A Wet Doughnut?

Martha's Roses and Birdhouse turned out to be as beautiful as we all expected.   She never shied away from the complexity of the pattern as compared to the original which only had three MUCH simpler flowers it.  Whenever you add detail you add value, and this window is about to become a priceless gift that will always be treasured.

 

 

 

Cindy's Batman is immediately identifiable and her use of glass paint for the emblem on his chest is wonderful.  However, as good as Batman looks Cindy's attention to detail on her Spiderman figure is just mind boggling.  Check out the thin black webs that she added with the smallest of brushes.  This is impressive indeed!  Also of note, the patterns were drawn by a former student of ours named Terry who many regular readers here remember.

 

 

 

 

Helen finished her E.D. White Window which she is donating so that it can be auctioned off for a great cause.  With each window that Helen makes she gets better and better.

 

 

Susan D is getting quite good at coming up with designs and interesting ways to utilize different textures throughout her snowflakes.  And even though we call them 'Snowflakes' they are beautiful and versatile enough to remain hanging in a window all year round.

Barbara's Orca Window is absolutely stunning due to her fearlessly using a barrage of colors throughout the window.   Look closely and you'll see that she's going to be adding an inner border of bevels to this which will bring out the colors even more!

 

 

 

 Zoe finished cutting out all of the glass for her Deer Window during her second week of cutting on it.   Then, before class was finished she even got a large handful of pieces ground as well.   I have to admit that her grinding is moving along quickly because she really took her time while cutting the glass and she now has to only skim each piece to get everything to fit together.

 

 

MiMi got all of the glass for her Cherry Blossoms and Cardinals Window ground and it's looking amazing.   She's already begun to foil her pieces and the copper foil will help highlight where lead lines will form. I love MiMi's use of color tones in this as the leaves , the flower petals and the birds have been shaded beautifully. 

  

 

Lorrie's begun to start working on a wonderful Moon Window.  Alas, the Crescent Moon had such a deep inside curve that we gave up the ghost and broke out the glass saw to achieve the cut.  With that out of the way the rest of this will be simple enough.  Still, there are a lot of pieces to this pattern so it should keep Lorrie busy for  while.

 

  

 

 

Susan R's Chefs are coming together quickly as she has now begun to foil her second (and last) Chef.  A background will soon be cut and Susan already has her border cut out so this should practically begin to assemble itself at this point!

  

 

 

June got almost all of her Darth Vader ground and will begin wrapping all of his assorted black pieces when she comes back in.  I always find foiling glass to be relaxing because, unlike grinding, you can sit throughout the entire foiling process.  My feet ALWAYS feel better after a day of foiling as opposed to when I have a day of grinding or cutting to work through.

 

 

 

Susan D's Circular Owl is all ground and she's begun foiling her pieces now.  I have to say that I've honestly never seen a more perfect circle.  Perhaps just as circular, but never better! 

  

 

Sheri's got her Buddha Yoga almost ready to be foiled.  She only has a few pieces around his torso to be ground and after that the going will be very, very easy for her.  I have to say that she's done exceptionally well on all of this already so this being difficult in any way was never a consideration for Sheri.

  

 

 

Patrice is so very close to completing her Bathtub Lady.  She had all of the elaborate border pieces cut, ground, wrapped and tacked when she walked in the door so she was able to get to work on soldering right away.  By the time that class was over with she had the front side completed as well as the tap-tap edges.  With only the back side left to go this will surely be one of our completed windows next week.

 

 

 

Judy has the front of her Cowboys Window all soldered which leaves just the back side to go.  You can also read that sentence as,"Judy will have her Cowboy Window completed when she returns next week."  Of that there is no doubt.

  

 

 

Melissa is fast approaching the end result of her Sewing Machine Window.  She's soldering it now and next week she'll almost certainly bring it home with herself as a finished project.  I can't wait until she adds the wire to this which will form the thread and tie everything together.

 

 

 

Bee's Door Insert has been completely soldered on the front side with most of the soldering having been completed on the rear of the window (pictured here) as well.  the only thing left to do now is attach the zinc to the window on the back side and then wash and color this.

  

 

 

Jan's got everything soldered on her Transom Window which means that she'll touch up the solder next week and wrap this up. This window will have been completed in record time for her. 

  

 

 

 Annette filled in all but one of the missing pieces in her New Orleans Scene Window and then went to work soldering it.  She's working slow and steady while skipping every other line while she solders to avoid putting too much heat on all of those long thin pieces to avoid breaks.  I'm going to give extra points to anyone who can find the missing piece of glass in this.  Oh, and it's not the steeple of the church-- that's just been wrapped in copper foil so that it will be all lead when the window is completed.

  

 

 

Ann hasn't decided on a color scheme for her Geometric Toruses so she decided to begin making a Cross this week knowing that she can complete it in the two classes that we have left before she and we go off on vacations for a bit.

  

 

 

Shelley's Butterfly is just about completed.  She'll be foiling this and easily  finishing it up the next time we see her.

  

 

We have a lot of window that are about to be completed so next week we should have a fairly busy post!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Lost In Perfection

Lorrie came in with her Acadiana Flag Window almost completely soldered, both front and back.   She was unsure of how to fill in the four little slivers of blue that are found in between the yellow Fleur De Lis.  After learning how to easily fill in missing pieces she tacked them into position, soldered around them nicely and then washed and patinaed her window  to finish it off.  Another job WELL done!

 

 

 

 

Let's Cat Tails Window has been completed and her colors are the icing on the cake for this window.  There's not many choices to be made when doing a sprig of Cattails but her choice of texture and border color is what makes this stand out so nicely.

 

 

 

Betty made three of these delightful Daisy Suncatchers.   They're simple (despite the wire work), they're are obviously quick to make, and they are stylishly elegant as well!

 

Zoe has begun her first window with us and everyone agrees that her cutting is nothing short of amazing.  She came in, traced out her Deer Pattern, cut out the paper pattern pieces, and then picked out some brown glass for the deer fur.   By the time she left she had numerous pieces cut and she is already proving herself to be an excellent glass cutter as you can easily see for yourself.

 

 

 

Let had none of this beautiful Flower Window cut out when she left last week-- She only had the paper pattern.  Flash forward to seven days later and we now see all of her glass cut out as well as being perfectly ground!  And her color choices and shading are breath taking.

 

  

 

 

MiMi's Cherry Blossoms and Cardinals Window is shining away even though it's still resting on the table with no light behind it.  Pay attention to her flowers to see how important shading can come into play while only using one sheet of glass.  MiMi has shaded these flowers by careful selecting the dark and light sections of a single sheet of glass. 

 

  

Linda is taking a break from her Carousel Horse Window because she wants to have it finished before we go on vacation and after she possibly has surgery.   Letting a window sit for too long after its been tacked together makes soldering a little harder to accomplish.  That's why she's working on this Multi Colored Fish Panel—  She knows that she can complete it within the next 2 classes. 

 

 

  

 

 

Helen's E.D. White Window features a vivid Cardinal backed by a W.  It's already been tacked together with its front completely soldered so I'm guessing that she'll solder the back side while at home in hopes that she can leave next week with a completed window.

 

 

 

Melissa bordered and then cut the two accent pieces that bookend the heart out of the same glass that she used for her border.  Soldering comes next and once that's done she will apply a long twist of wire to her Sewing Machine to form the thread coming off of the spool and winding its way to the 'needle'.

 

  

 

 

Jan has only four corner pieces left to cut for her Transom Window design.  This will be another quick solder job because there are very few lines throughout this window and they are almost all straight.

 

 

 

Steve resumed work on his Southern Belle Window and the face panel of this project is really coming together now.   He's going to paint the eyes, nose and mouth with enamel paint which will then be fired onto the glass in the kiln.   That is why her face is currently blank.

 

Bee finished off the final border of her large Front Door Insert and has begun the final soldering process.   Although this is a large window the lead lines are mostly straight and even lines.  Although the corner accents are curved they are relatively small which means that the soldering should go fairly quickly on this.

 

  

 

 

Sheri has been working on her Buddha Yoga Window by spending her class time at the grinder.   Everything has been cut and most everything is fitting together nicely if not perfectly.  It won't be long before Sheri begins a new project.

 

  

 

 

Martha has her border attached and the front side of her Roses and Birdhouse Window soldered which means that this will be flipped over and become either completed or very nearly completed when you see it again next week.

 

 

 

Annette completed the final border of her New Orleans Scene by grinding all of the pieces, wrapping them, and then soldering them to the window itself.   With only the steeple of the church left to go it's safe to say that Nettie will be soldering this when she comes back in.

  

 

Betty has the channel attached to her newest Curved Corner Sunflower Window and will most likely put the finishing touches on it when she gets at home.  

 

  

 

 

Barbara has the pattern picked out for her Orca Whale Panel and is ready to see what glass she has at home before she begins cutting anything.

 

  

 

 

Here's a look at the two patterns that Ann is about to embark on.  Both are eight inches (in width and height) and both are 'geometrical' Toruses.  The only difference between the patterns is that one has eight sides and the other has only six. You can specifically see that difference in the center of the toruses.

 

And that's all there is!

Paul

 

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

That Was The Most Stressful Last Hour

Cheryl's Teapot Window was made using an antique depression ware plate.  There was the worry of having the plate breaking when hot solder was run along its perimeter but Cheryl worked just a little bit at a time and allowed plenty of time for the lines that touch the plate to cool off completely before adding more lead.  In the end nothing broke which proves that slow and steady wins the race.

 

 

 

Zoe is our newest student and like so many of our students she came in somewhat blind as to what making stained glass entails.  Fear not though because Zoe never broke a single piece of glass while making her butterfly or even while having her class cutting lesson which involves MANY cuts.  Zoe is a natural at this and her finished Butterfly is as good as either I or any of our long time students could hope to make.

 

 

 

 

Betty finished her new Modern Tulips Window which I have always felt was heavily inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's Tree Of Life.  Look it up and you'll see what I mean.

 

 

MiMi has begun cutting glass for Cardinals and Flowers Window.   She actually began working this while at home and almost has it completely cut out.  There won't be any background glass in this because these birds will be mounted onto a very large 20" hoop which negates the need for background glass and as well as the 'necessary' lead lines that would be required had she made this as a solid window.

 

Lara is taking a quick break from her Louisiana Collage Window to make a Chicken wearing a cowboy hat and a pair of vibrant blue boots.  It's colorful and full of whimsy which is something that Lara can always be counted on to incorporate into her pieces.

 

 

Linda F worked on grinding he background to her Carousel Horse and it is almost completely ground now.   There are only a few of the larger pieces in the center left to grind before she can begin wrapping and tacking to prepare this for a border or two to frame it all out.

  

 

 

Sheri now has all of the glass cut out for her Buddha Yoga Window and the colors are exquisite.   She's unsure of what color she'll be using for the border but If she sticks with a green or amber variation this will surely rock the house.

 

  

Judy added two fence posts to her Cowboy Window and the addition of just a few extra pieces made a big difference in the overall look of the window which is why I have posted what it looked like before she added the posts (on the left) and what it looks like now (on the right).  Soldering is about to ensue!

 

 

 

Susan R has the first of her pair of chefs ground and wrapped.   Once the second Chef is at this stage Susan will tack them and then adjust their position on top of a sheet of glass which has been cut to the size that the entire background for easy cutting.

 

 

 

 

Patrice has the fancy Victorian style border pattern drawn up for her circular Bathtub Lady and will begun cutting glass for that when she comes back in.  She's going to omit the side accents but the style will still be Victorian for sure!

 

 

Kerry's Swedish Chef is all ground and he's already begun to foil his pieces.   We've left the mouth blank and once this is tacked together we're going to play around with the pattern until we think we've got this Chef's mouth looking as good as possible.

 

 

 

Melissa is wrapping away on her Sewing Machine Window and has picked a gorgeous border glass which she also plans on using for the accent pieces that rest on either side of the heart that decorates the sewing machine.  It was a last minute change but one that everyone loved when they saw the glass that you will get to see next week.

 

  

 

 

Lorrie  resumed work on her Acadian Flag Window by tacking it all together and filling in the broken blue piece of glass.   She's got two borders cut out and the first one has already been attached.  Once the second one is in place she'll be able to flip the window around and fill in the smaller blue pieces between the yellow Fleur De Lis'.  The window needs to be flipped because Lorrie has put the bumpy side of the glass on the front of her window.  Since you can't cut on the bumpy side she has to fix any missing glass pieces from the back of the window.  That's just the nature of the beast when you work with the textured side up.

 

  

 

 

Susan D was grinding away on her Owl and is getting very far with her newest circular suncatcher.   This is the first time that she's ground to fit something within a round jig and it appears to be working wonderfully as her circle is as perfectly circular as can be.

  

 

 

Let is in the final act of finishing her Cat Tails Window.  It was without a border when she came into class but by the time she left she had it ground, foiled and ready for soldering.

 

 

 

Annette's New Orleans Scene is fast approaching the soldering stage as she managed to get her inner border cut, ground, wrapped and tacked onto her window.  The strips have been cut for the final red border and that will be skimmed on the grinder then wrapped and attached when she returns.

  

 

 

Cindy's got Two Super Heroes just about completed. She's thinking about painting details onto each of them.  We'll see what she does when we return in two weeks.  As they stand right now, I think they look great!

 

  

 

Martha has been working hard on wrapping all of the pieces for her Birdhouse and Roses Window and has gotten very far along in the process.  The end is fast approaching and it won't be long before she takes this home as a completed window. 

 

 

 

Jan managed to get the background glass cut ground and wrapped for her Transom Window which means that she has all of her glass cut save for the final border which she'll attach when she returns.  This project is moving along quickly for her and proves that simple can indeed be elegant.

  

 

 

Shelley's got a Butterfly Suncatcher in the works with this one being in profile rather than the standard, symmetrical top down view.   She may turn this into a lawn ornament but on that I'm unclear.   At any rate, she's gone with nice bright colors that compliment each other perfectly.

 

 

 

 

And to wrap thing up we see that Betty also worked on her newest rendition of the Curved Corners Sunflower Window.   Everything has been ground which means that she can now wrap her border and get ready to do some soldering.

  

 

To all of our regular readers, send all of our love to your spouses!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks