For our first completed window of 2025 we look at Linda L's Beveled Inscription Window that she etched, cut, ground, foiled and tacked together while at home. She brought it into class to put a channel on it and then finished it all off by putting a nice bead of solder on everything. This is work WELL done!
Next up, I made this Broken Circle as a way to reduce the amount of clear scrap that I had lying around. These were all pieces that were way to big to throw away but too small to sell in the glass rack. I didn't quite achieve what I saw in my mind when I drew the pattern (due to stability issues) but I'm more than pleased with the end result.
Lorrie has begun her large Fish Window and when I saw large I mean that it will have a finished size of 37" x 28". Luckily that means that she won't be dealing with any tiny pieces. She's making all of the fish first, tacking them together (not soldering--only tacking) and then washing the flux off of them. Once all of the fish and the bottom of the ocean has be tacked together she'll be able to add the background (water) pieces that will hold everything together.
Kerry wanted to do something a little bit Valentine Day related and decided that a Love window with two large hearts would fit the bill. He got it all cut out in just one class and even began grinding so this will surely be short work for him.
Susan D is making another 3D Humming bird which means that her round Bear Window is going to be somewhat on hold for a bit. She's actually working on them both at the same time since she's on a roll with her Bear but it looks like her Humming Bird will be completed before you know it because she not only has it cut out but ground as well!
Sheri began making a Sunflower Panel and also managed to get everything cut out for it in just one class. The clear background glass gave her some anxiety issues but by insisting that she cut it out herself she gained more confidence and saw that she was panicking herself over nothing.
Lara began the new year by resuming work on her large Stack of Books Suncatcher. There are only the pages of the books left to cut from glass and they will actually be accented with wire to form the smaller bundles of pages (illustrated by red lines on the pattern). That means that she only has four more pieces of glass to cut to finish this entire project off.
Although Susan D is taking some time away from her Bear to work on her Humming Bird it doesn't mean that she's abandoned him altogether. She's just not spending ALL of her time on the Humming Bird. That said, I have to compliment her of this Bear Panel because the glass fitting is absolutely flawless. She's even left the perfect amount of 'gap' for the two pieces of foil that will reside between each piece which is the hardest thing to get students to do because most students worry about too much space in between pieces. What you see below in Susan's ground Bear is perfection.
Kandise has begun grinding her second Corner Accent Piece which is a perfect mirror image of her first one which she made last year. :-) Her grinding is moving along nicely and she's following her lines wonderfully. And although she's more than ready to begin something different I think that this will be finished quicker than she believes.
Next up we see the progress that MiMi is making on the largest Hexagon Window that she's made yet. It's also the last one that she says she'll ever make. This is another great example of perfection in grinding. If she didn't leave space between each piece the window would expand when she added foil to each piece which would be VERY problematic since this HAS to be a specific size. She has two pins placed on each side of each piece which comes to 12 pins per piece. As she foils each piece she removes the pins surrounding it because the foil now takes the place of the pins.
Mary Grace is working on her third 3D Standing Angel and it looks as though she'll be wrapping this up next week and then cutting out the two piece base that holds the Angel upright and resembles a cloud. Practice makes perfect and that's what Mary Grace is striving for here.
Next up we have Ann who drew up this pattern from a Christmas card and after making a few small adjustments traced out everything onto poster board so that she can begin cutting out glass when she returns again next week.
Sometimes students finish things at home and I ask them to please send me a completed picture so we can let our readers see what the finished work looks like. A lot of times that just isn't possible but Sheri completed her large Beveled Window just in time for it to hang in the window that it will spend the rest of its life in. And we were lucky enough to get a picture of it in that window!
And there you have it-- The start of a whole new year with students both familiar and new. I'm finally getting 'with it' and will begin posting completed works on Instagram on our new page there. It will be a quick way to sort through only completed projects without having to sift through months of separate postings. You can find us there at this address
or you can search for bayousaleglassworks.
Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks
