Let Me Break That For You

Sheri's Coffee Window features a cup and saucer that she assembled from broken pieces of Blue Willow.  It certainly wasn't easy to cut or grind into place but the end result gives this window a very unique look. There's a lot of detail in this due to the lettering but Sheri took her time and never lost sight of her goal.

 

 

 

Martha made the tiger eyes portion of her LSU Window look easy.  The letters themselves are easy enough because they are very large (7 to 8 inches tall) but all of those wavy, long, thin tiger stripes can make you lose your mind.   Martha wanted this done in time for Father's Day and with just 3 days to spare she was able to not only finish it but already sell it as well!

Honey Combs are the rage and Lisa made hers a bit smaller than the ones we've seen done in the past.  Then, just for effect, she drew up and tacked a small bumblebee onto the bottom of the honey comb.  This is as cute as it could possibly hope to bee.

 

 

 

I've always loved the flowing Tulip Suncatcher that Annette made this week.   Her colors are perfect and it just makes me want to make another one myself.   Annette also finished a simple yet effective purple Flower Suncatcher as well which is lovely in its own right!

 

 

Here's our second Bee of the week and this one was completed by Susan R.  It's a curvy Lawn Ornament that Susan had no problems soldering even though she had to re-balance the bee every time she started soldering  a new lead line.  That's the fun of a 3D project.

 

 

 

 

Helen brought in a pair of butterflies to work on and she was able to walk out the door with both of them completed.  She plans on working on glass while at home during the week so it will be interesting to see what she walks in the door with next!

 

 

 

 

Lisa has a friend who had an old lamp that needed some repair work done on it.  The metal frame and base were fine but some of the glass was cracked.  Lisa slowly pulled the clips open which held the glass in place, cut some replacement pieces of glass and then (after a little wiggling about) managed to get them back into the lamp.  Here's the end result-- as good as old!

 

 

Our third Bee of the week derives its name from the student-  not the work itself!  Bee took classes a few years ago and is now back in action here in the shop.  She drew her new window up herself and she even got the black Fleur De Lis cut out during that same night.  I have no doubt that she'll get the background cut out and then be able to begin grinding each of her pieces when she comes back in next week.

 

 

 

Susan R set upon making this USA pattern that she found on the internet but she wanted to make one minor change to it:  She wanted a beveled star rather than a flat glass star.  Sooooo, we looked around found a star bevel cluster that was approximately the same size and then altered the pattern  until it worked with the bevels she had.   Her beveled star is in position and all but three pieces of the blue glass have been cut already which means that she's only got some red and white stripes left to go on this.

  

 

 

Speaking of red, white and blue, take a look at the Patriotic Pinwheel that Martha began work on this week.  It's all cut out and even halfway ground already which means that this won't take long at all for her to finish.

  

 

 

We've been seeing a lot of letter work in our classes lately and Sheri is now working on a stained glass sign that recreates her business card in glass.  These letters are script so they are thinner than most other stained glass letters and her window isn't all that big so this may take a little time for her to complete but I know she'll persevere just as Mary Grace is doing with with her window that incorporates letters.

 

  

 

 

Susan D always has multiple irons in the fire and this week she worked on a Dragonfly repair as well as her 3D Cactus with a Flower.   Everything on the cactus looks to be ground and is therefore ready for some foil and some solder.  And the Dragonfly looks to be equally as far along.

 

  

 

 

June's Tranquil Sailboat Window may be only one week into its creation but it's already well under construction.  In fact, there's only the sky, the sails and two pieces of land left to cut out after which June will begin the arduous task of grinding everything to fit perfectly.

 

  

 

 

I'm loving this Sunflower Window and Cindy is now filling in the background with assorted greens to give it a 'tighter feel'.   The assorted yet similar mixed colors in this match the perfect flawless design of the window itself. Mark my words, this will be a head turner.

 

  

 

 

MiMi's Starburst Cross looks completely stunning especially since she has everything ground already.  In fact, if you look closely you can see that numerous pieces have already been wrapped in foil as well.  When MiMi puts her mind to something there's just no stopping her.

 

  

 

 

Meanwhile, Melissa's Winged Cross is coming together with a clear background glass (that you can't see in the picture) and a stunning beveled inner border.  This design along with bevels are a perfect pairing which will sparkle effortlessly when it is hanging.

  

 

 

Barbara got all of the glass cut out for her Rooster Window, or at least she had until she accidentally dropped the sun.   Not to fear though-- we'll get that re-cut after everything else has been ground and tacked together.  All I can say is that at least *I* didn't break it!  (Keep reading to see what I mean.)

  

 

 

Kerry's Bayou Cabin Window got its trees ground and tacked together this week and then he moved on to cutting out his Irises.   He traced all of his pieces out onto the gorgeous sheet of purple glass that he picked for the flowers and then I walked by and knocked the glass onto the concrete floor where it then shattered into broken shards.  :-(  At least we were able to retrace the pattern pieces onto the larger fragments of glass so his Irises now look fine.   The rest of that purple glass has seen better days though.

  

 

 

And now for something completely different.  Nope, that's not a photograph that you see in the picture below-- it's actually a piece of glass with a face fired onto it!  It's amazing what you can accomplish with a computer and a kiln these days.   Shelley doesn't have to add or accentuate any part of the face on her Bree Van de Kamp window because these are picture-perfect features.  

 

  

 

 

Angie's New Orleans Window  is ready for a border!  Talk about flying through a window.   She wanted a transparent  or wispy black glass for the border but we just don't have any of that anymore since it is no longer being produced.  Angie is going to look around at home to see what she may have there so be sure to come back next week and see what she decides on!

 

  

 

 

With everything ground in her Coffeepot and Coffee Cup Window Judy has moved along to the foiling part of the construction of her latest piece.  The cup and the pouring coffee has been wrapped so there's a very good chance that she'll be able to tack this when she comes back in.  Yep, it's already time to start thinking about what color border she wants on this because she's really not sure about her original choice of yellow anymore.

 

  

 

 

Speaking of borders, Let had a decision to make this week (well, actually two of them).  She wasn't entirely happy with  her original choice of border colors so we all headed over to the glass rack and began to mix and match.   Let knew that she wanted a double border on this but the colors were proving to be problematic.  At least until we stumbled on this winning combination!  It's looking good if I do say so myself.

 

 

 

Mary Grace is grinding from the bottom to the top on the logo portion of her window.  You can easily see how far along she's gotten just by looking at the bottom edge of the window.  I've got to hand it to her-- she's taking her time with this massive project and not letting it get her down!

 

  

 

 

And with just a few scant line's left to solder, Linda L is getting ready to complete the final window in her Nativity Series. This is the back side of the window and once we attach the medium Zinc channel on this it will be ready to be washed and patina'ed.  Hallelujah!

 

 

And there you have it.   We're getting awfully busy in the shop again so expect even more projects to be finished when we return next week.  So long and thanks for the fish!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Mayday! Mayday!

MiMi's Heron Window isn't nearly as large as you might assume it to be if you judge it by the picture.  Measuring approximately 17 inches wide there are a lot of tiny little feathers in this, each with their own distinctive irregularities which make this window look so detailed.  Demure colors and an ever so softly hued background glass make the Heron stand out nicely.  Stunning work indeed.

 

 

 

Then there's June's super colorful Rooster Suncatcher which features bright vibrant colors to make him stand apart from any other chickens in the yard (or the window).    The legs on this suncatcher are always a problem since they are hinge joints but we've solved that in a nice stylish way by adding a patch of ground to his feet which locks everything firmly into place.

 

 

 

 Helen made a Beveled Cross using a granite backed iridized glass which really shows off its 'mother of pearl' rainbow colors.  The lesson Helen learned this week was to ALWAYS bring ore than one project because she finished this far quicker than she ever thought she would.

 

 

 

Linda L had to make a pink Flower Angel as a baby gift because although she has some Flower Angel's already made, none were in pink.  So rather than making just one pink Angel she made two and now has one in reserve for emergency gifting!

 

 

With all of the glass cut for her unique Flower  Window, Lara has moved on over to the grinder to get everything fitting together perfectly.   She's used a heavily rippled, iridised background glass which pulls in all of the color that her top and bottom borders contain as well as her flowers.  This will be a popular design I'm sure.

  

 

 

Cindy's Sunflower becomes more and more lovely with each new petal that she adds to it.  She's now adding leaves to the piece and I have to say that this is the prettiest sunflower I've yet to seen done in glass.  It just flows smoothly and effortlessly. 

 

 

 

MiMi is already hard at work on her colorful Cross Starburst Window.  The multiple ringed layers are broken up not only with diamond-like 'shards' but by MiMi's eye for color which disguises the ringed layers which are necessary for a design like this.  There's a deadline on this project but I know that MiMi will come through with flying colors.

  

 

 

 Judy's got all of the glass cut for her Coffee Pot Window but ended up using a different background glass than she had originally picked.   This was going to have a light yellow backdrop but we didn't have enough of it in the rack so she went with a textured clear glass instead.  I believe that the change is for the best and the beauty of this switch up is that she can still use her original yellow pick for a border.

 

 

 

Angie is moving at break neck speed on her New Orleans Window.   As you can see it's already been completely cut out and ground!  She's even begun foiling her glass which means that she's going to be ready to start something new before you know it!

  

 

 

With all of her grinding completed, Let is ready to begin foiling all of the feathers and other pieces of glass that she painstakingly cut and ground over the past few weeks.   This window is surely a labor of love and Let's craftsmanship on it is nothing short of perfection.

 

 

 

What's wrong with this picture?  Well, Martha obviously tacked the lettering part of the window onto the eyes upside down.  No, no she didn't--  She's just soldering the back side of it!  This week she was able to get the border cut, ground and tacked together and then she even soldered the front side.  Yep this will easily be completed upon her return.

 

 

 

With her white background glass all cut out Mary Grace has completed the hardest parts of making this window.   The nice thing about grinding the central logo section of this design is that all of the pieces are large and thus easily manageable unlike all of the letters that she's been working on over the past few months.  Mary Grace can now see the light at the end of the tunnel!

 

 

 

Next we have another window whose lettering is backwards and that's a dead give away that Sheri is now soldering the back side of her Coffee Window.   There's only the smallest section left to go (in the upper left) and then Sheri will be able to add hooks to this and then wash it and finish it off.

 

  

 

 

With the grinding completed on her Winged Cross, Melissa has begun wrapping all of her pieces in copper foil.   When she has this tacked together she will then cut a background glass for this thus transforming it from a Suncatcher into a Window.   The lead lines that will be required to 'windowfy' it will be challenging to position but, as always,  we will manage.  I'm beginning to think that Melissa loves a challenge as much as I do!

 

 

 

With his cabin all tacked together Kerry as moved along and over to the two trees that bookend his little Bayou House.   The tree on the left was simple enough but what you can't see (right now) is all of the detail that the tree on the right has in its trunk.   Trust me when I tell you that this will all become apparent once this window is lit up.

  

 

 

Susan R's three dimensional Bumble Bee is tacked together and only needs a little bit more solder put onto it before it is finished.   I've taken a picture from two different angles to hopefully give you a better idea of how the bee's body and wings are curved rather than flat.

 

 

 

Panel number three of Linda L's three part Nativity Scene is now ready for its border.  Talk about timing-  She finished cutting, wrapping and tacking the remaining pieces that make up the subject of her final panel with just a few minutes of class time left to spare.   She hopes to solder the front side of this while at home so perhaps this will be completed during her next class.  

 

  

 

 

And lastly we look at the pattern that Judy will begin working on when she returns.  She's traced it onto poster board and is now able to begin choosing glass for her beautiful Sailboat Scene.

 

  

 

Congrats on reading this through to it's entirety! Hope to see you all again next week.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Can You Try To Keep It Short?

Annette's simple Daisy Window is all about perfect choices in color.   Her inner border has been cut from a glass that is different from the flower but which contains a similar pink hue of the flower mixed with some yellow to match the flower center.  This was a lucky find that can be easily replicated with a little planning and any two toned piece of glass.   Just use similar but separate colors in your window and frame it with the single mixed color.  As you can see it's a stunning effect.

 

 

 

Susan D made a new three dimensional Humming bird Lawn Ornament and I've included two different views so you can hopefully see the 3D effect.  This is made from 3 sections: the body and 2 separate wings.  The wings are applied one at a time on either side of the body so that from the front the bird looks like a Y.  So simple and yet so VERY effective!

 

 

 

 

We haven't seen anyone make a Succulent in a few years so we've long been overdue.  Lisa's is made of four layers using the same glass that Annette used for the border of her Daisy Window.   In the past I've assembled my succulents by hand utilizing careful balance and very measured soldering.  Lisa used clay to line everything up and made the process look easy!!  A simple but stylish glass glob hides the solder that holds this pretty flower together.

 

 

  

 

 

Then Steve went ahead and made a Succulent of his own.  This is another four layer flower but unlike his wife's rounded flower petals, Steve's petals are pointed.  Now that there's a 'clay trick' to hold things in position  the trickiest part of making these now is getting a bead on all 24 of the flower petals without burning one's fingers!

 

  

 

 

And along with her Daisy panel, Annette also made this cute and vibrant sunflower suncatcher.  Sometimes simplicity is all it takes to make a fetching piece.

 

 

 

Jeannette finished another Dove Cross and then put an ornament in her Grinch's hand as well!  In fact, she made four Grinch Hands during class this week so I'm going to say that she's very much on a roll here.

 

 

 

Helen has re-emerged in our classes and fittingly started things off with a butterfly suncatcher to see if she's still got what it takes.  It looks as though she has! 

  

 

 

Susan R's latest Reindeer still has a black nose.   I heard her say that she's going to make one with a red nose and that the next one would probably be her last Reindeer Lawn Ornament.   She also says that she might take a break from Reindeer and move along to something else before getting to Rudolph.  Time will tell.

 

 

 

Angie also has Dove Cross Fever as she completed two of her own this week.  The off-white that she used in the dove goes particularly well with the green glass of the cross.  Pure white just looked a bit stark in this piece.

 

 

 

 

Betty said that enough is enough.  This week she managed to complete three Cardinals and four Silverware Dragonflies and she says that it's time to move along to some bigger projects.  What they may be I can't say for sure but we'll know what she has in mind when she comes back.

 

  

 

 

And Cheryl finished a Diamond Bevel Window but I didn't get a finished picture of it.   I can say that it looked something like this though...

 

Meanwhile, Cindy has started a beautiful flowing Sunflower Window that incorporates three different yellows to make the finished flower.   She's also used a piece of Root Beer glass for the flower center which she cut in reverse so that the bumpy side will be on the front of the window rather than the back side.  It's a nice texture effect that I always recommend doing when making sunflowers.

 

 

 

Mary Grace has moved on to the logo portion of her Health and Wellness Window by working on the colored section of the center logo itself.  As you can see, it's the outline of a Lotus flower.  Next week she'll begin cutting out the white background glass.

  

 

 

Judy is making a Coffee Window of her own but this one is about a coffee pot pouring out a hot stream of java.  With the subject matter already cut out Judy only needs to cut nine pieces of background glass before she can get busy grinding.

 

 

 

Martha is doing wonderful work on her LSU Tiger Eyes Window.   She's tacked together the LSU portion and will be wrapping the tiger stripes and eyes in foil next.  A five sided border will end up joining everything together UNLESS she decides to forgo the center border section.  It sounds to me like a decision will have to be made...

 

  

 

 

MiMi's Heron got all of its feathers foiled and then she was able to tack it together as well as having gotten a border cut, foiled and attached as well.  I don't think she has much longer to go on this because I'm fairly certain that she'll be soldering it while she's at home.

 

  

 

Our next bird is an Eagle that Let is working on.   There's not much left to grind on this before she can begin foiling everything.   I'm fairly sure that this will grow as more and more pieces become foiled but the simple solution to that is to grind some more off of un-foiled pieces as you move along.   This is a common 'problem' when you have a lot of small pieces in the center of a window.   Note that she does have a lot of pins throughout her work so hopefully she'll only need to skim a handful of pieces to get this to fit together.

 

 

 

As expected, Linda L started working again on the third section of her three Nativity Panels.  She hit a small snafu when she went to trace out her pattern pieces onto the glass that she was going to use because she discovered that she had brought the wrong zip lock bag of pattern pieces with her.   Rather than waste a class she just re-traced the pattern onto some poster board and made new pattern pieces.  The end is near.

 

 

 

Oh look, it's our third bird of the week!   This one belongs to Barbara and she's gotten the rooster part of the window all wrapped and tacked together.   Once that was done she cut out the legs and the mound that he's walking on and then took it along home with her so she could grind it there.  That means that there's only the rays of the sun and the sky left to cut for this.

 

  

 

 

Melissa's Winged Cross was halfway ground this week even though it almost looks as if it has all been ground.   She still has the right side left to go and I believe we'll see that get accomplished when she returns next week.

 

  

 

 

Kerry's Cabin in the Bayou has all of its details cut into place as he cut down his large boards into smaller planks.  He's tacked it together so that nothing will get lost or shifted out of position.  Next he'll begin cutting out all of the different elements that make up his background and foreground scenery.

  

 

 

Sheri got a lot accomplished on her Coffee Window and that included getting the remaining pieces of the cup cut, ground, and tacked.  Once that was done she picked out a color for her border--deep blue (a great choice if you ask me), and got it cut and ground.  She's in the process of wrapping those border pieces and will surely be soldering her window upon her return.

 

  

 

Bree is certainly coming along.   Shelley only needs to cut out her background glass and then paint eyes, a nose, and a mouth so we can fire it onto the glass permanently in the kiln.   Shelley did a test run in pencil and it looked fantastic but she says that paint may be another story.  Alas, she's done it before and I have a lot of faith in her abilities.

 

 

 

One coat of solder on the front and then another on the back side of this cute Humming Bird Window will finish it all off.    I know that Jan's up it so expect to see this completed when she comes back in next week.   She was originally going to go with bevels fro the border but I think her use of purple baroque glass has worked out so much better.

 

  

 

This large Rooster suncatcher just needs some touching up and it will fly out the door.   June is ready to flip this over and complete the soldering on the second side of this bird after which she'll wash it, color it, wash it again and wax it so she can take it home.

 

  

 

 

Susan D is making another three dimensional Flower Pot Cactus and these are the pieces that she needs to make it.   This will be all of it unless she decides to put a small flower on the top in which case she'll need six small pink pieces to finish it off.  Either way, this will be completed when we next see it.

 

 

 

Lastly we look at the Modern Cross that Ann cut, ground and wrapped.  She was actually inspired by the cross that Betty made last week.  We'll easily  see this  get completed when she comes back in  a few weeks.  She'll be out for a week or two due to obligations so be sure to keep tuning in so you can see this become completed.

  

 

And that's it.  I think I need a catch phrase to end all of these posts.   We'll try a few out for size over the next few weeks.  And finally, I'm at a loss for words so I'll catch ya all next week!

 

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks