It Just Screams Horns

Easter closed down the shop for a few days while we headed out of state to visit family up in Pennsylvania.  It was a short trip but  it put the Blog behind a week so this post actually covers the events that occurred the week before Easter Sunday.  Since this is late, let's delve right into things.

First off we got to see Becky S complete her Bamboo and Panda Window and it's really striking.  The Panda is small enough to not steal the focus of the window which makes the bamboo the central theme and the window completely adult oriented.  Most times a bear in a window will make it scream "CHILD'S WINDOW" but in this case not at all. 

 

Carol put the finishing touches on her Octagon Humming Bird Window while she was at home, right down to already having the lead patina'ed.  We just added two hooks when she brought it back in and then took its picture.  Carol's soldering is amazing and she's completing things at home regularly now.

 

Cindy's back and she finished this Eye of the Tiger Suncatcher.  She needed one or two small touch ups on her soldering but they were very minor so at 8:50pm she washed it and took it home with her at 9:00. Along with her  great work it was also great to see Cindy back in class again.  We missed her.

 

Jane completed her first 3D Rose Lawn Ornament but don't think this is something small for the end table-- it's as large as the sunflower you'll see below this.  Putting this together is a little perplexing at first but once it's done students find that it's impossible to screw up.

  

We've seen these Sunflowers before but this is Susan's first and it's a one of two project.   She'll be working on a second one next week and like the Rose Ornament, Susan has learned that there's no right or wrong here-- just a perfect Sunflower.

 

Our last completed project this week is another Lawn Ornament and it's a Bumble Bee that Rowena made.  During the assembly she got to see how to tack all of the body pieces and the wings into a slight curve.  Trust me when I say that when you see the completed project the curve makes a world of difference.  A little extra effort goes a long way in stained glass.

Becky B spent the day working on her Bird Of Paradise flowers and leaves and they are officially  cut out now.  There's no point in laying this on top of her background glass since the foreground is so busy.  That means that Becky will be cutting her background glass individually before she starts grinding this project.

 

 

Terry's Egrets Window now has a border cut out and most of the center section is wrapped.  Soldering is just a step away for these birds.  And Terry's 'H' window features borders that are far more complex than other Letter Windows that she's made in the past.  I think she's feeling far less challenged by these and that she's doing what she can to make them more of a challenge!

Jeanne's Winnie the Pooh is almost all ground and tacked together.  The only thing left to do is cut the sky.  She's left the sky blank so she can cut it all out of one piece and get the grain to flow smoothly throughout the window.   She's also added extra leaves to fill the tree out more which I think looks great.

  

Betty continued working on her large clear Stylized Fleur De Lis Window by getting the top curved border and its matching corners cut.  Everything lines up beautifully and this window is ready to be soldered.  Betty also cut and ground a her first 3D Bee Lawn Ornament which moved along quickly for her and I suspect the assembly of it will go just as smoothly when she returns with it during her next class.

 

Gale worked up a storm while she was home and came in with her Louisiana FDL Window only needing a border.  After that was attached we added some brass channel and then she began the soldering process, leaving class with the front side almost completely soldered!  If this isn't finished when she comes back in I'll be shocked!

 

Brenda got all of her multi-million piece Magnolia Window ground and ready for foil.  Once this is tacked together we'll add the border and then get ready to do some soldering!  This is a beautiful design and I can't wait to see what it looks like when she comes back in.

Once Becky S's Bamboo and Panda Window was completed she set upon cutting the glass for her Steer Head Window.  Before I even knew it all of her glass was cut and Becky was already grinding.   Sometimes you luck out and find the perfect glass for something that initially worries you when you see it as a black and white pattern.  And that was the case for the horns on this window--they're perfect.

  

Mary Grace has all of her Fruit Basket cut out and has even begun grinding some of it.  And to her credit, all I helped with were some of the grapes.  That's some pretty impressive work she's accomplished all on her own.  She'll resume grinding upon her return to class, but first she'll cruise.

  

Linda F fell in love with this frog pattern and simply shortened it and then stretched it out slightly so it would fit into a metal frame which will display it prominently in her yard.  With all of the glass cut out already I know she'll have no problem grinding this while she's at home during the week between classes.

 

And Myrt's working away on her own multi-million piece project.  She's approaching it one section at a time (like I do to projects with a lot of pieces).   Her Outhouse Window's  wheel barrow is all cut out and ground now so I guess it's ready for hauling out the... well, never mind. 

And Linda L's Wild Thing's eyes are cut and ground meaning that the woman itself is all cut and ground.  With that part completed Linda will take this home to possibly begin wrapping it.  But with a vacation coming up on board of a cruise ship I won't be surprised or or disappointed to find that she didn't get to it.  Either way Linda will be adding some text to the bottom of this when she comes back in.

 

Martha has been making great progress on her own Magnolia Window.  In fact, she only has two sections of leaves to go and then she'll be ready to cut out her background glass.  Since there isn't much background to this window she'll cut and grind it before she starts tacking things together since she'd only be wasting glass doing it any other way.  I love the precision of her grinding.

Rowena continued working on her Baseball Window and you can see that the colors are just perfect for this.  There's no doubt at all that this is a baseball field. She still needs to cut out the bat and the letters that spell out the name KYLE, and then this will be headed towards the home stretch.

 

Sue's Featherized Window is all ready for background glass now.  Both sides are cut and ground but the window is extremely fragile at this point so Sue will be working on it solely in the shop rather than risking the transportation of such a delicate window.  Once the background is cut and tacked into place things will be far more solid.  And the reason that one of those 'feathers' is off color is because the other three are stacked two deep whereas the lighter one isn't. Trust me, it all matches.

 

Shelley's latest Mermaid Window has a border and just needs solder now We knocked out some glass in the stomach to give the mermaid a more natural look and when this is completed Shelley will be adding some glass jewels to the treasure chest.  This mermaid is going to be rich!

Jeannette's Crab Window is finished save for the soldering.  When lit up, the colors of this are spectacular.  Jeannette also worked on a large Anchor suncatcher which she got all cut out and ground before taking it home to wrap and maybe even solder.  If the Anchor comes back soldered I think Jeannette will leave with two completed projects next week.

 

Carol got the Rose portion of her new Rose Window cut out but all I have to show you is her pattern.  Sometimes I'm a little slow when it comes to getting my camera out and that's exactly what happened during class last week.  But something tells me that there will be plenty more to see of this window when Carol comes back into class.

 

We have a second Blog Update almost ready to be posted so expect that within the next two days.  Once that's up we'll be back up to date after the Easter weekend took me out of state and away from my computer for a while.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

A Fourth Option

 
Options, options.  When making a stained glass window one must consider what color the lead will be once the project is completed.  In the past we've had basically three options to 'finish' our stained glass windows.  We could leave the lead silver, you could color it copper, or you could turn it black.  Now, thanks to Novacam, we have a fourth choice: Neon Green.  Superglo comes in a handy spray container and is applied the same way that any other patina is applied.  There's no wait after the application, just wash it off, wax it, and enjoy the rich semi-florescent green hue that your lead takes on. Superglo Neon Green won't wash off and is great for outdoor projects that face the harsh elements.



In the daylight Superglo's green is clearly visible yet it's far from overpowering.  Many users say that the lead takes on a well-weathered  copper look.  Here's a look at a beveled window that's been colored with Superglow Neon Green Patina.

But where most windows disappear at night, Superglo shows it's true color in the dark of night when your lead actually glows in the dark allowing you to enjoy your window in the middle of the afternoon or the middle of the night.  Just look at this night shot of the same window.

 

Novacam Superglow Green is easy to use, safe, reasonably priced, and available at most Stained Glass Suppliers.  Get your bottle today.  And be sure to look for Superglo Nuclear Blue, coming soon!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Foiled Again

Pattern placement on you glass is something that should be thought out in many different ways.  We always want just the right sections of glass for each piece but we also want to be efficient in our cutting as well.  When we separate the pieces from the glass in the picture on the left we end up with an irregular piece of glass  that's not only difficult to store, but also likely to break as students flip through the glass in the bins.  If you position your pieces in a straight path along one side of the glass we end up with an easily stored and must sturdier rectangle of glass that will fit nicely into the glass rack.  Also remember to butt the straight edges of pattern pieces against the straight edges of the glass and against other straight cuts to help save time cutting and grinding.  Positioning you glass in a cluster in a corner is a no-no (picture on the left).  Positioning your pieces in as straight a line as possible gets you a gold star (picture on the right).













 
So let's start with Bonnie who completed her Large Dragon Suncatcher this week.  She wanted something child-appropriate which is to say, not very scarey.   I think she succeeded with this very storybook looking Dragon that can't help but bring a smile to a child's face, flames or not!

 

Janet completed her latest  Flower Hand Mirror both quickly and efficiently.  The nice soft curves are really what make this mirror so unique and Janet has the perfect touch for those curves.

 

And Brenda finished her final Transom Window piece.  I suspect that she's happy to have worked on these for the last time.  The good news is that she can now sit back and enjoy her handy work while thinking about how all of that work was worth it.

 

Mary Grace completed her Double Sunflower with a double border and I really love it.  The yellow border is different from the glass that she used for the sunflower but only in a subtle way.  Returning to the background blue was really the only logical choice there was in this color scheme and not only was it logical, but beautiful as well.

 

Rowena completed her latest Sunflower Lawn Ornament as well as a large Butterfly Suncatcher this week.  I've photographed them together and I think they'd look great as a single Lawn Ornament.  Something to think about for sure (Though perhaps with a smaller butterfly with angled wings.)

Bonnie also started her latest angel which started out as a suncatcher but which is now looking to become a window.   Next week Bonnie is going to ring a bell so this semi-Victorian styled Angel  can get its wings

 

Gale has her newest Window, a Louisiana Style Fleur De Lis,all cut out and basically ground.  She's done beautiful work on this and her curves flow nice and smoothly throughout.   For a second  project I'd say that Gale has more than gotten the hang of this.

  

Brenda also began work on this magnolia scene complete with VERY thin pieces.  It's a beautiful window that involves a lot of work, but as I always say, you get out of a window what you put into the window.

 

Becky S has her Bamboo and Panda Bear Window all tacked together and set about working on her double borders when she came into class. She went with a similar but untextured green glass for the thin, inner border and got that cut, ground and tacked. Next she cut a wider, clear border and will attach that and its green corners into place when she comes back in. With the front of this already essentially soldered I don't see Becky needing to work on this for very much longer.

  

 
Terry is working on a few magnolias of her own with an egret or two thrown in for some added style.  This window is already WELL underway and  I do believe that Terry has all of her glass cut out for this already.

  

Janet not only finished her flower hand mirror but also worked on the wispy white background glass for her Melon Window.  The center sections are cut and ground which leaves only the edge pieces to go.  Once they're tacked into place a final border will 'round' this project out.

 

 

Carol's latest Window takes her on another shape adventure--the Octagon.  She came in needing a border and I have to say that she made the perfect call for it in terms of color.  Then she got to see how you fit an octagon border perfectly.  It looked confusing while we were going through the motions but in the end I think that Carol completely understood what was going on.  And look-- it fits perfectly!

Sue worked on the second side of her feather themed window and has it all ground and ready for foil.  There's still the center flower section to grind but Sue took it home with her so perhaps it will return to class all ground when she comes back in.  We might see some background being cut or we might not.  We'll find out when Sue returns on Wednesday.

 

 

Linda L  is making excellent progress on her version of  the Wild Things Window having most of the crazy woman already ground and ready to be foiled.   The letters for the text will be cut out before the background so expect to see some wording on this window when Linda returns.

 

Mary Grace not only completed her Sunflower Window but she also started working on the Fruit Basket Window that she's been threatening to do for the past few months.  The glass she used for the bowl is a match to the tile in her kitchen and the fruit will be bright, colorful, and made from scraps of glass (which is always a good thing). 

 

Martha is yet another student who is also making a  Magnolia window which means that Magnolia's seem to be the flower to be making right now.  She's doing this as a round window and it's going to be wonderful as you can tell already.

 

Ann is making serious head way on her Flower Window and I do believe that nine out of ten of her flowers are ground.   I'm thinking that of she wraps and tacks them things will be more sturdy when she begins cutting and grinding her background pieces.

 

Myrt continued working on her outhouse window and has filled in the hole where the birdhouse goes with, of all things, a birdhouse!  She's working on the background scenery now and that means flowers,  Lots of tiny, little flowers!  But after those are cut it will be smooth sailing for Myrt since the rest of the pieces will be a nice, easy to manage size..

 

Rowena paused working  on her Baseball Window so we could make an adjustment or two on the design.  We've slimmed down the bat so that it more resembles a baseball bat rather than a softball bat.   And while this was going on Rowena cut out and began grinding this new Bee  Lawn Ornament.

 

 

Susan brought in  a window to be repaired and got the glass all set up for it.  Since it will have to be ordered she's started not one but two Sunflower Lawn Ornaments.  She's ready to start grinding the first of these and will most likely put one together when she returns.

 

And there you have it, everything that happened in our classes last week that we could print in a family oriented Blog.  ;-)

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Real Results

Back in the middle of  February we had a weekend workshop that four sisters attended.  Everything went well and one of those sisters, Judy, left with not only this window in tow but a lot of tools, glass, and accessories to make some stained glass at home.

 

The window is certainly gorgeous but people will always say , "She had a teacher there every step of the way."  Which, while true, means little as you are about to see.  What can a student who attends one of our Weekend Workshops hope to accomplish on their own?  How about this for starters.

 

Judy has been working on this incredibly detailed Pelican Window all on her own after taking only one 2 day class with us.  Her work on this project even has me speechless because this project is not a beginner window in any way, shape, or form.  I'd love to take the credit for this but Judy deserves it all.  This is a labor of love and Judy's talent runs deep.  I'm thrilled to say that she made her first window with us and I can't wait to see this when it's completed.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks