Anna Lisa Joy

We had a short week here due to the 4th of July landing in the middle of our classes but that didn't stop a lot from happening which includes two completed windows.

Patty's Women In A Bathtub Window is all set and ready to hang.  She used iridized globs for the bubbles and although they show up nicely when you see the window in person, they don't really photograph well.  But that doesn't stop this window from looking great.  A "Job Well Done" is certainly in order for Patty.

 

Our second completed window was made by Terry and it's also got some water going on in the subject matter.  Terry's Heron Window looks great and you can even see in the thumbnail below that she's taken the time to dot her eyes.  I remember when Terry was worried that the colors she used for the water and for the birds might be too similar but as you can see there's plenty of contrast and her Herons blend into the water at all.

 

Terry didn't stop there though.  She's also been busy making this very curvy Fleur De Lis Window.  There's not a straight cut in sight on this pattern and when you see this all ground and fitted together you're really going to be surprised with just how graceful and flowing this window actually is. 

 

Bonnie came in expecting to make one or two 3-D Sunflower Lawn Ornaments but after she cut out her pattern she realized that we didn't have the glass she had her heart set on using for the project.  So she started cutting out Butterfly Lawn Ornaments instead.  She's got 3 of them underway here with 1 being completely cut out.  She'll be grinding next week, that's for sure.

 

Cindy brought the window frame in that she plans on installing her Cow Window into and we both took some measurements and decided that a thin clear textured inner border followed by a thicker red outer border would really look good for this window.  I'd say that this will be completed when Cindy returns but that won't be next week because she's going to be away.  That means we'll have 1 cow, well done, in 2 weeks.

 

And while she's been making her cow window Cindy has also managed to cut out this Fleur De Lis project.  She's got it all ground and ready for foil so this one should be finished soon as well.  This will be finished as a circular piece and if you've really paid close attention you will have noticed that this is actually the same Fleur De Lis that is in the center of Terry's window as well.

 

Myrt decided that she wanted to make the Humming Birds, Flowers, and Vines Window that Cindy made a while back.  Alas, she needed it to stand considerably taller than Cindy's was.  Stretching it out would have distorted the design too much so what we did was add 3 more flowers, a few extra leaves as well as an extended vine and we ended up with the pattern that you see below.  Myrt got her birds cut out and will resume the rest of this window during her next class.

 

Last, but certainly not least, we take a look at Roxie's latest Butterfly Lawn Ornaments.  She came in and got three more completely cut out and a forth started.  That means that next week she'll have 6 of these ready to be ground (unless she decides to cut out any more!)

So there you have it.  Everything that was fit to print about what happened here in classes during the first week of July.  See you next week!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

If You're Skipping Class You Aren't Cutting Glass

Oddly enough, this is one of those rare weeks when none of our students had completed any projects.  I was wondering what I was going to use as a picture for the announcement email when low and behold Myrt sends me an email of all the crosses she had made while she was at home!  Talk about great timing.  So let's take a look at the seven crosses she completed near the end of May.

Martha came into her second class knowing that she wanted to make a Dragonfly Window.  She wasn't sure if she could do it as a first project but I convinced her that she'd do just fine making that particular window.  And her cutting of the Dragonfly itself proves that I was correct.  She barely had to grind the wings at all to get them to fit!  The rest of this window, which is all background, will be nice and easy for her.

  

Cindy came in with some grinding to do on her Cow Window and after it was all fitted together she began foiling all of her pieces.  Before she left she had it all wrapped and ready to be tacked.  She's going to be adding a double border on this window and she needs it to fit inside of a wooden frame that she'll bring along with her next week.  Sizing this window will be of the utmost importance.

  

Well, now that Aubrey has most of her window ground and wrapped she'll be able to tack it together and then cut out the yellow sun that will be setting behind the trees. It already looks amazing so I can't wait to see it with the final pieces all in place.

  

Meanwhile Lynn finished cutting all of the glass for her first window and has moved over to a grinder to get everything fitted together.  When she comes back in she'll certainly have this all fitted into place and will most likely begin foiling her pieces.  She's moving along wonderfully on this window. and her colors work really well.

 

Patty has made major progress on this Woman In A Bathtub Window,  She cut it out quickly, she ground it quickly and then she wrapped all the pieces quickly as well.  She added the leaves and the flower last so she could ensure that the stems (which are just cuts in the glass) lined up perfectly with the vase. After she adds a border and some solder this window is going to be finished.  She even has her next pattern lined up so I wouldn't be surprised to see this one out the door within the next 2 weeks.

 

Shelley decided that she wanted to make a Mermaid Window for her project and came up with a few different designs.  This was the nicest pattern by far and the beauty of it is that it's not a difficult design.  She has 24 pieces cut and 29 more to go before she can start grinding this.  I'm going to predict that the remaining 29 pieces will cur much quicker now that Shelley's more sure of her cutting abilities.  Expect to see some grinding started on this when Shelley returns.

Terry's Heron's have been 'borderfied' and now she's ready to rumble solder.  Have you noticed that I called them Egrets last week and now Herons this week?  Truth is I'm not sure what they are aside from pretty.  But do you want to know what I love most about this window?  I love the fact that the land in the background is curved and not just a straight line following the horizon.  I never think of doing that on the patterns that I draw and I think I need to start doing it!  That said, I like the rest of Terry's window just as much as her curved shore line.

 

And we'll wrap this all up by saying that Sonia's Praying Hands just about complete.  After tacking the hands together she then cut a clear (but rough textured) background glass.  When those 2 large pieces where tacked on to the hands she started looking at various colors for her border.  I thought the light eggshell color worked well but that it was a little plain.  In the end Sonia decided to go with a thin border of the eggshell colored glass and then a thicker green border that pulls its color from the robes.  And, as always, a double border just makes a window look so much more complete than a single border does.  Of course you already know that  I always like a fancy border.

 

We have another Holiday week coming up so we're going to be missing one of our busiest days (in terms of students) this coming Wednesday.  We'll still have classes on Tuesday and Thursday so expect another post within a week.  Everyone have a GREAT and safe 4th of July!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Dotted Your Eyes For You

We started 2 new students this week so you know we'll be seeing butterflies here.  But let's start with a returning student who we haven't seen in a while.

Fran has been keeping pretty busy lately but she has numerous projects to do so she's back in class.  She returned this week with a window that I'd forgotten she'd been working on-- her popular Diamond Fleur De Lis Window.  Made with Iridized Black Baroque Glass for the FDL and the border, this window always stands out.  Fran came in and gave her soldering a once over to smooth out any rough areas and in the end her window turned out PERFECT.  I can honestly say that she has the soldering process down pat.  It's without a doubt a beautiful window.

 

Next we'll look at the first of our2 Standard Butterflies this week.  This was made by Martha and let me tell you, Martha has taken to cutting glass like a fish takes to water.  From her very first score line I knew that she would have no problem making stained glass.  And her bright red and yellow butterfly proves that I made a good judgement call.

 

Shelley is our second new student of the week.  She decided to make a baby blue butterfly with the same yellow body that Martha had picked.  Now I hate to sound like a broken record but Shelley also had no problems when it came down to cutting or grinding her glass. Look at the uniform and smoothly curved pieces that make up her butterfly.  You couldn't ask for better work on a first project. 

Now, Roxie has had more than a few of her projects on our cutting table so when she makes a butterfly she wants hers to be more challenging.  The two Butterfly Lawn Ornaments that she cut out this week are each made out of 22 pieces of glass.  She'll also solder this together so the butterfly is 3D with its wings pointing upward.  I'll make sure to get a few different angles when these are completed which will most likely be soon knowing Roxie. 

 

Aubrey is moving along wonderfully with her Silhouetted Trees Window.  Everything but the sun is cut and she's even got the bottom 2 layers of the land ground and fitted.  Right now she's busy grinding her branches and once they're done she'll wrap them and then tack all of what we see here together.  Then we'll set the glass that forms the sun behind the piece and cut out each of the pieces for a perfectly aligned sun.

In our last post I asked what you call a cow with just 2 legs, but then I noticed that Cindy's Cow Window has NO legs so..... Q) So what do you call a cow with no legs?  A) How about Ground Beef?  (OMGSMN*)   That being answered, Cindy's cow is very much taking shape now.  She's been grinding it (as you can tell by the pins) and the background which is going to be a black and white checkerboard is about all there is left to cut. This will be a perfect Kitchen decoration.

Lynn has made some major progress on her Flamingo Window.  In fact, everything is cut out save for the branches in the upper right and the lower left.  That means that Lynn will be at the grinder when she comes back into class.  We had a slight incident with the sky but we have a wonderful work around that we'll reveal when it's all complete.  I have to hand it to Lynn, she isn't afraid to forge ahead and move right along.

 

Patty has all of her Lady In A Bathtub ground and ready to be wrapped.  There's still the small flower and the leaves to take into account but that's barely worth mentioning and will be handled when she returns for her next class.  Mark my words when I say that Patty will be wrapping this up soon!

Sonia has most of her praying hands complete but it didn't go as smoothly as she'd hoped.  While she was grinding one of the pieces she managed to cut one of her fingers bad enough to require a band-aid (you can see the bandage in the picture).  It didn't slow her down at all though.  there's just 2 pieces of background glass and then a border and this will be completed!

 

Lastly, Terry's latest Bird Window is really moving along.  She has the majority of this window ground and fitted together and since all the glass is cut (save for the border) I think this will be all foiled and ready for solder before we know it.  She's cut out some off-white eyes for these birds and I've placed black dots of glass paint onto the centers of them (thus effectively dotting her eyes) that she'll 'fire' on using her oven in the new kitchen that she's just had installed!    Something tells me that this wasn't kind of cooking that she planned on doing though...

 

I'm going to call this a Blog and post this now.  We'll be back in 7 days or so with further progress and more finished works.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks 

*Oh My Goodness Shoot Me Now

(Jesse Pinkman recommends Funyuns)

Eat, Bleed, Pray

Things are really starting to pick up again in classes here.  We have a lot of completed windows and a lot of  projects that will be completed soon enough.  So let's take a look at just what's been on our cutting tables during this past week.

Terry has completed her latest Egret Window and like the others before it, it's a nothing short of a masterpiece.  It seems that Terry will pick a design and then end up making 4 or 5 similar renditions for other people before she moves along to her next subject matter.  That trait seems to be holding true with her Egrets/Herons as you will see later on.  :-)

faer·ie  (fâr-ë)
n. pl. faer·ies
1. A tiny winged being in human form, depicted as clever, mischievous, and possessing magical powers.
 2. Any of the (naked) women with wings that Roxie has made over the years here in stained glass class.

As you can see, Roxie has this pattern down to a science.  She'll be sticking with the colorful wing motif and will be making at least 2 more butterfly lawn ornaments during her next class. 

Myrt's Semi-Victorian Window has officially been completed.  Last week she left with only the second side to solder and that's exactly what she did when she came back in.  It's was a a bit different working on a full sized window after having abandoning it for a number of weeks to make about 10 mirrors and crosses.  I haven't a clue as to what Myrt will be doing next so I can't wait to see what she comes up with after she returns from her first retirement vacation.  Congratulations Myrt!

 

Susan's got her 3rd Flag completed and I believe that after this she plans on making some Pumpkins (on a stick).  In fact, as I type this out I distinctly remember her tracing out pattern pieces on Spectrum orange glass so when she returns I know we'll be seeing something that will decorate her yard for the Fall season.   I'll say this for her-- she's keeping on top of the holidays since her flags are finished and it isn't even the 4th of July yet!

 

Remember what I was saying about Terry up above?  Well, have a look at Terry's next Egret Window.  She brought it into class for the first time this week and it's already almost 100% cut out!  Terry certainly loves making stained glass (and Egrets!) 

 

What do you call a cow that only has 2 legs?  Lean Beef.  (groan) Cindy's working on the first cow window I've seen in about 20 years.  She's been cutting and re-cutting glass to make sure the colors work out just right because black and white cows are easy to pick out colors for whereas the brown ones are a lot more difficult.

Aubrey is making this beautiful Silhouette Window for her first stained glass project.  There will only be 4 colors of glass in it: Orange, Yellow, and 2 shades of black.  The blacks will blend into each other and won't be discernible when the window is on the table but trust me when I tell you that this window is going to really draw a lot of attention when it's hanging up.  I love the pattern and the colors already.

Meanwhile, Lynn is busy with her Flamingo Window.  This pattern is one of those perfect first projects because it isn't too easy and it's not too difficult.  There are a few cuts that are very challenging and then there are others that are almost a straight line.  And Lynn has picked enough colors  to make it stand out in a crowd of windows.  I can't wait to see more of this cut out so we can really get a feel for the pattern.

Ok, we might have to make this Blog R rated from here on out-- or at least until Patty finishes her Lady in Bathtub Window.  Just look at those long legs.  It's all cut out now save for the flower that will be coming out of the vase.  To make sure the stem of the flower is absolutely perfect she'll cut the stem lines into the wall after everything else is wrapped.  Patty's begun grinding this project so it's another one that's moving along quickly!

Sonia had her choice of 2 patterns to pick from when she came in this week.  She could either make her Charlie Brown Window or her Praying Hands Window.  Guess what she decided to do first.  The main reason for her choice was that she knew she could get these Praying Hands done quickly.  See, when you finish a project quickly you get on a roll and actually get psyched to tackle more elaborate patterns.  And her Charlie Brown Window is definitely the more elaborate of the 2.  That said, there's nothing wrong with this pattern at all and I suspect we'll see it finished soon.

 

We have just one more blog to go and we'll be 100% up to date again.  Look for the next post sometime late Sunday.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

You Aren't Putting That In My Glass Rack

Ann's Flower Window is leaving the shop.  In other words, it's finished.  At first she was able to transport it back and forth from the shop to her house so that she could work on it at both places but once all the pieces were wrapped it was just too large to be moved in and out of the shop.  I completely understand why she didn't want to risk transporting it but now that it's completely soldered it's a nice and sturdy window.  And colorful too! All in all,  I believe that Ann had a fun time making this.  There were times that she was a little leery about how it would all come together but as you can see it did so very well.  Or I should say that Ann did very well.

 
The Pokeno Girls are officially walkin' out the door.  Sonia's border glass was a chore to decide upon but I don't think she could have picked a more perfect color for the trim of this window.  It's colorful and vibrant yet it doesn't detract any attention from the subject of the window-- The girls.  As with all of Sonia's windows I have to say that this is a very nice window indeed.

 

Susan's being very patriotic and has completed a second American flag Lawn Ornament.  She also managed to cut out and grind another while she was in class.  She's taken those pieces home with her to wrap and I expect to see her soldering it together when she returns next week.  That means that we'll be looking at the last of her Trilogy Of Red, White and Blue Lawn Ornaments in our next update. 

Long time readers of this Blog know that when we see one of these butterflies it means that we have someone new to introduce.  This pattern is our standard first project so we see a lot of these but the color choices make them all different and worth looking at.  This is Aubrey's Butterfly and as you can see, it turned out perfect.  It's really more of a blue hue to it but for some reason the camera is making it appear more gray than it really is.    

Lynn's Butterfly (yes, we have 2 new students this week)  uses a nice almost olive/green glass for the wings and a teal body.  As you can tell from both of these butterflies, both Lynn and Aubrey made sure that everything was symmetrical and that there were no sharp corners or ragged cuts in the long runs of the glass.  It's little things like these that make a project look professional.  

 

Roxie worked on her latest Stained Glass Faerie by grinding all of the pieces that she cut out last week.  Once it was all ground and fitting together she began wrapping her glass.  The pieces making up the wing on the right are all wrapped in copper foil, the wing on the left isn't (but will be soon).  Next week this little lady should be flying out the door.

Terry has the front of her Egret all soldered and the back side has been started.   She's decided to go with a zinc channel to surround it and give it some added stability.  Brass channel will protect the edges of a window but it will still allow the window to flex and possibly break if it isn't handled carefully.  Zinc channel adds a lot strength and once this window is completely soldered it will be VERY sturdy.

 

Myrt has finished her mirrors and crosses so she's back to work on her semi-Victorian Window.  This week she wrapped the final border, tacked it into place and then ran some brass channel along all four sides.  Then she started soldering.  Yes, they are her hands in the picture holding a roll of solder in one and a soldering iron in the other.  I don't get enough shots of projects actually being worked on so this one is a treat for me.  Myrt could be a hand model if she wanted to be one! :-)

Patty finished her Dragonfly Window last week and came in not sure of what she wanted to make next.  After a little thought she decided to do the Lady in A Bathtub window that Roxie made 2 Christmases ago.  It's something she's been talking about doing for a while now so it's a good choice no matter how you look at it.  She managed to get a lot of it cut out this week so I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't completed very quickly.

We're starting to fill up with new students so space is going to be getting tight in the shop again.  Expect to be seeing more butterfly suncatchers!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Thanks Girls!  You made 51 fun.  :-)

Secret Garden

Wow, didn't Patty's Dragonfly Window turn out to be absolutely stunning?  Not being sure on which way she wants to hang this we put holes for hooks on all four corners which means that this window can be hung 4 different ways.  This pattern is so nice that there's already talk of someone else making it! 

Susan's American Flag Lawn Ornament is another winner.  She'll be working on a few of these and then branching out into pumpkins soon enough.  Susan's moving along nicely on her own now and her confidence is at an all time high thanks to completed projects like this.   

Patty and Sonia's Sister was in for a visit and rather than skipping a class they both decided to bring Amy with them to stained glass class and let her make a butterfly.  It was a great idea because Amy's butterfly turned out perfect.  It's a shame she won't be able to stay for 4 or 5 more weeks to make a window because I believe Amy has what it takes to make stained glass.  I guess it's safe to say that it runs in the family.  :-)

 

Speaking of Sonia, the front of her Pokeno Girls window is now complete!   With only the back side of this window left to solder (or would you actually call it the front side???)  I will safely assume that  this will be a finished project next week as well as a featured picture in the Blog Update Notice.  I'm hoping for a sunny day when it's washed and cleaned up so we can see this colorful window with some good light behind it.

 

Meanwhile Roxie is looking to populate her Secret Garden with Fairies, or Butterfly Ladies, or Wood Nymphs.  Call them whatever you want but Roxie certainly makes the nicest one's I've ever seen.  She realizes that attention to detail is a must on these and she always achieves perfection.

  

It looks like both Ann and Sonia are at the same point in their respective windows-- both of them have the front of their windows soldered and will begin soldering the back sides when they return.  Hopefully I'll be able to help Ann solder the back of this when she comes back in.  With 2 of us soldering there's a chance this will be completed!

 

That's about it for this post.  We're about 2 updates away from being completely up to date again and in our next post you'll get to see the butterflies that Lynn and Aubrey's  made during their first day in class. That will be in our next update sometime around Wednesday.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks