Monday, February 12, 2024

I'm Taking It Back!

Let's Ospray Window is is officially completed and looking as stunning as I knew it would now that it has been washed and has some light behind it.  Anyone can clearly see the amount of work that she's put into this and I always say that extra work always enhances the beauty of a window.   The proof here is in the Ospray! 

 
 
Cindy is our official Birds On A Wire maker because she's made more of these than all of our other students combined.   She says that she enjoys working with small pieces and this is proof that those aren't just words that she's spouting off.  As always, this is vibrant and wholly immersive as a piece of art.
 
 
 
Susan R's newest Flowerpot Ornament has been completed and her color choices are bright and lively.  She not only loves the look of these decorations-- she enjoys making them as well!    
Cool beans.
 

Lisa has two irons in the fire as she has began cutting out a Twirling Girl Suncatcher and a Chicken Window Peep.  The Girl has been completely cut and only needs a little grinder work done it it while the Chicken only has a few pieces left to cut before Lisa can move it on over to a grinder.

  
 
 
Let also worked on a Heart Suncatcher with a beautiful Sunflower residing within the heart.  Her colors are spot on and all of her cutting and grinding have already been completed for this nearly completed, stunning project.
 
  
 
 
Patrice left last week after tacking together her Umbrella Lady and as an after though took our small circular Bathtub Woman pattern along home with her.   She said that she had a lot of scrap glass that she wanted to use on a project that would utilize a lot of colors.   When she walked in the door this week and had all of the Bathtub Lady cut and ground I was almost literally floored!   That's a LOT of work done in a very short time.  This week she spent most of her time foiling the Bathtub Lady as well as the border for her Umbrella  Lady.   Patrice is back with a vengeance.   

  
 
 
Linda L has numerous Name Panels to make and her first one will be the name Skylar.  She's cut out the letters and now that she knows that there are no real rules to breaking the letters up to make them 'cutable', she will most likely breeze through the remainder of her Panels.   I'm not saying that they'll go quickly, but they will definitely go faster.  Sadly, letters are always a lot of work.
 
  
 
 
Martha began working on her Birdhouse Window which looks a bit intimidating when you look at all the pieces.   She's decided to cut up her pattern in sections so that she's not overwhelmed by its complexity.  In this class she began working on the green leaves that decorate all of the flowers.  Yes, there are a lot of pieces here but Martha has already put a large dent in the creation of what will truly be a spectacular window when she's finished.
 
  
 
 
Betty has two projects that she's currently working on because one is never enough.  Her all-clear textures Beveled Window got its background and border cut out while her Beveled Snowflakes gained some glass nuggets at the end of each hinge point to add an accent and to help prevent folding. 
 
  
 

Cindy also began cutting out a Cardinal Panel and is already knee deep into the creation of it.  There's not much left to go on this (already) and I suspect that it will be completed before you know it.
 
   
 
 
Linda F has all of her Carousel Horse ground and fitting together wonderfully.  She hopes to have this all wrapped in foil when she comes back in and then she makes the biggest decision about this window--  whether to put the horse in front of some clear textured glass, or to creating a background that resembles what you would actually see if you were looking at an actual carousel horse.   We will see what she decides when she comes back in.
 
 
Annette knocked me out when I saw just what she had accomplished with her New Orleans Street Scene Window.  She has a good one third of this large and complex window both cut and ground.  At this point I think the best thing for her to do is to foil what's ground and then tack it together to prevent the pieces from shifting or getting lost.  I always approach complex windows like this a section at a time and Annette is handling this the exact same way that I would.
 
  
 
 
Judy's Fleur De Lis has gone together both quickly and efficiently.   She sits down, puts her nose to the grind stone and accomplishes what she set out to do at the beginning of her class each and every week.  This could very well be completed upon her return so expect something new from Judy soon.
 
  
 

Bee's got all of the decorative corners cut, ground, wrapped and tacked together for her Front Door Window.   Take a good look at them because next week she will put these aside and refold the pattern so she can work on the centerpiece design which will be cut entirely from strips of glass.  She's going to bring her strip cutter with her when she returns and learn how to cut out perfect strips with each pull of her cutter.  
 
  

 
Lorrie soldered the first side of her Dragonfly Window like a pro which is high praise considering that this is the first window that she's ever soldered.  A lot of students fear the soldering process when they begin but Lorrie ended up feeling so comfortable with soldering that she's taken her window home so she can return with it completely soldered.   The end is near and a new project featuring a Sunflower awaits Lorrie's return.

 
 
When Kerry left last week all of his Mardi Gras Window was ground and awaiting foil.  Before he did that he was going to cut the details into 5 of the feathers in the headdress of this mask.   He turned 5 pieces into 34 pieces and they all fit together perfectly with just a slight amount of skimming required because of the way he decided to do those complex feathers.   At the end of the night everything was foiled.
 
  

 
Cheryl soldered her Address Window and by the time class ended it was completed save for some touch ups here and there.   That means that we will see this as a completed window in our next post.
 
  
 

Susan D has secured all of her Beveled Snowflakes hinge points with teeny tiny circular accents which add an incredible amount of WOW to these snowflakes.   These are a lot of work but again, the more you put into a window, the more you get out of it!

 
 
MiMi may have arrived late to class but by the time it ended she had all of her LSU Tiger ground and ready to be foiled.   Her precession grinding and excellent use of pins will allow this to be foiled without any fear of the window growing.

 
 
Sheri tacked her three Tulip sections  (separately) and then figured out how wide the center strips had to be to get to the required measurements.  After figuring that out her next step was deciding what color glass should run between the three sections.  Her first instinct was to use another clear texture but in the end she picked a rich, deep blue.   With all of this window cut and ground, she will begin soldering it when she comes back in next week.

 
 
Steve lucked out this week because when you split a large window into six smaller sections you end up with some of them being complex and some of them being well, for lack of a better word- simple.   So where's the luck part?  Well, Steve's 4th panel (which he only began working on this week) consists of only seven pieces which he easily cut and ground in just one class.  Here's another small part of his larger project that will be completed next week!  

 
 
Barbara's Cardinal Panel gained a branch and then got its background glass cut out this week.  Once they were tacked together she cut the strips for her border and then broke them down into their smaller pieces.  The end is already near for this Cardinal.
 
  
 
 
Lastly we see that Melissa soldered both the front and back side of her Gingerbread House Window after applying her brass channel.  Getting both sides done was a monumental feat and although she's a bit upset about run-throughs there are only three that I see and that's an EXTREMELY good ratio of solder lines too run-throughs.  There is no doubt whatsoever that this will be a completed project when we return next week.  

  
 
See ya then!
 
Paul

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