flat on the table. They're wonderful!
Sheri got six(!) Grinch hands made just in time to possibly get them sold before Christmas. This week she learned how to attach the small ringlets that go on each end of the chain that the Grinch is dangling the actual Christmas Ornament from. Sheri's work was flawless on these and they all deserve to sell.
Mary Grace took a week off from her Peacock Window so she could start and hopefully complete three Christmas Ornament Suncatchers. As you can see she got two of them finished but what you don't see is the third which MG was washing and coloring as I took the picture of this beautiful pair. Let's just say, "Mission accomplished".
Betty also finished up her Nativity Suncatcher as well as another Cardinal complete with curving wire work. I'd say that she's a glutton for punishment with all of the wire bending she's been doing but each time she does it she gets better and faster at it. Bravo.
Barbara has begun work on another clear Beveled Window and with only four pieces of background to grind and tack together I'm thinking that it's safe to say that she'll be working on borders for this when she comes back in. Beveled windows always look great and they go together fairly quickly once you understand the concept of making them.
Lara has been MIA for two weeks because she got married! Congratulations are most certainly in order. And somehow, with all of that going on she managed to get her Beach Sunset Window completely cut out and boy does it look great. She's grinding it now and I absolutely love it already.
Martha has begun working an a pair of Franklin Street Lamp Windows and got the lights cut out for both of them. She's put one away and will begin grinding this one when she comes back in. Once it's ground she can wrap and tack it together because she will then set it on top of her background glass which will then be cut into its nine individual pieces.
With the sunshiny panel of her Kaleidoscope all cut, ground and wrapped, Melissa is very close to putting all of her pieces together. She'd like to finish this in time for Christmas and I'll be VERY shocked if it isn't completed when she walks out the door upon her return because she's planning on having both of the panels you see below soldered before she even walks in the door. Putting this all together should go very smoothly. Yeah, I'm certainly not going to make THAT statement, lol! I wouldn't want to jinx this Kaleidoscope!
Linda F got her Victorian Window all wrapped and tacked together and then moved on to getting her border attached as well. There isn't much left to go on this because we all know that Linda can solder with the best of them. I expect to see this finished and pictured with some light behind it in the very near future.
Linda L is in between projects right now but she pretty much knows what she'll be making for her next window. Alas, until that pattern is all worked out she'll be making these two bird suncatchers and a very detailed frog suncatcher as well. She's almost got the three of them ground already and only needs to grind 4 more pieces on the frog to have it ready to be foiled. Look out suncatchers, Linda will finish you off quickly!
Cheryl is back from her ordeals which we won't even mention because some things are better forgotten. However, this week Cheryl got her Grinch in order by cutting the pupils of the eyes into place, cutting out and grinding the multicolored border, and finally tacking it all together. When she comes back in she'll start soldering this and with a little luck she'll take it home as completed window.
Follow the clear textured hexagons and you'll find another of MiMi's Cabinet Door inserts for her entertainment room under construction. She's almost finished grinding her latest door which means that wrapping and soldering will be happening very soon. Also, these are moving along VERY quickly for her now that the remaining inserts are about half the width of the others that she's made. I know that 2022 will be the year MiMi gets to move on to something new!
Lastly, Ann worked on five new Christmas Ornaments and actually got one completed but my camera died (as you will soon find out it was a bad week for electronics for me) . The lights in the front room weren't set up correctly for my phone to take pictures so I missed a completed ornament. These are the four remaining pieces that just needing solder to complete and they WILL be finished upon her return just in time for Christmas. Also, Ann said that she'd bring the 5th ornament back so we could get a proper picture along with these other four. (The new camera arrived just this afternoon so we're all set.)
Well, of all the blogs I've ever written this one will remain memorable. I initially wrote it while in the car (yes, Russ was driving while I was typing) on my old tablet which has been having issues. When I finished and saved the file an error flashed briefly on the screen and the tablet restarted. Needless to say, I lost everything. I figured that it would be easy enough to re-write it since I knew what I was going to say but somehow the words just took me to different places for each and every picture. That said, I will never use that tablet again to write this blog. I will say that it was used hard and that it served me EXTREMELY well over the past ten years so I'm not complaining, just reporting.
Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks
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