Yes, I Didn't

June's Arkansas Razorbacks Window may not inspire LSU pride but it has certainly turned the heads of many of our students in classes in and outside of her own!   This red and black window is honestly one of the most striking things I've seen lately.   June's excellent grinding awarded her with a perfectly symmetrical logo as well as the praise of many of our students!

Linda F's Snowman in a Snow Globe  is incredibly charming and one of our first Christmas decorations of the new year.   Rather than wait until December when she could possibly get bombarded with stained glass requests from friends and family, Linda decided to get this done ASAP.  I think that this may become a popular pattern come Christmas time (if not sooner).

Linda F Wanted to make a Carousel Horse and gave me a picture as an example to work with.   Although I'm thrilled with the end result of the pattern I wasn't sure of exactly how complex she wanted to go.   I've since offered to change the background to make it appear as though the horse is on an actual carousel and Linda said to go for it.   Once she finishes the actual horse itself I will add in an appropriate background.  Until then, here's a look at the horse that she's now cutting glass for.

  

 

Judy decided to make a Fleur De Lis Window and is well on her way to having it cut out.   There's just some background left to go and I will be discussing with her how she would like to handle that when she comes back in.   There are 'rules' as to when you cut out your background pieces and this is one of those designs that straddles the fence between those rules.

 

  

 

Backgrounds are apparently the theme of the week as you will soon see when I tell you about the Cardinal Window that Barbara has begun making.  This was going to be a suncatcher but she's decided to use this Cardinal, which she already had cut out, to make a window instead.   I've told her to leave out the branch that the bird is standing on and to grind, wrap and then tack it together.  Once that is done we will change the branch and make other additions so that this lone bird becomes a window.

 

 

 

We've literally folded Bee's Front Door Pattern so that the centerpiece is covered by the corners since she's making the four corner accents before anything else.  Folding the pattern gives Bee a much more manageable pattern size to deal with since it's now half the length of the unfolded pattern.   Once her corners are tacked together she'll be able to put those pieces aside, reverse the folds and work on the center piece of the window while the corner sections are under the centerpiece thus making this pattern far easier to work with by taking up less space.  

 

 

 

Cindy has all of her Birds On A Wire cut out and ground with a good deal of it wrapped in copper foil as well.   It's getting close now but the eyes of these birds still need to be dealt with and, of always, that will more easily be handled after this has been tacked together.

 

  

 

 

With all of her Dragonfly Window ground and a good three quarters of it having been foiled, Lorrie is more than well on her way towards completing this gorgeous Window.   Her work is astounding and her color choices are nothing short of superb.   I can't wait to see how she decides to border this.

  

 

 

Betty is very nearly finished with her Modern Tulip Window which features all clear glass and uses varying texture densities for colors.  If you look closely you will also see that she has another etched bevel framed and ready to be soldered.  Look for these two pieces to be completed upon her return.

 

 

 

MiMi's LSU Tiger is really showing his stripes as MiMi reaches the halfway point in the grinding of her window.  I'm just happy that this was NOT finished this week or we would have had an LSU vs Razorback face off at the beginning of this post!

 

 

Lara has the majority of her Louisiana Collage Window cut and ground but she has decided that she definitely wants to add a Magnolia in the lower right of the state where a blank spot currently resides.  That's going to be an easy addition and we will see what that ends up looking like next week.

  

 

 

Susan D is hard at work turning diamond bevels into Christmas Snowflakes.  It's hard to tell in the thumbnail picture below but some of these snowflakes have some VERY tiny pieces in them which prevent the snowflakes from folding along the hinge points of the design.  I'll explain just what where those hinge points are when we see these completed (which will be real soon now).

 

  

 

Cheryl is well on her way to completing her Address Window.  I would have told you that it is all cut and ground at this point but she showed me the smallest of pieces which is missing and that we will fill in once the final border has been tacked into place.   I'm guessing that filling in that piece will take less than three minutes and I'm going to time that being done when she next returns.

 

 

  

 

Let has her Ospray Window completely cut out and almost completely ground as well.   She's honestly making this pattern look easy which it most certainly isn't!  With only the water left to be ground on this window I'm anxiously awaiting to see what Let decides to do for a border or borders on this.

 

  

 

 

Next up we have yet another window that's finished save for the soldering.   This week we saw Lisa's Texas Collage Window get borderized (yeah, that's not really a word but I believe that anyone can figure out what it's supposed to mean) and channeled.  That means that this is ready for some lead work!

  

 

 

I'm guessing that Ann has a little more than half of the back ground glass for her 3D Window ground.  Slow and steady wins the race but I honestly feel that Ann has been working only steadily rather than slowly.   There are a lot of pieces here as as you can see they are each fitting together perfectly.   Ann has even decided on the size of the foreground icon which will be raised off of the surface of this round background piece.  We'll have more on that as the weeks go by.

  

 

 

Sheri's got another one third of her Modern Tulip Window under way and this one will not only be larger than the ones we have previously seen-- it will also incorporate two vertical stripes on both sides of the center tulip section.  In other words, Sheri is being brave and changing things up!

 

 

 

Martha is ruffling her feathers quite nicely if I do say so myself  These five multicolored feathers sure make a nice set and should be finished any day now.

  

 

 

Linda L has her pair of Mixed Drink Glasses all foiled and ready for solder.   After cutting these out Linda has determined that there is an easier way to cut and grind this pattern.   Recognizing shortcuts to make your work easier shows that Linda is not only paying attention to what she is doing, but also looking ahead as well.

 

 

 

With her Gingerbread House all tacked together Melissa another student who will begin soldering a window next week.   Much like Linda F, even though Melissa doesn't actually need this until December she is finishing it now so that there is no doubt that it will be completed on time.   Sure, she could have easily pushed it aside to work on other projects but when something looks this good you can't just turn your back on it!

 

  

 

And to wrap things up here we look at Steve's Southern Belle which has officially been cut, ground and wrapped.  Working in sections like this has both drawbacks and  advantages.  The drawback being that when looking at each panel individually it's hard to tell what the panel is supposed to be, but the advantage is that there's not much to solder!  This woman's midriff panel is actually recognizable unlike his first two panels which made up the scenery on the side of the woman.  With that said, I do believe that this will be completed upon Steve's return.

 

  

And there ya have it! 

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

A Horse On A Ferris Wheel

Judy's Bears Roasting Marshmallows Panel turned out as cute as can be.  I always think of Yogi Bear and Boo Boo Bear when I see this and this redition doesn't change that thinking at all.  Judy made this easily and is ready to start her next window upon her return.

  

 

Betty purchased numerous etched bevels years ago and has now just realized what she can do with them.  She's decided to literally frame them in colored glass with borders that join at 45 degree angles.   This is a bit of a challenge to do and not nearly as easy to do as straight cuts but Betty learned the technique and knocked out 3 of them within two classes.

 

 

 

Linda L, in a bizarre coincidence, came into her class with an etched Beveled panel herself!  She used multiple border with the last one being bevels as well which means that she had to figure out the measurements for her inner border all on her own.   As you can see she figured it out easily and then finished it all off with a brass channel and some hooks when she came in.

 

 

  

 

 

Susan R loved her Squirrel Rain Gage so much that she's made a second one.  The biggest difference between her first and second squirrel is the the color.  This one is gray while her first one was brown.   Also, the tail is a little shorter on this one which matches the size of the body a little better in my opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of second versions, Susan D completed her second Santa Sleigh which is a perfect carbon copy of her first one.  Those sleigh runners are tricky to cut and grind (to say the least) but Susan accomplished it with aplomb!  And you just have to love that Van Gogh glass that she used on them.

 

 

 

Bee's newest Window will eventually grace the front door of her new house.  The pattern is very similar to the window that she just recently completed for her back door but this one features an extremely fancy inner border with flowing corner accents.   She'll start this by making the four accents first and then the actual center piece.  Once they are completed she'll then join them all together with her background glass.

 

 

 

Cindy's Birds On A Wire is very close to being all cut out and ground.  You can see that she has everything pinned down securely which makes the grinding process go so much easier.  I'm thinking that this will be completely cut and ground when we next see this.

 

 

 

 

Jan has almost all of her Pelican ground save for a few pieces around the face area that turned up to be MIA.  After she left I found what I believe is one of the missing pieces so I have that on here in the shop awaiting her return.   She's taken this home so she can wrap her work in foil and hopefully get into selecting and cutting out a border when she comes back.

 

 

 

Let's Ospray now has all of its glass cut out which only need to be ground before she can wrap everything.  This window isn't just complex-- it's VERY complex!  The fact that she got everything cut out so quickly is a testament to how quickly she works especially when you note how good things already  look before this is even ground!

 

 

 

Linda L not only completed her Etched Bevel Panel but she also worked on two beautiful Splashing Drink Suncatchers as well.  Everything fits wonderfully but Linda wasn't sure about the density of a certain piece of glass in one one the two suncatchers.   Her fear was completely justified (although I won't mention it here because it's just too hard to see) and I have to say that I was impressed that she noticed the 'problem'.  Also, while looking over the pattern I learned a new way to prevent a hinge point from becoming a hing point!  This will help when I draw up future patterns thus making everyone a winner!

 

 

 

With all of the glass for the center section of her Texas Collage Window cut out, foiled and tacked together, Lisa is ready for her double borders!  Finishing this window has now shifted gears from high to low because the rest of the work on this is going to be child's play for Lisa!

 

 

 

Lorrie's at about the halfway point of grinding her Dragonfly Window and she's taking it along home with her so she could foil each of the pieces that she had ground this week.  I believe that this will be completely ground when Lorrie comes back in and then she'll be able to complete the foiling process.

 

 

 

Martha is back and she's got three of her five feathers ground.  All I can say is that it won't be long now until she's foiling these feathers and then tacking them together.

 

 

 

Melissa is ready to tack her Christmas Gingerbread Man and House together and then add a border to it.  I'm thinking about making a small change to this which might make it look a bit better and even make things easier for Melissa when she returns.   Sometimes you rethink things when a window gets made a second time and that's the case here.

 

 

 

Shelley cut out the background glass for her Dark Side Of The Moon album cover and even has it all tacked together.  She says that she doesn't want to put a border on this and I completely agree.  She's going to put some zinc channel around it, solder it and then color the lead in black patina so that the lead lines coming off of the beveled triangle disappear into the background.

 

 

 

Sheri has the first of her three tulips almost complete-- it only needs two pieces above the flower to finish this section off.   Before she does that she's going to cut and grind all of the larger pieces so that if she runs short of glass she'll only need to purchase a small piece of glass rather than a large piece.  Always cut your biggest pieces first!

 

 

 

 

Next we see that the third panel of Steve's Southern Belle Window is almost completely cut out and ground already.  Although we've see the glass that he's using for her hair in his last panel, it was only a sliver of red.  Here you can see it much better and possibly even appreciate the texture of the glass that he's using for the hair because it is an absolutely perfect choice!

 

 

 

Lastly, Susan R began cutting out this Flower Pot Decoration as soon as she put the finishing touches on her Squirrel Rain Gage.   It's completely cut out so she'll be moving on over to the grinder when she comes back in. The end of this is already near at hand!

 

 

Yes, we're a little late with this post due to the weather and busy weekend but things will be back to normal next Monday.  That's a promise.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks
 

This One Looks Like A Horse On A Stick

Linda L's stained glass Clock is an unquestionable show stopper.  Since this is a 25th Anniversary present Linda decided to leave the lead silver to 'match' the silver anniversary and her use of silver Van Gogh glass is perfect.  Finally, to keep things in balance she spray painted the hands of the clock silver as well.   There's not a hint of gold or copper in sight here and the end effect is as elegant as can be. 

 

 

 

Mary Grace assembled this gorgeous Colored Beveled Hanging Planter but changed things up a bit by not placing it inside of a window, but rather hanging it as a suncatcher.  To do that she simply added three straight wires that connect to a ring which it then hangs from.  It's quite stunning don't you think?

 

 

 

Steve has the second panel of his Southern Belle finished and is ready to move onto panel number three.

 

 

Below we can see the sum of Steve's work so far.  Another piece of the puzzle is now in position as the full picture has officially begun to take shape.

Susan D completed three Tulip Flowerpot Ornaments and has these down to a science now.  From start to finish she can knock them out with the greatest of ease.  And yes, that includes adding the stakes all by herself (which I've regrettably cropped out in the picture below).

 

 

 

 

Lorrie's first window was a great pick because this Dragonfly scene has a lot of flowing curves as well as a few tricky cuts that will allow her to hone her unfolding skills.   Looking at what she has accomplished in just one night was extremely impressive to me.   What you see below hasn't even been ground and I don't believe that she broke even a single piece while cutting all of this out!  There's no doubt that she'll be working at the grinder when she comes back in because cutting out her background glass won't take her long at all.

  

 

Look out because Patrice is back!  This Umbrella Lady is so popular that Patrice is making another one.  She may not have cut any glass in the two or three years since we last saw her but she certainly hasn't lost her touch!  Oh, and just for the record, her background 'rain' glass is all cut out-- it's just hard to see when it's sitting on top of the pattern.

  

 

And Carol is back as well.  She's picked up exactly where she left off by cutting her Tiger's Eyes into place, tacking everything that she had previously cut and foiled, and then adding a border.  That's a very productive night, and her LSU/Tiger Eye Window is looking pretty darned fine to me.

  

 

Speaking of LSU and Tigers-  MiMi is working on a rather large 'football' window of her own which features a walking tiger with stripes that spell out L S U.  That's hard to see those letters its current un-ground state but they will become apparent once all the pieces are in their correct position.   I'm still impressed at how much she accomplished on this since last week.

  

Bee managed to complete her Door Window Insert but didn't have the time to wash and color it.   Hopefully we will get a picture of this when it's installed because her plans were to finish it off while at home.   When she comes back in she'll most likely begin working on an insert for the second door in her new house which will be a larger variation of this design.

  

 

Jan's bleeding has stopped and this week there was no blood spilled as she resumed grinding her Pelican Window.  It won't be long before she's able to begin wrapping all of these pieces in foil (after she washes them clean first!)

 

 

 

Lisa is happy because all of the cutting and grinding for her Texas Collage Window is over with.  Even better yet, she's got a good portion of her pieces foiled as well.   She's still unsure about what she'll do for a border but once this is tacked together she can lift it up and hold different pieces of glass next to it to get a proper feel for what it will look like.

 

 

 

Betty got the background glass cut out for her Modern Tulip Window as well as two other borders for her Rectangular Etched Bevels. She's also attached a brass channel to one of her Bevels and I suspect that we will see the lot of these, if not all of them,  completed upon her return.

 

  

 

 

Let's  Ospray Window is taking flight.  In just one short week she has already managed to cut out most of the bird itself.  She's been carefully choosing her colors based on the previous colors that she's already cut and I think she's spot on.  When this gets some light behind it her glass choices are going to soar!

 

 

Sheri is working on a Modern Tulip design of her own and has all but the background glass cut out for it.   She had to change the size of this from the one that Betty is doing and when the pattern got enlarged on a copier it got twisted a bit so she spent the first part of the class trying to straighten it all out.  In the end we had to redraw it but to make things simple we only drew out one of the Tulips which she will repeat three times.  She's going to grind and tack together each one separately after which she will then join them together to form one large window.

 

  

 

 

Linda F's Skating Snowman Snowglobe  is all soldered and just needs a little bit of tap-tapping around the edges to finish it off.   We've had to reschedule our Tuesday morning class due to weather conditions and hopefully Linda will be able to accommodate the different day because there's no doubt that this will be completed when she comes back in.

  

 

 

With her delicate Rainbow colored strips cut, ground, and wrapped Shelley is ready to cut the five pieces of her background.  Although Shelley may have had to re-cut two of her rainbow strips she was able to handle those incredibly thin pieces very well.  It's not uncommon to break thin, long  pieces of glass or even have them snap while grinding or wrapping them-- it's just par for the course.   All that aside, this is going to be a simple but impressive window for sure.

 

 

 

Then we have Kerry who finished cutting his Mardi Gras Mask and then went over to the grinder where he ground the lower portion of the mask.  He's been really stepping up his game of late and has been able to fly through projects at an impressive rate of speed.

 

  

 

Susan R only needs to do some tap-tapping and some wire work for this Squirrel's face to finish it off.  Oh and then there's the twisted wire that needs to be added which will  holds the rain gauge that this is being made to display.  All in all, there's not much left to go on this. 

 

 

 

It looks to me as though Susan D's second Santa Sleigh is ready to get some channel attached to it and then some decorative wire work.   I'm so impressed at how great the Van Gogh glass runners on her sleigh look but that's to be expected by Susan!

 

 

 

Ann is working steadily on a new Round Background section of her newest 3D window.  Somehow she ended up with two different patterns for this design and they've somehow been mixed up or something because the numbering is off between the pattern and the paper pattern pieces.  Because of that she's having to figure out where each piece goes which is slowing her down-- but only by a bit.

 

  

 

 

Cheryl's Address window is almost all wrapped and is just about ready to be tacked together.  There are only 2 more pieces of white background glass left to cut but to make this window as square as possible she's going to wait to cut those two pieces until after this is tacked together.  After that it's just borders left to go.

 

 

 

With the front side of her Razorback Window soldered, June has flipped it over and will start (and most likely finish) soldering this when she comes back in.  I'm still thinking that it will be finished 2 weeks from now because after this gets soldered there will still be channel to be added and touch up work left to go on it.

 

 

 

Judy's Bears Roasting Marshmallows Window has its border attached which means that this is set to be soldered.  Judy has no problems soldering so perhaps this will be completed when she returns?  Only time will tell.

 

 

 

Martha's now got five feathers all cut out and waiting to be ground.   Rather than making each feather out of one color she's picked two different shades of the same color and mixed them up throughout the feather.  And even better yet, she changed the pattern of the mixed up pieces between all of the feathers.  It sounds simple but too many students lack the nerve to change what they've already seen done and just follow suit.  Martha is blazing her own trails!.

 

 

 

 

Lastly we look at the progress that Cindy made on her Birds On A Wire project.  The majority of these birds are cut out and if you look closely you'll see that she DID change the bright green wing on the far right side bird.  I always say that if you are unsure about changing a piece of glass then you really  should because there's likely good reason you've considered changing it.  It's not second guessing yourself- it's about never settling for less!

 

 

Stay warm!

 

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks