Quick, What's Your Blood Type

When Betty brought in a picture and asked if it was possible to do a window similar to it we all told her that the picture was made through AI.  There were plenty of impossible cuts and coloration that's downright impossible to do with real glass.   That said, we drew out a pattern based on the AI design and then made modifications throughout it until she ended up with this gorgeous window!   It would appear that AI has a purpose in stained glass after all.

 

 

When Linda brought in a picture and asked if it were possible to do a Hoop design similar to it she was also informed that what she was looking at was generated through AI.  Yet again we used that for inspiration and made a pattern that was not only possible but extremely precious as well.   Like Betty's Blue Rose, Linda's Bluejay Hoop turned out absolutely lovely!

 

 

 

Lorrie's Turtle Window was completed and it really lit up beautifully once it was off of the table. The Starfish that was barely apparent is now 100% visible against the brown sea floor. The green leaves stand out perfectly in the water, the shell of the turtle is made of a beautiful mottled green glass and the eye of the turtle is absolutely stunning!

 

 

Here's a closeup of the Turtle's eye.

 

 

 

When Kandise began making this Peacock she wanted something that would simply hang in a window. When she wanted it larger I was concerned about how it would hang because of all of the weight the larger pieces would add. When she asked if we could put it in a hoop I initially thought that there was no way it would fit since it had to span 8 inches along two joint sections that we did not plan for this.  Low and behold, in the end it worked perfectly and this bird not only looks stunning but is as sturdy as it could ever hoop to be. (Dad-jokes abound with me.)

 

Martha's Rose In A Cross is spectacular because of her use of bevels and clear textured glass. The Rose is so prominent in front of all of the clear textures that you can't help but look again to see just what else is included in this finished piece! She'll be started a very similar pattern next week.

Let was as busy as a bee turning out 3 completed projects in one class.  The first is this Stylized Heart design that she embellished with solder dots throughout the lead lines.  It's a tedious process but the end result makes up for the time well spent working in all of that detail.

 

 

This stylish Art Nouveau window is the second of Let's finished pieces and her use of color and her mastery of symmetry makes it a standout for sure.

 

 

 

Then Let went ahead and made this Flower in a Heart design which she also accessorized with dotted drops of solder as well as scalloped foil around the outside edges.

 

This week Cheryl finished her second Bevel Cross using a bevels for both the cross itself as well as the corners of the border.  The background was made from wispy white glass while the border was cut from a pure solid white sheet.  Stunning.

 

 

Oh look, a Butterfly! That can only mean one thing--we have a 'new' student! Actually Catherine made a window with us way back in 2009 so technically she's not new and her precision cutting and grinding on this shows that she obviously paid attention the first time around! Expect to see her begin a full fledged window next week.

Hoops are becoming fashionable again as Lorrie has decided to tackle the Lady In a Bathtub pattern that I had modified to be made in a hoop.  It's simple enough but it does require some accurate cutting and grinding so that everything lines up correctly.  I have no doubt that Lorrie will handle it wonderfully. 

  

Elaine has elected to make a series of Suncatchers which she will string together to form one coherent piece when she's completed them all.   That's thinking outside the box and that's what I like!  In just one class she's managed to cut, grind, and foil this first flower.  This will be finished in minutes upon her return!

 

After the work on her Peacock was done Kandise decided to cut and grind this highly stylized Musical Treble Clef. I have to admit that I love this design and can't wait to see it hanging!

  

 

Bee's Iris Window is all cut out save for the border(s).  The only thing left for her to grind is the clear textured background glass that she picked and cut with the greatest of ease.   The pattern doesn't show a border but I'm going to press her to do a double border on this because I've seen it done both ways and believe that it lacks something with just a single border.

 

 

Susan D is building a wooden Bird House but is switching up the original design by making two small glass flaps on each side that will allow her to get into the house.  Then, as the coup de grace, Susan will add a slanted roof made entirely of glass.  Expect to see said glass next week as she works on shingling her roof.

 

 

 

Julie got her flowers tacked together and then set forth on filling in their centers with small circular yellow florets which she cut, ground and foiled with complete ease. We didn't have the glass she wanted for her background (yet) so she then worked on cutting, grinding and foiling the first of her two borders! Now that's what I call progress.

 

 

 

Linda F has redesigned the mushrooms in the bottom right of her Vegetable Window and now there's no mistaking what they are. Most people just stick with what a pattern shows even if they feel it's off but I always say, "CHANGE IT!" which is exactly what Linda did here. I re-adjust patterns all the time especially when I do one a second time which is what's happening here since Linda has made this once before. Now that her green border has been cut she'll be ready to solder this before you know it. 

 

 

 

And speaking of refining stained glass patterns, Lara's re-cut flower petal already looks better to me. She's grinding everything now and as you can see the lower portion fits together beautifully.

 

 

Wow, I just love the assorted pinks that Keri has used throughout her Flower Window. I'm not entirely sure but I believe they might be Peonies.  No matter what they are technically named they sure do prove that using multiple, similar colors throughout a flower helps to give it a huge boost of realism. 

 

 

This is the second of three Rain Gauges that Susan R is making. She has the first one soldered but I still need to see how she wants these to be displayed. She can either hang them or put them in the ground on a stake. We'll get the answer to that burning question when she comes back into class.

 

  

 

MiMi is fully seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! In fact, it  barely seems to be a tunnel because she's that far out already when it comes to soldering the inside of her lamp.

  

  

 

 

And in the end, Cheryl has all of her background ground and also has all but one piece left to foil.   That means that she'll get her final border on this when she comes back in next week.   This is looking really good! 

 

 

 

And with all of that the only left to say is, "Stay glassy!"

 

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Is The Juice Really Worth The Squeeze?

Our first window this week is a remake of the window that Nettie made just a few months back.  It's been slightly readjusted but the theme reminds the same:  LSU Pride!

 

 

 

Cindy made these two large Suncatcher/Panels during our two weeks off while she was at home.   She brought them in so we could take pictures and share her finished work with you all!

 

 

 

Just like Cindy, Cheryl completed this while at home and has one other that she plans on bringing in next week.  That said, expect to see a similar design when we return again in seven days.

Tracey has been hard at work on her Cross Window which features a traditional cross set atop a traditional diamond background. Tracey's attention to detail ensures that this Cross and its background are both perfectly balanced.

 

 

 

 

Bee's Long Tall Iris is taking shape already and I'm going to recommend that she uses a glass that says "WOW" for the pot that holds this flower. It's what I've always done and that have always been crowd pleasers (possibly because of the ornate pot).

 

 

Susan R has decided to cut one one more Rain Gauge and it looks as though she's be putting them together before you know it. She'll have a curving wire attached to the lead lines which will hold a glass tube which will reveal how much rain has fallen due to its graduated markings. 

 

Meanwhile, MiMi's soldering  has reached the bottom edge of her lamp! Look out because this lamp is nearing completion now that there are only a few inches left to go on this.

 

 

 

Cindy began this cute Frog Suncatcher which I have no doubt will be completed when she comes back in.

 

  

 

 

Mary's Fish is all tacked together and she even has the first of its two borders cut and ground. The first inner border will be attached when she comes back in and then she'll handle that final border. 

 

 

 

When I posted Lara's Flower Window here a few weeks back I realized that there was a way to add the stamen to this flower without making it look somewhat clunky. The trick is to use wires and beads. When I mentioned it to Lara she jumped at the idea and re-cut two of her flower petals to accommodate this new design change.

 

  

 

 

Linda F isn't wasting any time on her next window which is already completely cut out as well as being mostly ground as well. These assorted Vegetables are coming together almost as quickly as it would take to make a pot of vegetable soup!

 

  

 

 

Martha's Rose/Cross is all cut and ground which means that she'll be soldering this before you know it. If you don't know how long 'before you know it' is, well in this case it means next week!

 

 

 

With all of her Peacock soldered the last thing that Kandise needs to do to complete this is attach it to its metal hoop. The great news is that even though this wasn't drawn to be placed within a hoop it ended up fitting perfectly within an 8" hoop! For all intents and purposes this is finished!

 

  

 

 

Let has not one but two projects that are coming to an end here. Her Art Nouveau Window as well as her new Daisy Heart Suncatcher just need to be soldered before they find themselves in a window somewhere out there! 

 

 

Lorrie brought in her Turtle Window with her background not only cut and ground but tacked into position as well.   That left her with just a double border to cut, grind, foil and tack which she did while in class. She'll get a heavy zinc channel on this when she comes back in and then we'll see it hanging up with light behind it.

 

 

 

 

Betty's Blue Rose is nearing completion as she solders away on it. This is another window that just needs some soldering and then some channel attached before it is finished.  Betty really threw herself into this window and I'll tell you all something interesting about it when it is completed and has some light behind it.

 

  

 

 

Something tells me that next week is going to be VERY busy because I'm seeing a lot of projects nearing completion here. Is it just me or does it look as though Linda L's two Bluebirds stepped out of a Disney Cartoon?! The only thing left to do these cute birds is to attach them to the plated steel hoop and then wash and wax them.

 

 

 

Cheryl's all clear Fleur De Lis window is nearing completion as she got her beveled border put together and then her background glass cut out. She's still grinding those background pieces and I believe that she plans on adding a second border but the hard part of this is surely behind her now.

  

 

So there you have it. Please don't forget that all of this is off the record unless otherwise indicated.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Crackers In My Bed

Linda F has completed her transom window and the end result is exactly as I expected it to be: perfection.  Everything from the glass cutting to the soldering was handled with the utmost precision and the finished window is something that Linda can be extremely proud of.    

 

 

 

Cindy began and completed her Rose Cross which features bevels on the ends of her clear textured Cross (which makes the flower stand out all the more). There's only one thing to say about this and that's that it is stunning.

Nettie spent her time soldering the second of her three Nativity Scene Windows.   Once she has them all soldered we're going to frame them out and join them together with a special channel.   We've never done this before but it's a straight forward process that we aren't concerned about at all.  I actually had 2 of the windows to show you but I accidentally overwrote one of them!   

 

 

 

The 'undercarriage' on MiMi's lamp is filling up with lead, her cap looks like it's wonderfully secured and that's all I have to say!

 

  

 

 

Martha is hard at word precisely grinding the rose for her Rose Cross. I'm unsure what color she'll be using for the cross itself but I do know that she'll also have bevels in it. Our next post surely will reveal her color choice.

 

  

 

Susan R is making two Rain Gauges and has them both cut out and ready to grind.   These will certainly go together lickety split for her.

 

 

Betty's Blue Rose is all cut out and ground which means that she's come face to face with the foiling process. She's working from the outside in so it's really just the Rose itself that needs foil at this point in time and I'm sure she'll resume working on it while at home. She's very close now!

 

  

Kandise has all of her Peacock cut and ground so she'll be foiling this when she comes back in. She'll be placing this into a metal hoop so it's time to see exactly how this will attach. If worse comes to worse we will apply the hoop behind the bird but I think we'll manage to do it the same way that Lorrie and Nettie did their Hoop Birds. 

  

 

 

Jan's working on her Doggie Heads Window and it's really taken shape. It looks like she just needs to cut out a few background pieces and she'll be ready for foiling and a border.

 

 

 

 

Let has everything but her border cut out and ground but that won't happen until she foils and tacks together the pieces that you see b5elow (which fit together wonderfully). In other words, it's fare to guess that she'll have her border cut, ground and attached during her next class. 

  

 

Julie ground all of the flowers and the leaves that border the top portion of her Heron Window and then proceeded to foil them all as well.   Next week she'll tack this and get her background pieces cut out.  That should go very quickly which means that she's approaching the end of this impressive window.

 

 

 

June's Seahorse is coming together in a most beautiful way and her grinding, as always, is top notch. She's moving through this pretty fast as well and I think it may have something to do with the fact that she isn't having to worry about random color placements as she had to with her cat window.

 

 

 

Linda L has her pair of Bluebirds all ground and foiled. She soldered the front side and has flipped it over to complete the back side next. I have a sneaking suspicion that this will be completed during her next class.

 

 

 

Lorrie cut and ground the many, MANY pieces that make up her Turtle's head and flippers. Then she even managed to foil each of those tiny pieces. That means that the only thing left for her to do is to cut out the few large pieces of background when she comes back in. The most impressive thing about her work this week is that she did it all with a sprained and swollen ankle!

 

 

Mary came in with her Fish window all cut out save to the eye and a large piece of background glass that she had run out of. By the time class was finished Mary had everything cut, ground and foiled. She'll tack this together at home and get her double borders cut when she comes back in. 

 

 

Mary Grace has numerous Flower Suncatchers in the works and is grinding away on them. Alas, she's missing a few pieces so she'll just tack together what she has and fill in the missing pieces by tracing the openings out onto the glass. A perfect fit every time. 

 

Sheri has all of her glass picked out for her Triangular Abstract Window and has two of the colors all cut as well. Who knows what all else may be completed on this when she comes back in.

 

 

 

 

Cheryl is about to embark on a Mardi Gras Pelican Window. Why is it a Mardi Gras Bird? Well, check out the Crown on its head. That surely turns it into a Mardi Gras window. We'll see her color choices when she comes back in and begins cutting glass.

 

  

 

 

Lastly, Paula has begun a beautiful flower window with that ever popular curved top. The flowers are Foxgloves and they make for an incredibly delicate design that I know Paula will make easily enough. The only problem is that I didn't appear to get a picture of it this week. :-(

 It's come to my attention that I haven't been posting these Blog Updates on Facebook so starting tomorrow morning I will be posting one a day until we're all caught up here!

Later,

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks