Bayou Salé GlassWorks: Get On Tinder, Girl!

Lorrie's Sunburst Window measures 34 inches across by 16 inches high and it's certainly impressive. Lorrie's daughter picked out the glass colors and even traced the pattern pieces onto that glass while Lorrie would actually cut out the pieces. It was a quick way to get a lot accomplished and the end result is, as you can easily see, amazing. It's also one of an unplanned series of windows that were completed this week.

Next we have Lara's Sunburst but she's used a wide assortment of colors in hers. She didn't use anything too dark or vibrant because she was looking for a window with a softer look about it and in the end I think that she succeeded wonderfully. Had she gone with the bright aqua/blue border she was considering a few weeks ago it would have changed the entire feel of this window.

Our third 'sunburst' window was made by Martha and it's actually a Sunset Window. She made this inside of just three weeks and I must say that she's done an exquisite job on it. Those long straight lines worried her while both cutting AND the soldering this but she came through with flying colors and not a single broken piece of glass.

Melissa's Tulip Window features rich and vibrant tulips offset by a beautiful pale yellow border. The sky is barely-there-blue but it proves that lighter colors can be mixed with darker contrasting colors and still achieve an impressively pleasant balance of color and depth

Let's Beveled Heart Suncatcher came together perfectly and proves that stained glass doesn't necessarily have to incorporate color. To make this even more striking she's used black patina on the lead.to give it some strong contrast against the clear glass.

Susan D finished her two latest Geometric Suncatchers and both are perfectly aligned to form beautifully symmetrical designs. It's small items like these that are among the toughest suncatchers to create because one hard press against the grinder wheel can easily throw off the entire suncatcher. Repeating patterns make ill-formed line stand out like a red thumb but as you can see there's none of that here.

Steve made a quick Tipped Wine Glass which began with a simple blank piece of paper. By the time class ended even I was ready for a glass of wine. This suncatcher was a quick build but it's also a very tasteful piece of window ornament (pun intended).

Linda's LSU Plaque was completed after she soldered the piece expertly. Now that she's completed her large Carousel Horse Window Linda is enjoying the relaxing pace of smaller, less mentally taxing projects.

Lorrie also worked on a Wedding Invitation box that she began while at home during the week. Unfortunately she broke a large piece of the background glass and we had no more in stock so she had to change out all of the background glass which was done effortlessly. She'll finish soldering this box top when she returns and then get to work on creating the glass sides for the actual box section of this project.

Cindy began work on her Holiday Heart Suncatcher and has started by cutting and grinding the tiny, intricate holly leaves and berries. There are still a lot of leaves to be done and they're certainly a handful to cut and grind which only goes to show that the devil is indeed in the details!

Zoe doesn't waste time when she comes to class and managed to cut and grind all of the pieces for her Longhorn Skull save for the horns. She was a bit undecided on the color for those horns but I believe that she made a decision before her class was finished. Without a doubt this will be foiled next week.

Angie has begun work on a Pelican and decided to use medium gray feathers with light gray accents. We've seen this made both as a large suncatcher and as a lawn ornament but Angie is going to frame hers out in glass and make this a full fledged window.

MiMi has started a large Mallard Suncatcher and got the pattern traced as well as all of the glass being cut in just one class. The colors are superb and it already fits together nicely even in its un-ground state. This will undoubtedly see some grinder action when MiMi comes back in.

Lisa's Sugar Skull is coming together quickly now as all of the bones (save for the teeth) have been cut and ground. She's going to tack this all together next and then fill in the teeth by cutting them out as one long piece which she'll then grind to fit into the mouth opening. Once it fits it's a simple task to slice and dice the big piece of glass into smaller teeth pieces which will fit into place perfectly (unless they get jumbled up). Maintaining the order of the teeth as they are cut will be of the utmost importance.

Susan R's Peacock Hoop is coming together in a big way as she's cut out the remaining pieces that make the body of this beautiful bird. She's grinding it all together and will soon begin working on the inside decorative details of the larger feathers. The pattern is still somewhat up in the air but she had an actual peacock feather with her this week and she now knows exactly what the look of her accents will be.

Bee's Cantina Window is coming together one tiny piece at a time. She's diligent and unswerving in her pursuit for perfection and she also moves at a nice brisk pace as you can tell from what she has accomplished in the picture below.

Mary Grace began working on a Mardi Gras Mask Panel and even though it's a panel (which means that it's smaller than a window but larger than a suncatcher) it is chock-full of pieces. And she even shrunk it down smaller than the original design making all those pieces even tinier. You can never say that Mary Grace backs away from a challenge.

Kerry got the background cut, ground, wrapped and tacked together for one section of his Vert Der Ferk lettering for his Swedish Chef Window. As you can see there's no background cut for either the left or right sides because he will cut those two pieces once he's tacked what he has onto the bottom of his window. This allows for perfect centering as well as a perfect fit.

With her border now attached to her Christmas Bells Window, Let is ready to solder. Her pink/green border matches perfectly with the only two colors that she used in the window-- pink and green! It's a stunning fit for a lively window. Add to it the completely leaded pieces that she's applying decorative solder to and you have a window that will turn heads for sure.

Lastly, Annette worked on her Sacred Heart Window and has the small flower section of one of the hearts all cut, ground, wrapped and tacked together. This is the toughest part of her large window so she wanted to get it out of the way. I'd love to show you the rest of the window but once again Annette managed to get it out the door before I got a picture of it. She's a tricky one!