Bow Down

Let has a new Flower Window under her belt (figuratively speaking, of course) and like all of her previous windows there is nothing to criticize on this.  She's used shading between the inner and outer flower petals of the flowers perfectly and her transparent green background ties everything together beautifully.

 

Susan R completed her Pair Of Chefs Panel and accented it with two wire work mustaches and dots of black glass paint for the eyes.  Her purple border ties in with the purple wine perfectly.  I always say that when in doubt you should pick the least used color in your window and then echo it in the border.  It doesn't have to match perfectly-- in fact, most times having a slight variation works even better than a perfect match!

 

 

 

Linda L's Drake Panel may become a snowball rolling down a snowy hill because now other members of her family are asking when she will make them a panel with their name in it.  As always, Linda's cutting and grinding are wonderful which resulted in perfectly scripted letters.

 

 

 

Annette's Rose and Cross Window was made throughout the month that we took off for vacation.  She brought it in this week with only the soldering left to go on it and she completed it well before class was over with.  Her use of a pastel pink gives this window a nice soft, calming effect.

 

 

 

 

Let also made and altered the pattern for this colorful Heart which features a heart bevel off centered inside of the Heart itself.  A perfectly aligned perimeter is of the utmost importance on this pattern because you can't use channel on it due to the curved edge.   This pattern is about tap-tapping a leaded bead along the outer edge after making sure that everything lines up perfectly.

 

 

Sheri got her two Tropical Leaf Flowerpot Decorations finished by adding a brass rod to the back of each leaf.  I actually cut the rods off while editing the picture and realize now that I probably shouldn't have.  She found a brass rod at Tractor Supply  which was long enough to cut into four lengths that are each suitable for Flowerpot decorations.  That means that she's got two left over so perhaps we will see more of these in the weeks to come.

 

 

 

Lorrie made this Stained Glass Feather from start to finish while she was in class and then moved back on over to one of the windows that she was working on last week.  We'll see that a little further along in this post.   As for her feather, well, it's perfect!

Wow, wow, WOW!  Check out the face that Steve painted on his Southern Belle Window!  He used Pebeo Vitrea 160 Glass Paint and will allow it to dry for 24 hours.   His next step is to put the painted face (just the piece of glass, not the entire window- this 'firing' process must be done before the window is soldered together) into his oven at home where he will heat it to 325°F for 40 minutes.  After that those eyes, nose, and lips will only come off if you scrubs at them with a a razor blade, and who would want to do that to this Beautiful Southern Bell!

  

 

Susan D got the bird cut for her Autumn Tree Hoop as well as getting all of the glass globs ground.  Now comes the fun wrapping phase for this beautiful circular window.  The tree trunk and the ground will be cut and attached AFTER the globs have been tacked into position so that they attach perfectly.

 

 

 

 

MiMi has started her Five Birds On A Branch Window Hanging and her color choices are currently superb.   She has only one bird left to cut out and to pick colors for but I have no doubt that it will match perfectly in the marvelous color scheme that she's already defined here.

  

 

 

Lara began cutting her Three Tulips Panel and before class was over with she had everything cut as well as having some of this tiny 4x4 window ground. She's making this look easier than it really is because 4x4 means that she is dealing with a lot of tiny pieces and they are the hardest things to deal with when it comes to grinding (and foiling).

 

  

 

 

Melissa did a lot of cutting throughout the week which is evident by the fact that she's already grinding the pieces for her Tulip Window.   Her background (as well as all other color choices) is perfection because it's a wispy blue glass that's somewhat transparent.  Because of the transparency her flowers are going to be the focal point of the window and they have been cut from glass that is just as wonderful a choice as Melissa's sky was.

 

  

 

 

Lisa is back and we're glad to see her smiling face again.  She started grinding on her multi-colored Corner Cat and then foiled it as well.   At that point she called it a day because she didn't want to tack it together and let it sit for any length of time before she could actually solder it.  That means that this will surely be completed upon her return next week.

 

  

 

 

Let is never one to stand still (unless she's working at her grinder).   She made this Circular Flower  Window and will be soldering it so that she can start another new project next week when this becomes finished.  This is another example of a perfectly aligned perimeter that can't get a channel around it to hide any flaws.   And as always, Let has achieved an extremely high degree of accuracy here.

 

  

 

 

Cheryl is feeling VERY adventurous because this week we got to see her begin a very detailed Harley-Davidson Window.  There's a lot to line up here but Cheryl is going to take things one section at a time.  She's started things off by cutting out the letters for the words HARLEY DAVIDSON and when she returns she'll cut out the background glass for those letters.  Once they've been ground and wrapped in foil she will tack that section together and then wash all of the flux off of that section before moving on to either the MOTOR or the CYCLES word section.

 

 

 

This is the second project that Lorrie worked on this week.   She had the center with the Hen and the Laurel Wreath ground and mostly wrapped when she came in.  After completing her stained glass Feather she resumed work on this by tacking everything together and then cutting, grinding, and foiling the border.  That's what you call making the most of your class time.

 

  

 

 

Last week I told you all that I was going to suggest that Cindy re-cut the arms and the hair of Snow White and this week Cindy agreed.  And now that she has some color to her and you can see the end result of making that change.  I think that I can safely say that I was correct yet again.  LOL

 

 

 

After getting her purple background glass cut out Judy then took to the grinder where she had no trouble at all getting everything fitted together perfectly.   She's pinned all of her pieces down and when she comes back in she will begin foiling everything.   Once it's wrapped and tacked she can begin to work on her border.

 

 

 

This is the back side of Annette's New Orleans Scene.  Why are we looking at the back?  Well it's because she has all of the front soldered already!  This has been a test for her but a test that she's passing with flying colors.  She worries that it's taken so long to get to this point but you can't rush a window like this.   It gets made slower than most other windows simply because it's made up of so many tiny, intricate pieces.  Besides, it's never about speed-- it's ALWAYS about quality!

  

 

 

Zoe's Deer Window is so closed to being completed that I hate not being able to post the finished picture of it here.   But at least that means that I'll get a beautiful picture of it for our next post when I don't believe we will be seeing a lot of completed items which will give this window the spot light.  Zoe's work is amazing and I can't wait to see what new project she begins  when she comes back into class.

 

Since we are speaking of windows that are very nearly finished let's look in on Bee's LSU Plaque.  She's got it all ground and foiled and ready to begin soldering.   This is about 12 inches wide which means that there really isn't a lot to solder so expect to see this completed when she returns and expect to see what she plans on making next.

  

 

Sheri has a pair of Flower Crosses under construction with one of them being wrapped and tacked together while the second one is ground and ready to be foiled.   These went together pretty darned quickly for Sheri which is a testament to how far along she's come as a glass artist.

 

 

And to wrap things up we look at the Corner Owl Pattern that Barbara is about to embark upon.  She wanted to do a Bookend piece and really liked the Owl Pattern that everyone else loves to make as a large suncatcher.   We scanned it into the computer, scaled it down to 5 inches wide and then angled him so he would fit into the slots of one of the wooden Bookends.  This is the end result and Barbara will begin cutting into her scrap glass next week.

  

 

 

We are well back into the swing of things so get ready to see more incredible work done by our students in just seven days!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks
 

He Died

MiMi's created the largest Hoop design that we've yet to see in class.   We've had hoop patterns made in 10" hoops but MiMi's measures in at a whopping 18 inches! That helps explain how she achieved so much detail in this stunning window.    She opted for subtle color shifts throughout using two different, yet similar, reds for the cardinals along with three different pinks for the flowers.   Her finished piece is stunning to say the least.

 

 

 

 

Barbara's Orca The Whale Window utilizes a fist full of colors rather than a simple static blue for the water.   The end result is a whale at peace with the ocean which sets the viewers mind at ease.  It's calm, tranquil and serene all at once. 

 

 

 

Let has made a Cross which I don't believe we've ever seen before but which has now been added to our arsenal of patterns. It's simple yet effective and the workmanship is, as always, top notch.

 

 

 

Mary Grace is back and she made her class time very relaxing by working on three different heart suncatchers (two of which were completed this week).  She also added a small crystal heart to each of them which hang from a small chain on the bottom of each heart.  Delightful indeed.

 

 

 

Cheryl finished the Cross that she had started in her last class which only needed to be soldered.  As you can see she did an excellent job on that and her tap-tap along the edges was most impressive!

 

 

 

The last of our Crosses this week may look very familiar but the size of this is what makes it different.  Patrice loves the Modern Cross pattern but wanted something that could hang from a rear view mirror so we shrunk the pattern down and then shrunk it down yet again.   But Patrice says, "Never again" because those 14 pieces got very, VERY tiny!   Those aren't thick lead lines that you see in the picture below, they just look large because of how small this cross actually is (3.5 inches tall)!

 

Melissa has begun working on a new Tulip Pattern that certainly looks as though it's going to be a beautiful window.  She's using a lovely yellow glass for the tulips which has just a hint of pink running through it and it's that subtlety that will make the viewer ponder just what it is about this window that makes it look so wonderful. More details will follow in the weeks to come.

 

  

 

 

This Scottish Thistle is being made by Judy and she's already made major headway into her new project in just three short hours.  Next week she'll cut out the background for this and then she'll move on over to the grinder to make these pieces fit together even better than they already do.

 

 

 

Linda F has all of the glass cut out for her three Birds On A Branch Suncatcher and was able to utilize smaller pieces of glass that she already had on hand to get this all cut out.   The pins are a dead give away that she's already begun to grind this so it won't be long now.

 

  

 

 

Susan D is making a hoop design of her own which changes things up in what we call our our standard Glob Tree.  Whatever you may call them: Blobs, Globs, or Nuggets, they are always the same thing-  small, round, curved pieces of glass that are pre-formed.  That may sound like using them is taking the easy was out but grinding and then foiling all of these globs is the real test to the maker's stained glass skills.  Susan has these all ground and will begin foiling when we see her again.

  

 

 

Bee has decided that after making two VERY large windows in a row she's going to go a little smaller and easier to help ease herself back into the world or 'normal' stained glass windows.  She's decided to do a large LSU Suncatcher and not only cut it all out in one class but also began grinding it as well.

  

 

 

Lorrie wasted no time while we took our month off.  Although she had no classes to attend Lorrie worked diligently at home and managed to get all of her Hen and Laurel Wreath Logo Window completely cut, ground and foiled!

 

 

But that's not all that Lorrie accomplished- She also cut. ground, and foiled a beautiful and intricate  Sun/Moon window as well!  She brought both windows into class  and now has a double border on her Sun/Moon only needing it to be tacked into place.   Someone really has the stained glass bug in their system!

 

  

 

 

Cindy's Cinderella Silhouette Window is almost at the point where she'll be working on the background shortly.  Since she's using multiple colors for the castle I'm going to run it by her and see if she might want to re-cut the arms of Cinderella out of flesh colored glass and the hair out of yellow or brown.  It will be completely up to her and you'll see what she decides to do in out next post.

 

  

 

 

Sheri has two Tropical Stained Glass Leaves completed all save for the brass rods that will transform these from suncatchers into Flower Pot Ornaments.  Alas, we did not have the rods to attach to these but Sheri says that she found some on her own so we might very well see these completed upon her return.

 

  

 

 

Darth Vader lives!  Now that he's completely tacked together and the background has been been tacked to him as well it's hard to deny who this evil being is.  June has done wonderfully on this and for the border she picked red to match his light saber.  Soldering will surely occur upon her return.

  

 

 

Kerry's Swedish Chef got its slogan letters cut out and you can now see about where they will reside on the finished window.  He'll grind the letters first and then fill in the background pieces AFTER they have been tacked together.  This will ensure that the letters don't shift at all and that the writing remains legible.

  

 

 

Zoe's Deer is ready for solder!  Yes, there's a green piece of border missing but she was foiling that when I took the picture of her window.   I was going to Photoshop a piece into the open area but forgot and, in all honesty, I'm just too lazy to go through all of that now that this has already been uploaded.  I'll bet that Zoe gets most of this soldered when she returns but adding channel and hooks, washing it and coloring it and then washing and waxing it will most assuredly happen two weeks from now.

 

  

 

 

With everything cut out for her Peacock, Martha has begun to grind her peacock pieces.   All of the body and head were ground this week and now Martha is about to move downward to the tail feathers when she next comes in.

 

 

 

Susan R's Pair of Chefs Panel got its border cut and tacked into place after which Susan soldered the front side and then began working on soldering the back side.  That means that there's no doubt that this will be completed when she comes back in.  I can't wait to see this one when it is hanging up with some light behind it.

 

  

 

 

Patrice also worked away diligently while we were away for the month.   Her Acadiana Louisiana Window is almost completely cut and ground.   She was unsure about cutting the small pieces for the three small Fleur De Lis in the top section of the state so I told her that it would probably be best to tack together what she has completed so that nothing shifts around as she's working on those remaining small pieces.  I suspect that we'll see the FDL's and even a first border get attached when she comes back.

 

 

 

Linda made a minor adjustment to the height of her 'Drake' Window and then got a border cut and attached.  She's ready to begin soldering this and is looking forward to taking it home with her for the last time next week.

  

 

Let has her Flower Window all tacked together and even has the front side soldered.   When she walked in the door she only needed her border pieces cut and once that  was done the grinding, wrapping and tacking of it went quickly.  She even got a channel attached which means that there's only the back to be soldered and then a pair of hooks to be added so that she can take this home and hang it.

 

  

 

Lastly we turn our head to Lara who is about to embark on a tulip journey of her own by putting together this deceptively small Tulip Panel.   She's already picked all of her glass and the colors that she's chosen are wonderful, but what else would you expect from Lara?

  

And there you have it.   See you in one week with new windows started and older windows completed.

 

Paul

Bayou Saé GlassWorks 

Something about Delta Burke

After being MIA for about 4 weeks we are officially back in action with a new blog post.   We had taken the month of May off and I didn't get a chance to post this before we left so although this is a new post everything you see below happened during the last week of April.  With that out of the way let's get started. 

Bee's Front Door Window has been completed and let me tell you that it's larger than you initially believe it to be when you look at the picture.  It certainly took up a good deal of the table that she had been working on and it's so long that we could only get a picture of it horizontally on that work table.

  

 And here's a picture of her window after she had it installed in into the door of her brand new house.  Stunning!

 

Judy completed her Cowboy Dad and Cowboy Son Window and the addition of the vertical fence posts really changed the look and feel of the overall design.  Judy starts a project, gets into a working frame of mind and muscles through the project relentlessly.   When there's a problem she plows on through it rather than working around it and that's the ONLY way to handle that situation.   This window is a perfect product of her work ethic.

  

 

 

Jan handled the creation of this elegant Transom window with the greatest of ease.   The biggest takeaway that she learned while making this is that moving your iron back and forth like a paint brush while soldering a line only affords you bumpy lead lines, run-throughs, and cracked pieces.  This window shows off all that she's learned wonderfully.

  

 

 

Patrice made this variation on the Bathtub Lady Window by rounding it off and adding elaborate accent laurels along the top and bottom of the circle.    She's posted this on Facebook and the majority of the members there agree that this is stunning.

 

Melissa's Antique Sewing Machine Window was finished after she applied a new touch of 'realism' to it.   We've seen actual pins being added to the pincushion before but Melissa went the extra mile and made the 'thread' out of some thin but strong wire which was added on top of the window.  Doing this removed some difficult cuts and gave the overall look a slight 3D feel that works only because of careful wire placement and the fact that she used clear glass foe her background.   You can easily follow the length of the thread and see how it flows realistically from the spool on top to the needle on the bottom.

 

  

 

 

This Owl that Susan D completed is about the most perfect circle that I've ever seen a student make.   She ground each piece meticulously focusing on the rounded edge first and then worked on fitting the owl to the background pieces and the chest of the owl.  Susan never takes shortcuts and that is very evident when you look at the amber pieces that make up this bird's eyes.  Those indentations for the pupils were made using a small grinding bit that took plenty of time and effort but which which give this bird its amazing detail.

 

  

 

 

 

Linda F has finished her colorful Fish Panel and her background glass flows smoothly from left to right because she cut it from one piece of glass that started off as the exact size that she needed the finished panel to be.  This requires precise cutting because just one little break would shatter (no pun intended) the illusion of a continuous flow of water.

 

 

 

Check out this fancy Chicken that Lara made.   This Hen has more fashion sense that any of the chickens that we've ever seen in our classes.  You've gotta love those boots and her hat which are sure to put a smile on anyone's face that looks at this Hen.

 

 

 

Betty is a sunflower machine and here we see her latest in a long series of Sunflowers.  I do believe that this will get one more design change the next time that she makes it but I won't tell you what that will be until you see it completed by Betty again.

 

 

 

If Betty is a sunflower machine then Ann is a Cross machine!   She can knock one of these out per class and that's exactly what she did with this gorgeous purple Cross.

Martha began cutting out this popular peacock pattern and as you can see, she's gotten a lion's share of the cutting completed in just one class.  She's always loved this pattern and has made it numerous times in the past.  Because of that she makes this look easy even though it's certainly NOT a beginners pattern, but then again, Martha isn't a beginner...

  

 

Zoe's got her Deer Window all ground and fitting together and she's taken it along home with her so that she could hopefully get it all wrapped with copper foil between classes.   I'm pretty sure that we'll see this get a border attached when she comes back in and then she can begin soldering.  I still can't get over how perfectly everything fits together on this.

 

 

 

Cindy had a request to do a Cinderella Silhouette in glass but she's added a little more detail to it to 'spice things up a bit'.  By adding both detail and color she's turning a simple silhouette into a proper stained glass window.

 

  

 

Linda F also worked on a new small version of one of the popular Bird On A Wire Patterns.  She just picked three birds that she liked, ran them together and eliminated the other superfluous birds from both ends.   Her 'new' pattern is already coming together beautifully as evident in the picture below.

  

 

 

Meanwhile, Linda L has begun making a Drake Panel.   The letters and all of the clear textured background glass between each letter have been completely cut and ground but the glass on the top and the bottom will be adjusted to perfection AFTER the center section has been tacked together.

 

  

 

With all of her Large Cardinal Hoop cut and ground MiMi has move on over to the foiling part of this project.  It looks like she's very nearly ready to tack this together, after which she'll solder it and apply the hoop to the back of the piece.  this is stunning already so I can't wait to see it hanging with some light behind it.

 

 

 

Barbara's Orca Panel started off simply enough but then she added an inner beveled border along with a multitude of colors in the actual window itself which changed it from a cute little panel to an elegant window.  Also, that final border color choice is absolutely killer, which I suppose befits the whale itself.   Look to see this completed upon our return next week.

 

 

 

 

Susan R's pair of Chef's Panel was all tacked together after she came into class and got her background pieces cut, ground, and wrapped in foil.  With just a few border pieces left to go, Susan will be completing this delightful duo upon her return when classes begin again next week.

 

  

 

 

Speaking of Chefs, Kerry has his own Chef Window underway which features a well known Muppet  who goes by the name of Swedish Chef.  Somehow I've missed out on this character but thanks to YouTube I fully appreciate his comic value now. Dare I say that Kerry has captured him in glass perfectly.

 

 

 

Steve has all of his final panel all cut and ground for his Southern Belle Window but this Belle is going to need a face painted on her before he can truly solder it.  Still, there's wrapping and tacking that can be done so perhaps the face can wait another week.  We'll see what happens when Steve returns.

 

  

 

 

With Darth being completely ground June was able to come in and begin foiling all of her black pieces. The foil helps reveal some depth to all of that black by highlighting where lead lines will reside. Also, when you see this in person it's easy to see that she actually used two different textures of black which also give Vader more depth.   This week you can more clearly see more of the detail that June put into this window because of the foil that she's applied.

 

 

 

Sheri accomplished quite a lot since we last saw this window.   Everything has since been ground, wrapped in foil, tacked together, bordered, and channeled.  In fact, she even got the first side of it soldered before calling it a day and taking it home with her where she could hopefully work on finishing it up while our vacation was going on.  I can't wait to see what she comes back with next week!

  

 

 

Cheryl began working on this Cross Suncatcher but instead of using bevels she's cut the accent pieces out of purple glass.      By the time class ended she had this tacked together and ready to be soldered which means that this will certainly be another completed piece that you'll see in our next post.

 

 

 

Betty not only finished her Sunflower window but also worked on a framed Bevel as well as a series of Daisy Suncatchers complete with wire stems.  Look to see these completed upon her return.

 

 

And there ya have it.  As I said earlier, all of this happened a month ago and it's taken this long to post  only because we just returned from a long and well enjoyed vacation.   Classes begin again in June so our next post will happen on or around the 6th.  See you then!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks