After being MIA for about 4 weeks we are officially back in action with a new blog post. We had taken the month of May off and I didn't get a chance to post this before we left so although this is a new post everything you see below happened during the last week of April. With that out of the way let's get started.
Bee's Front Door Window has been completed and let me tell you that it's larger than you initially believe it to be when you look at the picture. It certainly took up a good deal of the table that she had been working on and it's so long that we could only get a picture of it horizontally on that work table.
And here's a picture of her window after she had it installed in into the door of her brand new house. Stunning!
Judy completed her Cowboy Dad and Cowboy Son Window and the addition of the vertical fence posts really changed the look and feel of the overall design. Judy starts a project, gets into a working frame of mind and muscles through the project relentlessly. When there's a problem she plows on through it rather than working around it and that's the ONLY way to handle that situation. This window is a perfect product of her work ethic.
Jan handled the creation of this elegant Transom window with the greatest of ease. The biggest takeaway that she learned while making this is that moving your iron back and forth like a paint brush while soldering a line only affords you bumpy lead lines, run-throughs, and cracked pieces. This window shows off all that she's learned wonderfully.
Patrice made this variation on the Bathtub Lady Window by rounding it off and adding elaborate accent laurels along the top and bottom of the circle. She's posted this on Facebook and the majority of the members there agree that this is stunning.
Melissa's Antique Sewing Machine Window was finished after she applied a new touch of 'realism' to it. We've seen actual pins being added to the pincushion before but Melissa went the extra mile and made the 'thread' out of some thin but strong wire which was added on top of the window. Doing this removed some difficult cuts and gave the overall look a slight 3D feel that works only because of careful wire placement and the fact that she used clear glass foe her background. You can easily follow the length of the thread and see how it flows realistically from the spool on top to the needle on the bottom.
This Owl that Susan D completed is about the most perfect circle that I've ever seen a student make. She ground each piece meticulously focusing on the rounded edge first and then worked on fitting the owl to the background pieces and the chest of the owl. Susan never takes shortcuts and that is very evident when you look at the amber pieces that make up this bird's eyes. Those indentations for the pupils were made using a small grinding bit that took plenty of time and effort but which which give this bird its amazing detail.
Linda F has finished her colorful Fish Panel and her background glass flows smoothly from left to right because she cut it from one piece of glass that started off as the exact size that she needed the finished panel to be. This requires precise cutting because just one little break would shatter (no pun intended) the illusion of a continuous flow of water.
Check out this fancy Chicken that Lara made. This Hen has more fashion sense that any of the chickens that we've ever seen in our classes. You've gotta love those boots and her hat which are sure to put a smile on anyone's face that looks at this Hen.
Betty is a sunflower machine and here we see her latest in a long series of Sunflowers. I do believe that this will get one more design change the next time that she makes it but I won't tell you what that will be until you see it completed by Betty again.
If Betty is a sunflower machine then Ann is a Cross machine! She can knock one of these out per class and that's exactly what she did with this gorgeous purple Cross.
Martha began cutting out this popular peacock pattern and as you can see, she's gotten a lion's share of the cutting completed in just one class. She's always loved this pattern and has made it numerous times in the past. Because of that she makes this look easy even though it's certainly NOT a beginners pattern, but then again, Martha isn't a beginner...
Zoe's got her Deer Window all ground and fitting together and she's taken it along home with her so that she could hopefully get it all wrapped with copper foil between classes. I'm pretty sure that we'll see this get a border attached when she comes back in and then she can begin soldering. I still can't get over how perfectly everything fits together on this.
Cindy had a request to do a Cinderella Silhouette in glass but she's added a little more detail to it to 'spice things up a bit'. By adding both detail and color she's turning a simple silhouette into a proper stained glass window.
Linda F also worked on a new small version of one of the popular Bird On A Wire Patterns. She just picked three birds that she liked, ran them together and eliminated the other superfluous birds from both ends. Her 'new' pattern is already coming together beautifully as evident in the picture below.
Meanwhile, Linda L has begun making a Drake Panel. The letters and all of the clear textured background glass between each letter have been completely cut and ground but the glass on the top and the bottom will be adjusted to perfection AFTER the center section has been tacked together.
With all of her Large Cardinal Hoop cut and ground MiMi has move on over to the foiling part of this project. It looks like she's very nearly ready to tack this together, after which she'll solder it and apply the hoop to the back of the piece. this is stunning already so I can't wait to see it hanging with some light behind it.
Barbara's Orca Panel started off simply enough but then she added an inner beveled border along with a multitude of colors in the actual window itself which changed it from a cute little panel to an elegant window. Also, that final border color choice is absolutely killer, which I suppose befits the whale itself. Look to see this completed upon our return next week.
Susan R's pair of Chef's Panel was all tacked together after she came into class and got her background pieces cut, ground, and wrapped in foil. With just a few border pieces left to go, Susan will be completing this delightful duo upon her return when classes begin again next week.
Speaking of Chefs, Kerry has his own Chef Window underway which features a well known Muppet who goes by the name of Swedish Chef. Somehow I've missed out on this character but thanks to YouTube I fully appreciate his comic value now. Dare I say that Kerry has captured him in glass perfectly.
Steve has all of his final panel all cut and ground for his Southern Belle Window but this Belle is going to need a face painted on her before he can truly solder it. Still, there's wrapping and tacking that can be done so perhaps the face can wait another week. We'll see what happens when Steve returns.
With Darth being completely ground June was able to come in and begin foiling all of her black pieces. The foil helps reveal some depth to all of that black by highlighting where lead lines will reside. Also, when you see this in person it's easy to see that she actually used two different textures of black which also give Vader more depth. This week you can more clearly see more of the detail that June put into this window because of the foil that she's applied.
Sheri accomplished quite a lot since we last saw this window. Everything has since been ground, wrapped in foil, tacked together, bordered, and channeled. In fact, she even got the first side of it soldered before calling it a day and taking it home with her where she could hopefully work on finishing it up while our vacation was going on. I can't wait to see what she comes back with next week!
Cheryl began working on this Cross Suncatcher but instead of using bevels she's cut the accent pieces out of purple glass. By the time class ended she had this tacked together and ready to be soldered which means that this will certainly be another completed piece that you'll see in our next post.
Betty not only finished her Sunflower window but also worked on a framed Bevel as well as a series of Daisy Suncatchers complete with wire stems. Look to see these completed upon her return.
And there ya have it. As I said earlier, all of this happened a month ago and it's taken this long to post only because we just returned from a long and well enjoyed vacation. Classes begin again in June so our next post will happen on or around the 6th. See you then!
Paul
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