Yeah, I'm Not That Guy

Kandise  spent her night soldering away all the while hoping to complete her circular Magnolia.  By the time class was over with she had her window soldered both front and back while still having time to wash and wax it.  I love the colors in this and numerous students have asked about it so this might become a popular pattern in the months to come.  Looking at Kandise's finished piece it's easy to see why there's so much interest in it. 

 

Lorrie's Humming Birds and Flowers Window has been officially completed!   A lot of work went into this large window and all of that work clearly shows.   I know without a doubt that this will be making someone VERY happy indeed. 

 

 

Sheri began this LOVE Heart last week and finished it within the first 15 minutes of class.   She's a little unsure about how visible the LOVE part is but I have no issue spotting the word at all, especially since she filled in the background of the letters with a heavily textured clear glass.  I love it.

 

 

Linda L used another 'depression' plate to make a beautiful panel that sparkles amazingly when in sunlight.   Her ability to easily cut out the deep pointed inner cuts in her background so flawlessly really impressed me.

Let's Oval Flower Window has perfect edges which is ever so important when a channel won't go on the finished piece to cover any minor imperfections.   Why didn't channel go on this?  Well you can't curve brass channel without it bending and kinking.  This isn't large enough to merit the larger bendable zinc channel so tap-tapping with lead is the only way to go.

 

 

 

Barbara finished soldering her Iris Window which she can take all of the credit for.   I'm always impressed when a student comes up with their own design because the hardest part about designing your own patterns is having the confidence to make the first one!  Barbara should be very proud here.

 

 

 

Cindy wrapped up the work on a beveled cross that she had. To make it nice and sturdy she surrounded the bevels with a dark purple iridized glass. Since iridescence is mostly purple it's very easy to place a piece backwards which is what happened to poor Cindy. It's an honest mistake that I've made in the past myself but it was an easy enough fix.

 

Betty replaced the cracked wing on her Bumble Bee Suncatcher quickly and efficiently.  It ended up looking wonderful and still left her with almost the entire class to work on a new project. 

 

 

Nettie completed 2 Iridised Butterflies but I only got a picture of one of them since the other picture was a blurry mess.  :-)  Trust me when I say that the other one is just as beautiful as this one is!

Bee brought in the window that she's been working on so hard while at home.   This week we get to see the fruits of her labor.   This Hearts and Roses Window fits together perfectly and she's now foiling all of her thin and intricate pieces.   She said that the stems that flow through this which also make up the hearts where a bit of a challenge and I understand why.  Thin curving pieces can be horrible to deal with but Bee mustered through it with complete confidence.

 

 

Let also began working on a Bird of Paradise Circular Suncatcher and yep, she has it all cut out and ready to be ground already! In fact, she actually already has the two flowers ground which leaves her with just a few background pieces and the border left to go.

  

 

 

Betty began working on this Blue Rose Transom style window while at home. Because of that she really has a head start on this fairly large window especially when you consider that she's only got one class into it!

 

 

Nettie also brought in her three Nativity Scenes that she's been working on at home. Color me impressed because they look amazing. She was afraid to begin foiling until I looked things over but there's nothing to complain about so she began foiling right away.  You might have noticed that I only have two of the panels pictured but that's only because Nettie was too quick for me and already had one in her car by the time I got to her with the camera. 

  

  

Julie got all of the pieces that form the Heron in her window cut and ground which leaves just the background and the flowers that border the top of the window. I'm going to recommend either cutting and grinding the flowers next or moving onto the flowers at the top of the window because it will be far easier to fit the background to the flowers and bird rather than the other way around. 

 

 

 

Kerri got all of her flowers and leaves cut out and even in this un-ground state you can clearly see how much realism is added to a window when you use multiple shades of a similar color instead of just one single color. This is looking spectacular.

 

 

 

Sheri came into class with a pattern and a plan to use some assorted scrap glass to make her own colorful Fish suncatcher. By the time class ended she had her Fish of Multi Colors not only cut out but perfectly ground as well!

  

 

 

MiMi is soldering away at the inside of her lamp and let me tell you that this thing is sturdy!  The edge is near which means that MiMi will be finished with her magnum opus soon!

 

  

 

Either I'm cracking the whip pretty hard in our class or Martha just plain out has a fire under her to get her Butterfly Window completed.   After tacking the butterfly together she cut her background out, ground it, foiled it and tacked it all together so that she'll only have her border to cut when she comes back in. 

 

 

 

Tracey has her Magnolia tacked together and her border glass picked out. There's no doubt in my mind that she'll be soldering this when she comes back because although a circular border has to be cut by hand it's actually far easier than most people make it out to be. Once it's all wrapped she'll be soldering.

 

 

Mary's a soldering fool with her Sunflower window.  Yes, there's a lot to solder here but I always feel that it's the most relaxing part because all you have to do is sit back and take your time.  Slow and steady ALWAYS wins the soldering race. 

 

 

 

Lastly, Susan R resumed cutting on her USA Star Panel and as you can see the Bevels that make up the star fit perfectly.   We also figured out what all of the numbers in the catalogs mean by taking multiple measurements of various parts of the bevels.   It was the 3/8 that was throwing us off and we've come to find that the 3/8 measurement measures how deeply the bevel cuts into the center of the bevel.  And after all of that IO forgot to take a picture of the work she completed.  Shame on me.


Wishing you all a sunny summer,

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks