Show Me Your Charms

Have you ever wondered why the mermaid crossed the sea?  Well, Martha's Mermaid turned out beautiful and her choice of clear baroque glass for the water really brought it all together because the Mermaid isn't drowning in a sea of color (every pun was intended there.)  Your eye really focuses on the subject matter since it's a nice splash of color in a clear background.  So why did the did the Mermaid cross the sea??  To get to the other tide.  (groan)

 

 

Edmee's Yin and Yang Window came together this week in more ways than one.   Not only is it completed but it showed me that a color (purple) can coexist wonderfully with various shades of grey.  Since this symbol is all about opposite but interconnected forces, I find this to be extremely fitting.  And speaking of fitting, Edmee's work on this was wonderful all the way through the creation process.

 

 

 

 

Ann's St. Joseph and Child Jesus Panel is certainly stunning.  There's a lot of detail in this small window which paints its picture clearly.  Matching the border glass to Joseph's robe was perfect because it ended up pulling everything together in a very pleasing way.

 

 

 

 

Cindy's Winged Cross turned out exactly as she hoped it would and the balance on it is just right.  Note the symmetry between the wings-- it's perfect!  It's a beautiful design crafted even more beautifully.

 

 

 

Cindy also made two large Cardinal Suncatchers which makes me jealous because she has so much more diligence when it comes to creating glass than I have right now!  I either need to get on the track of making more glass or start purchasing Cindy's items!

 

 

Linda L is ready for her Mardi Gras Cruise next week now that her nine Gift Pendants have been completed for everyone who is going on the cruise with her (that she knows of course). She was originally going to hang the cruise ship charm from the bottom of the piece but when we saw how perfectly the bevel framed it we both agreed that hanging it in the center was the better choice.  These are lovely gifts and I can't wait to see how well they are received!

Susan D has become the Pinwheel Queen and can completely knock one of these out faster than the average student can merely wrap the nine pieces of glass it takes to make them.  I like that she's using alternating colors rather than making them out of a single color.  It lends a lot of added dimension to the finished pieces by introducing a shadow effect.

 

 

 

And Betty is our Cardinal Queen.  This week she completed two more of these beauties after getting a refresher course in bending wire smoothly without creating and kinks.  The trick is to bend the wire slowly into curves that are smaller than what you actually need.  Then with some gentle coaxing you can expand the wire into the correct size curves which turn out nice and fluid.

 

 

 

Lisa's Luna Moth got a new moon behind it because the grain didn't line up correctly on the glass she had cut for it when she was last in.  The change is striking and you can easily see how the flow matches across the separate pieces (especially below the moth).

 

  

 

 

Let's Oval Victorian Rose is taking shape quickly with as this is her first week of work in on it.  Everything but the outer border has been cut which enabled Let to begin grinding her pieces already.  Hopefully her final border glass will arrive by the time she comes back in because she will very well need it by that point in time.

  

 

 

What you see here is the sheet of Newspaper Print Glass that Russ made for Angie's Seafood Window.  We started by scanning assorted newspapers and then arranging them somewhat haphazardly (with photoshop or something similar) to fit on a standard piece of paper.  I made two different patterns and then printed them out onto Photo Fusing Paper using a Laser Printer (an Inkjet printer will NOT work).  The Photo Fusing Paper is actually a decal which is then soaked in water and positioned onto the glass you want the text to appear.  It then gets fired onto the glass by heating it up to about 1300 degrees for 15 minutes.  It's an overnight process when you factor in the heating up and cooling down cycles.  Below you can see two decals fired onto one piece of white glass.

 

  

 

And here's Angie's Seafood Window with the newsprint glass cut  and mostly ground into place. 

 

  

 

Here's final look, but a little closer: 

 

Sheri is making this delightful Mushroom Hoop Suncatcher as well as a second one that I didn't get a picture of.  She also has more of this cut out than I have pictured here but I was slacking and wasn't quite quick enough with my camera!  I promise that we'll see more of these when we return.

 

  

 

 

Kerry is moving along quickly on his new project.  He will be using his leftover Holly Berry glass for the background of this stunning Cardinal.  With only the background left to cut he'll certainly be grinding this when he comes back into class.

 

 

 

Jeannette has gone ahead and put all of her eggs in one basket.  She's not only cut this out but she's ground it as well.  And if that weren't enough she also cut out another Modern Cross Suncatcher using assorted clear textures.   The cross suncatcher is about halfway ground now so she's wasting no time at all 'popping' things out left and right.

 

  

 

 

Linda has really stepped up her game.  A complex window like this gets cut and ground almost instantly if Linda is working on it.  She's changed 4 pieces of glass in the bowl itself for something very similar yet discernibly different to act as accent pieces which will also perfectly match her border  (when she cuts it).  Stunning!

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Here's another window that has come together quickly and efficiently.  Barbara's Magnolia is already cut, ground, wrapped and tacked together.  She plans on soldering it at home which means that this will be completed when she comes back in.   It's time for her to think about her next project already!

 

  

 

 

After Linda L finished attaching the hooks and charms onto her Cruise Gifts she was able to tack together this Easter Bunny Panel and cut out a background for it as well.   There's only a border left to go on this and then it's solderin' time!

  

 

 

Susan R's Reindeer is all ground and just about completely wrapped.  She'll certainly be soldering this upon her return when we'll most likely see her second reindeer completed.  To say that her work on this went smoothly and efficiently would be understating it because Susan flew through the cutting and grinding almost effortlessly.

 

  

 

Lara's Africa Window is all tacked together and you can clearly see the sunset and the land which make up the  Africa outline.  She's decided to do something completely different (and yet completely fitting) for her border but I don't quite want to reveal what that is until we see this again.  All I'll say is that it's going to look amazing in a never seen before way.

 

  

 

Betty has two Crosses under construction, both being as different as can be. The one on the left is made completely out of bevels while the one on the right has star bevels at each end and of the cross and then again in the center. The Cross on the right will be a hanging Suncatcher while the one on the left will be inserted into a wispy white background glass and then bordered.

 

  

 

Martha is hanging out around the Franklin Streetlights again looking for inspiration for a new background glass ideas.  She's actually working on two of these Streetlight Windows and each piece that she's cut out is stacked two high (which you can't see in the picture).  These sell quickly for her and I completely understand the draw to them.

  

 

Shelley has all of her Flag/Rifle Window cut out now save for one piece of white glass.  She's hoping she has more of this at home but if not we will turn up a matching piece in the shop and work from there.   She's grinding this from the bottom upward and although she barely has two layers of stripes ground you can clearly see what this will look like when she finishes it.

 

 

 

This little fish has lost its way. Hopefully, when we see it again Susan D will have it mounted on another board with some seaweed around it. If it finds another fish perhaps it can be schooled...

 

 

 

And there you have it.  Have a GREAT Mardi Gras to all who will be celebrating it!

 

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Buttered Side Up

Kerry's Christmas Poinsettia is finally complete.  When I say 'finally' I don't mean to imply that it took him a long time to finish this, it's because he had to wait so long for his background glass to be shipped.  Although this was unable to be displayed during the Christmas 2022 season I must say the it was well worth the wait.    Kerry plans on using more of the same background glass (which is called Holly Berry and is made by Bullseye) on a Cardinal Window which he will be starting soon.

   

 Susan D has certainly been busy.   What I thought might have been leaves for her pinwheels  last week turned out to be seaweed for her two impressive Aquarium Dioramas.  Susan started with a piece of driftwood for one and for the second she simply used a scrap of long-ish flat board which she covered with colorful fish tank gravel.    The stained glass was attached by adding thin rods to the backs of each piece which slip into holes she strategically drilled into the wood.  Stunning!

  

 Martha's Sewing Machine was officially completed this week and she even added some real pins into the mix by soldering the points of them into the lead lines that make up the pin cushion. That little extra detail adds a lot more charm to this already charming window.

 

Jeannette finished her Plate Window and boy does it ever sparkle!  In fact, the glass that she put in between the bevels in the border is a perfect texture that, when lit, shines and sparkles just as much as the plate itself does.  It's perfect!

   

Linda L put the finishing touches on her Dove/Cross Suncatcher by adding a holly branch on top of it.  And to think that it started as a simple snippit of tinned wire with two small scraps of green glass soldered onto it.  Simplicity at its finest.

 

 

Let's Dragonfly is another example of how complimenting colors can work together to make a window even more spectacular.  Rather than using the glass that she used for the Dragonfly body as the border, she went with a similar yet different green that compliments the other.  Add filigree wings into the mix and you have the recipe for a stunning piece of art.

  

 

Two more Beveled Crosses and a colorful Hummingbird were easily put together this week by Betty.  Her use of Fractures and Streamers Glass for the cross on the left really looks great.  You just can't lose when you use Fractures and Streamers.

 

 

 

Susan D finished up another Silverware Pinwheel in my favorite color!  How did she know???

 

  

 

Linda F amazed me when she walked in the door with the majority of this Fruit Bowl Window cut out.  This is going to be stunning and Linda is doing excellent work on it. She came in, cut out the grapes, and then began grinding this beast of a window.  I already heard another student in class say that she needed to make one of these all because she saw Linda's.

 

Barbara's making tremendous progress on her Magnolia Window.   She ended up re-cutting a few of the leaves to avoid having so many straight grain lines running throughout the leaves.   At this point it looks great to me and I think this window is going to be a big feather in Barbara's stained glass cap.

 

  

 

Annette's Angels are all ground and ready for wrapping.   There's technically a row of background glass which resides along this top that is currently missing and if Annette has more of the background glass at home she will add that row to the window.  To be honest though, if she has no more of it the window would just fine if she just skips it and goes straight to a border.

 

 

 

Cindy's got a Deer Head window under construction and I just have to point out how wonderful her pattern placement on the glass was.   The bottom right piece of the deer has so much swirl that it almost looks like real deer fur.  Again, it's all the little details that add up to make a nice window something less ordinary and more spectacular.

  

 

 

June's cat looks purrfectly content sitting there on a table while smiling proudly at us.  This week June got her background all cut, ground, wrapped and tacked which means that she'll get a border cut out for this upon her return.  The end is near!

 

  

 

 

Linda L began nine Cruise Gift Suncatchers that she practically finished in just one class.   She cut the strips herself while at home and did a wonderful job especially since she's never used her strip cutter before.  She'll be adding some fancy hangers to these along with a Cruise Ship dangly thing on the bottom when she comes back in to finish these.   Oh, but I think I might have a great idea for these that I will share with Linda when she comes back in!

  

 

 

Ann got the background and her border each cut for her Joseph and Child Jesus Window.   There's nothing left to do now but solder it and add some hooks.  This will easily be completed upon Ann's return when, once it's soldered, it will get its final embellishment.

 

  

 

 

Judy's Crab is coming together bit by bit, step by step.  This window is more complex than you might initially assume it to be.  There are many long narrow pieces that are not only a pain to cut but a pain to grind as well.   I thinking that we may add some bubbles to this window.  We'll see what Judy thinks when she comes back in.

 

 

 

With her seafood all wrapped and tacked together Angie is now ready to begin work on her background glass.   It's going to be difficult to position the glass under this large flimsily connected seafood but we want some unity to carry throughout in the newsprint behind the seafood.  Rest assured that we will do it, and it will be amazing.  In fact, the newsprint glass is in the kiln as a type this...

  

 

 

Susan R is making another Reindeer Lawn Ornament and has the majority if the body all cut out already.   The second one always goes quicker than the first one and Susan's progress on this is more than proving that point.

  

 

 

Meanwhile, at the same table, Susan D is assembling more Fish, Seaweed, and Silverware Pinwheels.  Do we have to wonder what all this will turn out to be?  I mean, are fish-on-a-pinwheel a thing now?  Shouldn't seaweed be kept away from spinning objects?  Come back next week to discover the answer to these and other ridiculous questions.

 

  

 

 

With her intricate three layer border almost completely cut out Cheryl has begun grinding and wrapping her pieces.  there are only six pieces of red class left to cut out for this elaborate border and those will definitely be tacked into place next week when Cheryl begins soldering this.

 

  

 

Martha is also coming close to finishing off her Mermaid Window.  The front side is soldered which means that she will surely have this completed when we see her again.   I've got to say that Martha  just seems to be getting better and better at this stained glass hobby of hers.

 

 

 

Sheri's Mardi Gras Window combines Jesters in the form of the classic Greek symbol of theater-- the comedy and tragedy masks.   Together they make a wonderful window whose colors scream MARDI GRAS!   I have to say that the work that Sheri put into this is purely top notch.  Hopefully we'll get a finished picture of these when she comes back in.

  

 

 

 With the word ' WELLNESS' pretty much under control Mary Grace is getting ready to begin the last (and simplest) word for her Logo Window.  And that word will be 'HOUMA'.

 

 

 

♪ ♫ Shelley's got a gun ♫ ♪   (Or is it Janie?)  Well, Shelley's American Flag and Automatic Weapon is well underway as almost all of the flag has been cut out.   The rifle itself will be cut next and then she'll be ready to grind everything for a perfect fit. 

MiMi has begun her second Traditional Window and has the center piece cut out and ground to perfection.  She'll wrap and tack it together to form one piece before cutting out her background glass (the same as she did on her first window that this one matches.)  Why?  To help ensure that all the straight lines line up perfectly.

 

 

 

MiMi will be working on this circular lighthouse window as she works on her Traditional Window which we just looked at.   The big difference between these two windows will be that the majority of the work on the Lighthouse will be completed at home.  I don't know the name of this particular lighthouse or even where it resides but I think we'll gain that information as MiMi works on it.

 

 

 

 

Let is also about to embark on a new stained glass window and it will be this lovely Victorian Rose.   I think that she might have enjoyed working on her Iris/Hummingbird Window because her new project is in the same oval shape in about the same size as well.

 

And that's it for this week.  Catch you again soon!

 

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks