Tuesday, June 27, 2023

The Green One Is Best Because It's The Greenest

MiMi made this Epiphany Window to honor a 90 year fellow church parishioner and did it with style and grace!  The completed work is wonderful in itself but placed on the wooden base that MiMi helped design, well, a picture speaks a thousand words, right?

 
 
Let's Eagle Window has prompted someone else to request the pattern so expect to see this one again.  Let painstakingly made sure that all of her pieces lined up nicely, but for Let that's never a problem.   Here though, she had to really take her time because she could barely see the marker lines on the glass that she picked to make this!
 
 
 
Lara's Flower window consists of a very unique shape with an equally interesting border which resides on only the top and bottom of her project.   I just wish the color of the border glass showed up much better in the photograph because here you can't see how perfectly it actually matches all of the colors that are also used in the flowers.   For some reason it just looks brown here.
 
 
 
Betty finished her Patriotic Texas and Bluebonnets Window bringing it all together nicely in a perfect circle.We may not have seen Betty very much lately but it's obvious that she's been working while she's been at home because I do believe this is the first time we are really seeing this piece and it's already completed.
 
 
 
Martha also has a patriotic streak running throughout her because when she saw this red white and blue Suncatcher she decided that she wanted to make one of her own.  Her attention to detail on this has given her a perfect geometric shape that only took three pattern pieces to make.

 
 
Annette had an extra pair of iridised wings hanging around and though to herself, "What if I use some crystals that I have to form a body?"   The end result is a 3D  Bumble Dragon(?) .  I just wish that the picture could have captured just how much this sparkled!
 
 
 
With the third and final panel of her Nativity Scene completed Linda is ready to move on along to projects that don't take as long.   You'll see what that is a little later on in this post.



Ann's latest Cross was made entirely out of various black Baroque glasses.  Monochromatic yet vibrant, enlightening yet dark, it is everything all at once.


Angie's Pepsi Sign Window is the first we've seen of this pattern in a while now.  Linda F made this years ago and it looked fantastic when it was completed and I have no doubt that  Angie's Pepsi window will look just as great.  Her colors are spot on and now I'm dying for a Pepsi!*

 
 
Linda L is always looking for ways to hone her stained glass skills and this time she's expanding her techniques by making her own pattern.  She got the basic idea for this Desk Decoration while surfing about the internet and then altered it here and there until she came up with this delightful design.  I love it!
  
 
 
Lisa has started this all new Sunflower pattern and I the design is wonderful.  Give me patterns that flow and show movement any day!!   She's going to change up the birds mouth a tad bit but it's the flower that will surely be the focal point of this window.

  
 

As I suspected, Bea got all of the background cut out and even ground for her large round Fleur De Lis Window.  The yellow was a bit persnickety so she added a lead line on each side to make things a bit easier.  You won't see those two lines until this has been soldered and I have to say that even then you will just assume that they were part of the original design.

 
 
After flying like an eagle Let has decided to float like a butterfly.  She's using our standard Lawn Ornament design and added a body in the center of it.   Long time readers and stained glass artists are probably screaming "HINGE POINTS!" as they read this but Let is going to turn this into a window which means that it will have a piece of background glass surrounding it to hold everything together in a secure and sturdy fashion.

  
 

And this week you can clearly see Cindy's Sunflower Window.  I love that she's used assorted yellows throughout all of the petals that make up the flower itself.  As I always say, "The more the merrier!" Stunning indeed!

 
 
When I see Judy's Window all I can think of are these immortal words handed down to us by Def Leppard: "Pour Some Sugar On Me!"  But alas, there's no sugar here so maybe maybe Carly Simon said it better when she sang, "I had some dreams there were clouds in my coffee, clouds in my coffee".   Either way, I like both of those songs so Judy's window is a definite shoo-in.
 
 
 
June has her Sailboat Window all cut out and is busy spending time at the grinder making everything fit together nicely.  Although the change isn't something huge, June has replaced her orange sun with an even MORE orange sun.   If you aren't thrilled about the colors in your window this is definitely the time to change it!

 
 
Steve's got a malleable copper Heart that he's working into shape by heating it with a torch!  Now that it's been curved and soldered into position he's attached a stained glass heart in the center of it using a swivel system at the top.  When he returns he'll add a joint that swivels at the bottom point of the heart which will hopefully allow this to spin when it is in the wind.
 
  
 

As you can clearly see, Mary Grace's Lotus Logo Window is taking shape more and more each week.   Once this is wrapped and tacked Mary Grace will add the text panels to it (which she has completed already) and then border it all together to make one large window.

 
 
Sheri is using her pistol grip cutter like a pro already.  I have to say that her straight cuts will never have a waver in them again now that she's perfected the pistol grip. And her window is looking nice and colorful as well.  She's concerned about the text but I have no doubt that she'll manage it well.
 
  
 
 
Melissa's Winged Cross Window has come together in a wonderful way.  Now that she has half of the bevels wrapped in copper foil you can clearly see the bevels as well as what they will add to the finished look of the overall window.  This won't be completed when she comes back in but it will certainly be finished the week after that.

 
 
Susan R is also hard at work on her very own patriotic Lawn Ornament.  It looks as though she's got it all cut out and is well along the way when it comes to grinding it.  And that beveled star is just perfect with this.
 
 
We may be calling this a Cabin in the Bayou Window but there's far more to it than just a cabin.   This week Kerry was able to get the heron cut and ground which means that he's only got some Iris leaves to cut out which will then leave him with just assorted background pieces of grass, sky, water and bushes.  And those will be easy compared to what he's already cut and ground for this window.
 
  
 
Roxane is back in actions and all of her Nativity Window has been cut, ground, wrapped and tacked.   The front side has been completely soldered and the back side is very, very far along.  So far along, in fact, that I'm thinking that this will be completed upon her return!

 
 
Susan D not only repaired her broken Dragonfly but she's also reinforced it with hidden wires to help make sure that she never has to see this again.  On her work table as a repair I mean!!!   Next week it will be all about her cactus.
 
  
 

There are only a few fill in pieces left to go on Barbara's Rooster Window and then she'll move along to the multi-colored border.  She's moving quickly on this and that's no small feat when you consider the complexity of this piece.
 
  
 
 
Next up we have a stained glass version of Bree who will surely be completed next week when Shelley comes back in.   All the hard work is done and  Shelley is already set to turn this over and solder the back side.
 
  
 
 
And there ya have it!  Keep on keepin' on!
 
Paul

* Yeah, I'm just checking to see how many people are paying attention here.  I know full well it's a Coke Window!

Monday, June 19, 2023

Let Me Break That For You

Sheri's Coffee Window features a cup and saucer that she assembled from broken pieces of Blue Willow.  It certainly wasn't easy to cut or grind into place but the end result gives this window a very unique look. There's a lot of detail in this due to the lettering but Sheri took her time and never lost sight of her goal.

 
 
Martha made the tiger eyes portion of her LSU Window look easy.  The letters themselves are easy enough because they are very large (7 to 8 inches tall) but all of those wavy, long, thin tiger stripes can make you lose your mind.   Martha wanted this done in time for Father's Day and with just 3 days to spare she was able to not only finish it but already sell it as well!


Honey Combs are the rage and Lisa made hers a bit smaller than the ones we've seen done in the past.  Then, just for effect, she drew up and tacked a small bumblebee onto the bottom of the honey comb.  This is as cute as it could possibly hope to bee.

 
 
I've always loved the flowing Tulip Suncatcher that Annette made this week.   Her colors are perfect and it just makes me want to make another one myself.   Annette also finished a simple yet effective purple Flower Suncatcher as well which is lovely in its own right!

 
Here's our second Bee of the week and this one was completed by Susan R.  It's a curvy Lawn Ornament that Susan had no problems soldering even though she had to re-balance the bee every time she started soldering  a new lead line.  That's the fun of a 3D project.
 
 
 
Helen brought in a pair of butterflies to work on and she was able to walk out the door with both of them completed.  She plans on working on glass while at home during the week so it will be interesting to see what she walks in the door with next!
 
 
 
Lisa has a friend who had an old lamp that needed some repair work done on it.  The metal frame and base were fine but some of the glass was cracked.  Lisa slowly pulled the clips open which held the glass in place, cut some replacement pieces of glass and then (after a little wiggling about) managed to get them back into the lamp.  Here's the end result-- as good as old!
 
 

Our third Bee of the week derives its name from the student-  not the work itself!  Bee took classes a few years ago and is now back in action here in the shop.  She drew her new window up herself and she even got the black Fleur De Lis cut out during that same night.  I have no doubt that she'll get the background cut out and then be able to begin grinding each of her pieces when she comes back in next week.

 
 
Susan R set upon making this USA pattern that she found on the internet but she wanted to make one minor change to it:  She wanted a beveled star rather than a flat glass star.  Sooooo, we looked around found a star bevel cluster that was approximately the same size and then altered the pattern  until it worked with the bevels she had.   Her beveled star is in position and all but three pieces of the blue glass have been cut already which means that she's only got some red and white stripes left to go on this.
  
 
 
Speaking of red, white and blue, take a look at the Patriotic Pinwheel that Martha began work on this week.  It's all cut out and even halfway ground already which means that this won't take long at all for her to finish.

  
 
 
We've been seeing a lot of letter work in our classes lately and Sheri is now working on a stained glass sign that recreates her business card in glass.  These letters are script so they are thinner than most other stained glass letters and her window isn't all that big so this may take a little time for her to complete but I know she'll persevere just as Mary Grace is doing with with her window that incorporates letters.
 
  
 
 
Susan D always has multiple irons in the fire and this week she worked on a Dragonfly repair as well as her 3D Cactus with a Flower.   Everything on the cactus looks to be ground and is therefore ready for some foil and some solder.  And the Dragonfly looks to be equally as far along.
 
  
 
 
June's Tranquil Sailboat Window may be only one week into its creation but it's already well under construction.  In fact, there's only the sky, the sails and two pieces of land left to cut out after which June will begin the arduous task of grinding everything to fit perfectly.
 
  
 
 
I'm loving this Sunflower Window and Cindy is now filling in the background with assorted greens to give it a 'tighter feel'.   The assorted yet similar mixed colors in this match the perfect flawless design of the window itself. Mark my words, this will be a head turner.
 
  
 
 
MiMi's Starburst Cross looks completely stunning especially since she has everything ground already.  In fact, if you look closely you can see that numerous pieces have already been wrapped in foil as well.  When MiMi puts her mind to something there's just no stopping her.
 
  
 
 
Meanwhile, Melissa's Winged Cross is coming together with a clear background glass (that you can't see in the picture) and a stunning beveled inner border.  This design along with bevels are a perfect pairing which will sparkle effortlessly when it is hanging.

  
 
 
Barbara got all of the glass cut out for her Rooster Window, or at least she had until she accidentally dropped the sun.   Not to fear though-- we'll get that re-cut after everything else has been ground and tacked together.  All I can say is that at least *I* didn't break it!  (Keep reading to see what I mean.)

  
 
 
Kerry's Bayou Cabin Window got its trees ground and tacked together this week and then he moved on to cutting out his Irises.   He traced all of his pieces out onto the gorgeous sheet of purple glass that he picked for the flowers and then I walked by and knocked the glass onto the concrete floor where it then shattered into broken shards.  :-(  At least we were able to retrace the pattern pieces onto the larger fragments of glass so his Irises now look fine.   The rest of that purple glass has seen better days though.

  
 
 
And now for something completely different.  Nope, that's not a photograph that you see in the picture below-- it's actually a piece of glass with a face fired onto it!  It's amazing what you can accomplish with a computer and a kiln these days.   Shelley doesn't have to add or accentuate any part of the face on her Bree Van de Kamp window because these are picture-perfect features.  
 
  
 
 
Angie's New Orleans Window  is ready for a border!  Talk about flying through a window.   She wanted a transparent  or wispy black glass for the border but we just don't have any of that anymore since it is no longer being produced.  Angie is going to look around at home to see what she may have there so be sure to come back next week and see what she decides on!
 
  
 
 
With everything ground in her Coffeepot and Coffee Cup Window Judy has moved along to the foiling part of the construction of her latest piece.  The cup and the pouring coffee has been wrapped so there's a very good chance that she'll be able to tack this when she comes back in.  Yep, it's already time to start thinking about what color border she wants on this because she's really not sure about her original choice of yellow anymore.
 
  
 
 
Speaking of borders, Let had a decision to make this week (well, actually two of them).  She wasn't entirely happy with  her original choice of border colors so we all headed over to the glass rack and began to mix and match.   Let knew that she wanted a double border on this but the colors were proving to be problematic.  At least until we stumbled on this winning combination!  It's looking good if I do say so myself.

 
 
Mary Grace is grinding from the bottom to the top on the logo portion of her window.  You can easily see how far along she's gotten just by looking at the bottom edge of the window.  I've got to hand it to her-- she's taking her time with this massive project and not letting it get her down!
 
  
 
 
And with just a few scant line's left to solder, Linda L is getting ready to complete the final window in her Nativity Series. This is the back side of the window and once we attach the medium Zinc channel on this it will be ready to be washed and patina'ed.  Hallelujah!

 
And there you have it.   We're getting awfully busy in the shop again so expect even more projects to be finished when we return next week.  So long and thanks for the fish!

Paul