Foiled Again

Martha's Peacock came alive this week due to her excellent color choice for the final border.   Her blue and green Peacock is pulled together perfectly with a thin border of elegant bevels followed by a thicker border of a blue/green glass that matches the Peacock perfectly.   Stunning!

 

 

 

Let's second (but different) Heron Window was completed this week and it matches the first one through its subject matter.   Mirror image windows are nice but I like the diversity that a common theme brings into a room.  And, as always, Let's work is top notch.

 

  

 

 

Ann's first Geometrical Torus Suncatcher was completed in a speedy manor although it certainly looks as though she took her time making this considering how wonderfully everything fits together.  She's added a center hanging piece as an accent and it all comes together as mathematically perfect as can be.   

 

 

 

 

Lisa finished wrapping her Seagulls and then soldered them, added the wire work to both of them (although the closer bird's wire work is hidden) and then drilled holes into 2 wood logs where the 'legs' mount into.   The end result is a 3D table decoration of two Seagulls on Pilings.  She also plans on adding some old rope to the logs to really drive the image home!

 

 

 

 

Susan R put the finishing touches on her BBQ Gnome Lawn Ornament and finished it off with a bit of wire work also.  The grill now has some wire on it to form the rack that her BBQ Gnome will be cooking on-- but that's not all.  He also has a wire formed fork in his right hand to flip his meat!

 

  

 

 

Betty had three humming birds all cut and ground last week today we see that she has finished all of the work on them.   She's added beads for the eyes because grinding them into the glass would make the eyes too big for hummingbirds this small.  In the end, using beads is far more  easier than grinding and foiling small rounded cuts (once you get the hang of attaching those beads with some thin wire).

 

 

 

Betty also has three more of her wire work Cardinal Suncatchers completed as well as four more Daisy Suncatchers with wire stems all ready for the selling!

 

  

 

Lara finished grinding her Sunburst of Color and rather than re-cutting two pieces which had small breaks in them she added two more 'bursts' that covered the problem areas.  The trick is to not just fill in breaks but to carefully cut more away so that the two 'fill ins' look like they belong in the pattern.  I defy anyone to tell me where the two added pieces are.

  

 

Cindy is working on assorted suncatchers and this week we get to see that her Bunny and her Pig suncatchers have each been cut and ground. Solder will come soon though perhaps she'll continue to cut out the other three or four suncatchers first.

  

 

Let also worked on a pink Christmas Ornament Panel that is all ground now save for the seven pieces  of textured clear glass that she picked for her background.  This is both small enough and has enough lead lines radiating to the perimeter of the piece to be able to forgo a border so we'll see if Let decides to add one or not  when we see her again.

 

  

 

 

Steve has finished cutting all of his glass and even changed out two of the pieces for a better color of glass.   He's now grinding his Mary and Child Window and it's coming together quickly now.

 

 

 

Melissa got the top curved pieces for the border of her Tulip Window attached and then set upon soldering her window.   The end is most certainly near! 

 

 

 

Zoe had picked three different colors for the hexagon background for her Bee Window and this week she got them cut, ground with half of them (the top half) being wrapped in foil already.  A final red border will come next and then Zoe will be able to start soldering this.

 

  

 

 

Linda F has her Carousel Horse all soldered and ready to be colored.  This window really shows off Linda's stained glass talents and will be staying in her home rather than residing in someone else's house because Linda made it as a gift.  This one has truly been a labor or love.

  

 

 

Barbara is back and managed to get her Owl all ground and wrapped.  Once that was done she tacked it together and then set upon getting the eyes complexly cut out.   By the time class was finished she was ready to wrap all of those small intense eye pieces that fit together perfectly because of the way she cut them out.

 

 

 And there you have it.  Rest assured that more will come next week!

 

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

What's In Your Wallet?

Susan D's Tree Of Life Glob Window was completed this week and let me tell you that this is one heavy window!  The globs themselves are heavy enough but then she's also got over a pound of lead in this 10 inch round colorful project.  The end result is so very alive with rich colors that light up gorgeously when it's hanging up, don't you think?

 

 

 

MiMi's Birds on a Branch were completed and they turned out to be absolutely stunning.   You see plenty of Birds On a Wire but you NEVER get to see this curved take on an old familiar theme.   MiMi did this one proud for sure.

 

 

 

Let finished the first of the two bird windows that she's been working on.  Her Heron looks great, alas we had to replace two pieces that had cracked due to heat.  Luckily they were both small and fortunately they touched each other making the repair process go even faster (about 15 minutes in total). 

 

 

 

Judy completed the soldering on her Scottish Thistle and then cut add added the thin wires that bring this window to life.   I love the diagonal weaving pattern that the wire makes in the center of the flower. Pay attention because this is another example of how a circular windows perimeter should look- perfect smooth and connecting without any sharp points or flat ends.

 

 

 

Cindy made her first 3D Crystal Hanging consisting of a round Glass Crystal that she surrounded with six 2" squares of baroque glass.   The crystal isn't entirely surrounded by glass however-- there's as many openings as there are square pieces of glass which give this its complex yet beautiful look.

 

 

Mary Grace completed her large Sunflower Teardrop and the finished piece is a winner. Teardrops are the rage and Mary Grace is helping to push their popularity by showing off this new beautiful pattern.

 

Lorrie began this large Sunburst Window for her daughter Megan who came along with her this week to pick out the glass that would be used.   Lorrie then put Megan to work and had her trace the pattern pieces onto glass while Lorrie cut them all out.  And that's how this window got so far along in just one three hour class!

   

Lara is working on a Sunburst Window as well but hers is multi colored.   She's also managed to make great inroads to her project.  In just one night she got the entire sunburst cut out and has balanced the colors beautifully.  As you know though, colors are one of Lara's 'things' so I doubt that anyone is surprised! 

 

 

 Steve made incredible progress on his Madonna and Child Panel.   Last week it was just a pattern waiting to be traced onto glass.  This week he got it completely cut out.  I guess next week will be the grinder for him.

  

Lisa is working on a pair of Seagulls which will reside on a piece of wood as her Duck did last week.  The birds may be the same (well, mirror images of each other) but the legs will also help to give each of them their own 'personality'.   Lisa managed to cut everything and even get a large portion of the grinding done as well.

  

Zoe got her Bee tacked together and then learned how to get a circular border to fit together in the best and easiest way possible.  After getting that cathedral red border attached she then selected 4 different shades of amber glass which she will cut the honeycomb background out of.

 

 

 

Mary Grace also found the time to began Breast Cancer Ribbon which she cut and ground before her class was over.   Wrapping these pieces and then soldering this ribbon shouldn't take long at all.

 

  

 

 

Susan R foiled all of the pieces that make up her BBQ Gnome and decided not to tack it together until next week so that it wouldn't sit for seven days with flux on it.   There's little doubt that this will be completed next week and waiting until then to tack this together will make the soldering process go easier.

 

  

 

 

Melissa finished wrapping the top section of her Curved Tulip Window and then got the straight parts of the border cut, ground and attached.   She's drawn pattern pieces for the top curved border and will surely get the border attached as well as the missing leaf cut when we see this again.

 

  

 

Cheryl got most of the glass cut out for the background of the word HARLEY-DAVIDSON and then called it a night.  There were a few pieces that broke as she was cutting but that's par for the course when dealing with this many thin pieces.   She'll begin to grind this next and once it's tacked together she'll fill in those pesky missing pieces.

 

 

 

Bee began cutting glass for her Cantina window and has more cut than you see here.  The glass for the checkerboard table has been cut and placed into a container so that they wouldn't slide off of her work board while she transports it back and forth between home and our classroom.

  

 

Ann spent the morning grinding away at the pieces of her Geometric Torus Suncatcher.   She's beyond the halfway point so she'll most likely be wrapping this the next time we see her. 

 

  

Betty has her flock of Humming Birds all ground and has begun foiling all of her pieces.  As each bird was completely foiled she would tack it together and then wash the flux off of it.  She's aiming to get all of them tacked after which she'll solder them one at a time and then wash and color them in groups of two.   This will ensure that the copper patina goes on evenly and shines up perfectly.   The longer you wait to patina a soldered piece the harder it is to get the patina to take hold and shine up

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And them's the breaks!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks
 

NEVER Open a Closed Bedroom Door

Lisa has completed Bubbles the Duck and also managed to get some Cat Tails with a Dragonfly made with the help of her husband Steve while they were in class together.  At the end of the day they took home this finished piece where the Duck and the Cat Tails were both mounted on a single beautiful piece of driftwood to create this lovely table piece.

 

 

 

 

 

Lara made this exquisite small Tulip Panel that measures on 6 inches wide.   There are a lot of pieces in this for something as small as it is but Lara handled it with aplomb.  The end result with its gorgeous border is nothing short of perfection.

 

 

 

Cindy's Cinderella Window pattern was derived from a simple silhouette of a castle with a princess in front of it.   She just added a little detail and some color to come up with this beautiful window that is going to make someone very happy.

 

 

 

Betty made another teardrop suncatcher this week.   This is her purple Tulip pattern and it looks sensational.

 

 

 

Let's Moon and Stars Heart Suncatcher is another first in class and most likely not the last.  While Betty is a fan of the teardrop background, Let is most assuredly a fan of the projects with a heart shaped background.

 

  

 

 

Betty also completed her large replacement LSU Suncatcher for a friend who has broken her original suncatcher one too many times for it to be repaired.   When you hang things outside you NEED to bring them in during rough weather because they are, after all, indeed made of glass.

 

Zoe finished grinding the central circle section of her Bee Window and had two pieces that she was unhappy with because of the way they didn't quite fit.   She's left those two pieces out and foiled the rest of the circle so that she can tack it together and then simply lay some glass underneath the circle so she can cut out perfect replacement pieces.   She'll easily be working on the circular border of the bee and then the hexagons that make up the background when she returns.

 

 

With her BBQ Gnome Lawn Ornament all cut and ground Susan R will begin soldering this cute little guy when she comes back in.  This is, I think, the most complex Gnome Ornament that Susan has ever made.  For a little guy he sure packs in a lot of pieces!

 

  

 

 

Judy's Scottish Thistle Window got tacked together and then she added a thin green circular border to make hanging this so much easier.  The border also frames it and makes it look much more complete than it did when it wasn't attached.  In Judy's opinion as well as mine, this is now a pattern with perfect composition.

  

 

Susan D has her Hoop Glob Tree all cut and tacked together leaving her with just a few touch-ups left to go on the front side and then a quick soldering on the back.   She's added hooks to the hoop near the 11 and 1 o'clock positions and since this window is very heavy she's wired the hooks to the hoop with some thin wire which has then been soldered over to insure that the hooks remain attached.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of secure (or something like that!)

  

 

 

Betty has four Hummingbird Suncatchers cut out in assorted color combinations.  Most of these have already been ground and Betty clearly knows the fastest way to make multiple suncatchers of the same design:  Cut all of them out at once, grind everything at once, wrap everything at once and then solder them all. Doing each step separately for each individual item can add hours to the time it takes to finish everything. 

  

 

 

And here we see that Let is hard at work on her Heron Window and now has the front side soldered.  Her channel has been attached and this will be ready to have its back side soldered shortly.

 

 

 

Mary Grace foiled and began soldering the Teardrop Sunflower that she was working on last week.  With the front side just about completed she will flip this over and then finish it up upon her return.

 

  

 

Linda F is fast approaching the completion of her Carousel Horse Window.   The front side has been essentially soldered leaving just the back side to go before she can call this a done deal.  Not only as her cutting been amazing on this project but her soldering has been as well.   Yes, this is taking a little time to get finished but when you look at the scale of the project and see just how perfectly everything lines up, well it's work well worth the time and patience.

 

 

 

Melissa finished all of the foiling on her Tulip Window and picked out the border glass that will surround this curved top window.  The color she chose both brightens the window dramatically as well as complimenting the existing colors that she's used for the flowers.

 

 

 

Bee has put the finishing touches on her Cantina Window pattern and in the end she's decided not to put a lemon near the bread.   She did however add a checkerboard diamond pattern to the table top.   Before calling it a night Bee was able to trace this onto poser board which means that she'll be cutting glass when she returns.

 

  

 

 

Let also worked on this Pelican Window and has decided to change the height of the water line so that it better matches the Heron window that she already has tacked together.  The reason she wants these to match more closely is because they will bookend each other in two separate windows on opposite sides of the room that these will will hang in.  It's all about balance.

  

 

 

Darth Vader has been completely soldered and he is ready to be touched up and colored during June's next class.   In the end, although he's made almost entirely out of black glass he's easily recognizable. (Insert heavy breathing here.)

  

 

 And there ya have it!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks