Monday, May 29, 2023

A Dog With Buck Teeth

Judy is paying tribute to one of her favorite places to stop at while she's driving. Her Buc-ee's Window sure looks good and is proof that any logo can be done in stained glass.  The good news for Judy is that Buc-ee's will open a $50 million travel center in Ruston, the chain's first location in Louisiana. The 53,000-square-foot building will have 120 gas pumps and probably 275 urinals. Construction is set to begin later this year and the center will open by 2025.  Welcome to Buc-ee's!!

 
 
I have to say that Cindy's Dog Window is perfect right down to the eyes which are very easy to misalign.  There's a small white drop of nail polish on the eyes that really brought Big to life and proves that little things mean a lot.
 
 
 
MiMi's second Traditional Window is out the door.  It's a perfect match when placed next to the first one and together they will act as bookends in the room they will decorate.  Another job extremely well done.
 
 
 
I do believe that Annette's Betta Fish suncatcher is a first for us here in the shop.  Her colors are spot on largely because she used two different but similar colors to make it.   The body and head are made of steel blue waterglass while the fins were cut from an iridised blue glass.  Breathtaking indeed and the iridised colors even photographed nicely!
 
 
 
Linda's put the finishing touches on her large Sunflower Suncatcher and says that she's going to be ready to resume work on her Nativity Scene Window next week. 
 
 
Angie's Geometric window is the most colorful version of this that we've seen yet.   You have to admit that it's certainly eye catching and a wonderful use of extraneous pieces of glass that are too big to throw away yet too small to use for a large project.
 
 
 
Cindy has yet another Bicycle Wheel under her belt.  She's got these down to a science now and it's really impressive to watch how she fits each piece into its place (because none of those triangles are the same size).  Also, there's a considerable amount of talent when it comes to soldering the pieces into position.
 
 
Betty is always busy and this week she's completed a Modern Cross, a Dove Cross and a pair of Circular Fleur De Lis- one in purple and gold, and the other made in black and gold.


 
 
Angie also managed to finished a Dove Cross of her own and she's made hers using some very beautiful Uroboro purple glass.  Just the other day I heard someone say how hard it is to cut Uroboro glass but I'll tell you the secret:  Use a little less pressure on your cutter.   The harder you press the more it veers off course.   It's a skill but once you get it down it's like riding a bike.  You'll never forget how to do it.
 
 
Our final completed project of the week was created by Ann and done in just one night.  She can knock out a large modern cross almost as fast as she can start her car!

  

MiMi is well into her next project which is a wonderful Heron Window.  It's already all cut out and I'd say that a good 80 percent of it has been ground as well so it won't be long until we see what this looks like with some light behind it!

  
 

Susan D is working on a new 3D Hummingbird and it looks like it's about ready to get its wings.   Everything has not only been cut and ground- it's also been wrapped in foil which means that this will be together before you know it.

 
 
Annette has a sweet little Daisy Panel all cut out and the last border (which is there in the picture but extremely hard to see because it is clear) just needs to be wrapped and tacked into place.  It won't be long now until this little window is finished.

  
 

Lara's got a very unique looking Flower Window under way and I think that this is going to open the door for a series of these charming little panels.   The 'border' will only attach on the top and bottom of the piece like vertical brackets, with a clear possibly textured glass as a background.   Just wait until you see this when it's hanging up.
 
  
 
 
Melissa moves at a break neck speed and her pattern tracing and glass cutting for this Angel Winged Cross shows you just how a great a glass cutter she is.  The thing is that this hasn't even been ground yet!  Hard to believe, huh?

 
 
Cheryl is making a Geometric Bevel Cluster Window which uses only stock bevels.   What is a 'stock' bevel?  It's a bevel made to a standard size that can be used singly or in groups to form different designs.  Bevel Clusters form a pattern that can only be used one way and are made of very unique shapes.   Also, stock bevels are much more cost effective than bevel clusters.  That said, as you can tell from Cheryl's window, there's nothing 'chintzy' looking about it!
 
  
 

Now that his cabin has been ground Kerry has split the 'boards' making the cabin into logs.  Why work this way?  Because grinding goes much faster using this method.  Also, to make things go even easier yet he's wrapped his pieces and will tack them together to prevent the cabin from shifting about as he works on the background landscape pieces.

  
 
 
Mary Grace got all of her HOUMA wrapped and she's about to  embark on the fourth (and largest) section of her Logo Window.  Things are about to get really interesting now!
 
  
 

Sheri has only three pieces left to go to form the saucer in her Coffee Window.  That means that this will surely gain a border upon her return.  I'm happy that she changed the coffee in the cup to a darker color so that she could use the glass she'd previously used as the coffee for her table.  It's beautiful glass but you couldn't really appreciate it as you can now that it's a major part of the window.
 
  
 

Jeannette is also on quite a roll when it comes to cutting and grinding.  As you can see she's already got four more Grinch Hands and another  Dove Cross in the works.  In fact, the Dove Cross is all set to be soldered already.
 
 

And Jan's another student who's ready for a border.  Her Humming Bird Window got its background cut and ground this week which leaves just a border to go.  The colors she's used so far are fairly subtle so I think something bold would frame this out perfectly.

  
 
 
With her Rooster all wrapped in copper foil Barbara is ready to tack this together for the very same reason that Kerry will be tacking his cabin together-- for stability and ease of grinding.   It's a procedure that I use regularly whenever I don't want sections of a window to shift on me when I still have a lot of background left to fit into place.  Aside from the thin leg sections, everything else should be fairly easy to cut out.

  
 
 
Next we see that Susan R's latest Reindeer has been foiled which means that it will surely be completed upon her return.  With everything wrapped she can easily have this soldered and also get to work on her next project.
 
  

And to wrap his all up we look at Betty's next three projects.   She does so well with these Silverware Dragonflies that I know we'll continue to see more of them on Betty's side of the table in the weeks to come.

 
 And there you have it.  One new blog post created largely by all of our wonderfully talented students!
 
Paul

No comments: