Monday, October 31, 2022

Pepperidge Farms Remembers

Susan D's Halloween Window was finished just in time for Halloween.  Designed all by herself, this window makes ME proud so I can't begin to imagine what it does for Susan! I just love it when students come up with their own original patterns.

 
 
Judy's Amish Girl is stunning in its simplicity.  She also finished it inside of two weeks (save for the washing and coloring of it) which proves just how good a student Judy is.
 
 
 
Ann's Mother Mary and Child is stunning and her color choices set it apart from other similar windows that we've seen.  I always tell students not to limit themselves to colors that you see a previously made window done in, and Ann switched this one up nicely.
 
 
 
Let's Angel Suncatcher is the first of its kind and I've already printed the pattern out for numerous students already.  When something looks this good you have to expect it to catch on and avalanche into at least a few more iterations!  
 
 
 
Let also completed her version of the latest Geometric Window which is making the rounds.  This is another window that knows no boundaries when it comes down to color and/or color placement for that matter.
 
  
 
 
Martha's Angel Wings/Heart was made both quickly and efficiently.  I gave her the option of making something similar but simpler but she knew what she wanted and stuck to her guns.  Two weeks later she walked out the door with this beautiful suncatcher.
 
  
 
 
After many, many months of working on hexagons followed by a few weeks of repair work, MiMi has started a window where she'll have to make a lot of cuts that aren't straight lines!   It doesn't look as though she's lost her touch though because in just one class she's made some serious headway on her first of her pair of Traditional Windows.
 
  

 
And Kerry is far along with his 'Fleur De Vee' Window which he also began this week.  He's got it all cut out and has even managed to begin grinding this wholly original window that I think looks VERY elegant.

  
 
 
Betty is making a second version of a window that she made a few years back that I had honestly completely forgotten about.  In fact, I had to sort through old pictures to see what colors she used when she first made this.   She's well into this already and her curved outer pieces all curve beautifully without any hints of jaggedness.

  
 

Susan R began cutting out a 3D Pansy and is all set to grind this for a perfect fit.  There are many overlapping layers to this-- largely to overcome the number of almost impossible cuts that would be required to make this as a flat project.  As I often tell people, "It's glass, not paint!"
 
 
 
Betty also worked on a Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus panel which actually started off as a suncatcher.  In the end she decided to put a background around it and next week she'll add a final border.   And she's also got another Christmas Candle in the works as well!
 
 
 
Lisa loves to work outside of the box (so to speak) and this week she began working on a 3D Flower Table Decoration.  As you can see she's got it all cut out, wrapped and tacked together meaning that all she needs to do now is solder together the three layers that make this.
 
  
 

With Christmas just around the corner Roxane is working on the third panel to her large Nativity Window Scene.   What you see below will form the right side of her overall window.  Once this is completed she will cut the pieces that join all three of the sections together.

  
 

Cindy's Sewing Machine is moving along at break neck speed!  I'm expecting to see this completed upon her return to class next week.

 
 
Angie's pair of Cross/Hearts are another project that I'm sure will be among our completed projects in our next post.   With only border pieces left to wrap and tack, these won't take long at all to solder.
 
  
 
Melissa's poor Bird House needs a roof! The good news is that we now know what we are doing to get it attached and that means that there are only six pieces left to be cut before Melissa gets to finish this and take it home (next week). 
 
 
 
 
Susan D's working on more tiny stained glass items that she'll use to decorate her hand sewn items.  What does that mean?  Well, just keep coming back over the weeks to come I'll show you!  Do you see a Rabbit, a Fox, and a Squirrel down below because I sure do.
 
  
 

Linda F's Magnolia Window is another window that has taken form so incredibly quickly.  And her work on it is absolutely flawless.   I'm dying to see what color border she picks to surround this but if I had to put money down on it I'd have to guess that it will be green.

 
 
Linda L's Christmas Bells is a Window that she must really be excited about making because she's practically raced through the cutting, grinding and foiling parts of making this.   And her work is flawless!  I also think that she enjoys working in her new glass shop as well!

 
 
With only a few missing pieces to fill in on her Cardinal Window Cheryl has begun wrapping all of the pieces that she ground in the past few weeks.  Once that is done she'll tack this together and then fill in those holes by placing glass under her window and tracing out perfect pieces to fill those holes.

  
 
 
Martha's Christmas Grinch Window is yet another project that is quickly nearing completion.   All the glass has been cut which means that she's only got some soldering to do to wrap this up in time for Christmas.
 
 
Jan's made some exceptional progress on her  Our Lady of Guadalupe window and it's looking like she'll be able to start wrapping her pieces in copper foil before you know it.  With most of the grinding behind her you can clearly see how this window will look when it's completed.


 
Mary Grace is working diligently on soldering the back side of her second Peacock Window and I'm thinking that it won't be long now.  I have a sneaking suspicion that she'll complete the soldering on this during her next class and then finish up the cleaning and coloring on this the following week.

 
 
As I suspected, Barbara's Hibiscus Window will surely be done within the time frame that she needed it done in.     All of the glass has been cut and all she needs to do now is tack the border on and then solder everything.  She's taken this along home with her and who knows-- perhaps it will end up as a completed project when she returns with it.
 
   
 
 
Check it out!  Shawn's Hera Window looks great already without even having the bottom third wrapped and tacked into place.  She'll be foiling when she comes back in and then it's just a simple matter of adding a border (or two) to this and then soldering it to finish it off.

 

Steve spent his class designing a Fleur De List pattern.  He's come up with two similar yet entirely different ideas which he will show to his customer during the week.   There's just something about the round one that really catches my eye though...

 
 
 
Let doesn't mess around.  Here you can see she's begun yet another Geometric design!  There might not be much to see right now but there certainly will be next week when we see this again.

  
 
And to wrap things up this week we'll look at the pattern that Sheri is about to begin working on.  It may look familiar because it's the same pattern that Betty is working on only two inches smaller.  Apparently ovals are in now.
 
  
 
That all folks!
 
Paul
 


 

Monday, October 24, 2022

12 Minutes and Ooh La La!

Susan R finished a stunning Cross/Rose Suncatcher that strikes my fancy because it ignores symmetry and embraces skewed angles and incorporates curves where you normally find straight lines.   It's a beautiful design and beautiful work all around, but that is to be expected from Susan.

 

 
 
Sheri completed her Geometric Window and again, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I must say that her soldering skills are at their very finest.   And the same goes for her cutting and grinding skills as well because this looks marvelous.

 
 
MiMi's repair Window has officially been completed and it's as solid as a rock.   I wouldn't lie and I can honestly say that this looks great even though MiMi had some serious misgivings about how it would turn out.   She didn't cut the original glass pieces so there was only so much she could do to straighten things out but she absolutely made it fit together better than it originally did by reducing the size of the window by almost a  quarter or an inch.  That allowed her to grind the larger glass pieces smaller to make it fit the 'new' pattern better.  All in all a job VERY well done.
 

 
 
Kerry's background glass has not yet shipped for his Christmas Poinsettia Window (that won't happen until the 1st of November) so this week he decided to make something that would take just two weeks to complete.  He decided on a Spinner and then completed it in just one night!   I guess he'll need to make something else next week.  Featuring nice bright colors, this really comes alive when you see it spinning in the breeze.
 
 
Cindy's newest Birds on a (curved) Wire shows exactly why these bird patterns are so very popular.   It's a great way to get rid of small snippets of scrap glass and turn it into something that stained glass loves to be:  colorful and beautiful.
 
  
 
 
Betty finished her first Christmas Candle and changed the pattern up a bit by eliminating the lead line that travels down the candle to make the melting wax piece easier to cut into place.   Style over ease of completion always yields a more exquisite piece of art!

 Susan D made this miniature Grinch Hand which will hang from a Christmas tree rather than in a window.   She's used glass which doesn't require light behind it to show its colors and has gone hog wild with a hand cut, stained glass Christmas Ornament.   Stunning and superb are the two works that come to mind when I look at this.


Angie is back!   Even though she's been gone for over a year and hasn't been able to do glass at home due to hurricane damage, it didn't slow her down any in class.   She traced out her pattern as well as cut and ground all of the glass for her Cross/Heart Panel with time to spare!   Impressive!

 
 
Susan D designed this stunning Halloween Window completely by herself.  She added a border to it this week and got the front side soldered which tells me that this will be hanging up in plenty of time for Halloween.
 
  

 
Cindy also began working on a sewing Machine Window of her own and has the pedal to the metal so to speak.   The machine itself has been cut and ground leaving her with only the base, the background and the border left to cut.
 
  
 
 
Let has this stunning Angel almost completed already.  I have a sneaking suspicion that she leaves class and then works on glass while at home all the way up until the following week when she begins the process again.
 
  
 

Linda F has really made some extraordinary headway into her Magnolia Window.   Last week it was a pattern with a few pieces of glass cut out but this week she's already grinding this detailed window which looks impressive.

  
 
 
Barbara resumed work grinding away on her Hibiscus Window and as you can see, she's really close to being able to wrap this all in foil.   She's hoping to finish it two classes from now and I know for a fact that she will make it now that she's this far along.

 
 
Linda L came in hoping that I had a pattern that she picked out last week resized for her (which I did) and then traced it out and began cutting glass.   She's already far along on this and will be using solid lead for the bell 'clangers' of her Christmas Bells Window.  As you can see, she's working fast on this. 

  
 
 
Roxane is also back into the fold after dealing with hurricane damage for over year now.   She had a project started (which was here in the shop) when Ida hit so her window was safe but it took most of this class to assess the window situation to see what had to be done next.  That said, she's  begun to cut glass and next week we'll remind you of just what it was she was working on when we we show you a picture of her project all laid out.
 
  
 
 
Ann's Mother Mary with Child Panel is very close to being completed now.  This week she tacked Mary together and then got the four pieces of her background glass cut.  Once that was tacked onto Mary, Ann picked and cut out a thin final border to finish off all of the glass cutting for this piece.  All that's left to do is now is to put a nice solder bead on it and hang it up.

  
 
 
Let is working on a Geometric Window of her own and she had this pretty much together when she came in.   She got a border cut for it and then put it aside where she will wrap and then tack and solder her window to complete it.

  
 
 
Martha is making  her Angel Wings Heart look easy.   Everything had been cut, ground and fitted into place when she called it a night.   This could very well be completed when she returns which means that she's made a difficult pattern look easy!
 
  
 
 
Jan's Lady Of Guadalupe Window is being worked on from the bottom to the top and she's now at about the halfway point on it.  This is a challenging pattern especially since it's been shrunk even smaller than the original pattern was drawn to, but Jan is steadily working away at it and making progress each and every week.
 
 
Lara's Peony Window got its first border cut and she used a perfect wispy sea foam green cut into a small 3/4 wide strip to surround her flowers.  After that's attached she'll follow it up with a slightly thicker clear textured border to finish it all off. This already looks good when it's sitting on the table but we lifted it up and all agreed that it looks spectacular when it has some light behind it.

 
 
Shawn has the final third of her Hera Flag Window cut out leaving only the grinding left to go on it.   Those feather pieces are small and curvy which means that they are NOT easy to cut out.  Shawn persevered and will next allow the grinder take care of the filling in the fine details.
 
  

 
Annette has attached the chains that hang her four Butterflies and they are ready to be washed and colored.   Once that's done she'll get these butterflies attached to their Mobile struts so they can balance beautifully from the ceiling bringing smiles to all who see them.
 
  
 

Betty didn't just complete a Christmas Candle this week-- She also ground a second Candle that ready to be wrapped in foil which I'm sure we'll see completed upon her return.

  
 
 And there you have it.  Christmas is in the air and we certainly have a lot of students working on Christmas items.  Avoid the rush is what I always say!

Paul