When Madness Takes Its Toll

Linda L has achieved perfection on her first Name Plaque Window.  People agonize over lead line placement to make cutting easier but if you can remember three simple rules then the end result will look just fine.  1) Add ONLY lines which are needed.  2) Lines should be short yet long enough to be practical to cut. 3) CURVE YOUR LINES!!  Skylar's name looks wonderful in glass because Linda followed these rules.

 

  

 

Let has a new Heart design completed this week and the purple glass that she used for the heart itself ties in wonderfully with the two different shades of purple that she used in the iris.   People get concerned when a border doesn't exactly match a color in the window but it really helps to add depth to a piece when you use similar but different colors.  Again, the purple in the heart does NOT exactly match either of the purples used in the Iris and the overall effect looks much better because of that.  It's all about diversity.

 

 

Next up we have another heart with a different flower inside of it.  Also, the overall look of the finished heart has a completely different aesthetic from the heart seen above.  Betty makes many of these because they sell so quickly for her.  Because of the sheer number of these Sunflower Hearts that she has made you can never find fault with them.

 

 

 

Barbara completed her LSU Window in record time and boy has her cutting ever become top notch.  These letters are as neat as a pin and the colors just scream "TIGERS"! 

 

 

 

Annette loves to work on things while at home and this week she brought in this lovely Dove Cross Suncatcher that she made using iridized glass.  That's not all she did though- we'll take a look at her other project a little later on in this post.

Lorrie's latest Window was begun last week and this week she already has the lion's share of it completed.   Sadly,  a piece of the blue background glass was broken while cutting it to make room for the small yellow Fleur De Lis'.  To fix this Lorrie will tack everything together and then slip a piece of the blue glass behind the window so she can trace the opening onto the new piece of blue glass.  Once that's done she'll fill in her small pieces in a similar fashion and then work on a border or two for this.

  

 

 

Linda L has the next name for her second Name Plaque in her sights and has all of the letters cut out and ground already.   She's in the process of foiling the pieces and once she tacks them together she'll place them on top of her background glass, trace around them, and begin cutting.

 

 

 

 

With her Spiderman Suncatcher all cut and ground Cindy is now ready to wrap Peter Parker's pieces in copper foil and then solder both of these super heroes!

 

 

 

Let is making a new window this week which features flowing Cat Tails.  You can't see from the picture below but all of the clear glue chip glass that she's using for the background as been cut with almost the entirety of it having been ground as well.  I look at this and the first thing I think is, 'borders next week'! 

  

 

 

Sheri's  Buddha Yoga Window will feature green and amber colors predominantly.  You can see that she's well on her way here and when she returns we'll likely see some of those amber tones come into play.  I love how the pattern alternates green and amber for balance

 

  

 

 

Jan is now ready to dive into some glue chip for her background glass now that she's cut, ground, and wrapped the pieces for the inner border of her Transom Window.  It may seem a bit backwards to do it in this order but this ensures perfect fits along with (more importantly) the correct finished size.

 

 

 

 

Judy liked my idea for an addition to her window but we did not have the glass that we needed to make it actually happen.  She's foiled all of the pieces that wouldn't be affected by the small change and will incorporate the modification when she returns next week.  Sorry for being so cryptic but it's easier to show you next week rather than trying to explain it this week.

 

 

 

Susan R's Chefs Window is also coming together quickly.  She's got all of her subject matter cut out and has already begun grinding the pieces that make them.   Once this pair of chefs are ground and tacked together Susan will position them onto her background glass close enough to allow her to get some border glass on each side of this window.

 

  

 

 

Meanwhile, Susan D has completed cutting out all of the glass for her round Owl Window.  She's begun grinding her pieces and has figured out for herself that the best way to ensure that this keeps a perfectly circular edge is to grind that first.   Now she's fitting the centermost pieces into the background.

  

 

 

Kerry's Swedish Chef is clearly recognizable now that the majority of the pieces that make him have been ground.  There's still a a few pieces left to go but Kerry is in the home stretch now!  We've left the mouth blank because I was unhappy with how I originally drew the pattern but I think we know ho to make that look just fine now.

 

 

 

Melissa was busy foiling her Sewing Machine Window and I suspect that before you know it she'll be adding the wire work which will become the thread of this window.  I think that everyone who has ever made this has come up with their own idea to put a new twist on this popular pattern but Melissa's twist is more extreme than most and I think it's going to be the way to do this from here on out.

 

  

 

 

Just look at this!  Annette has fitted almost the entirety of her pieces into position and has also tacked a good 98% of her very complex New Orleans Window. The Jazz and Blues sign as well as the Fleur De Lis Flag have been fired in the kiln so that nothing fades or comes off over time and she's just about set to get her borders cut and attached!

 

 

 

June's Darth Vader is looking more and more ominous with each passing week.  So then, let me ask you-- Why did Darth Vader cross the road?   To get to the dark side!

 

  

 

 

Cheryl's Teapot Window just needs two more pieces of its final border foiled and then she'll be able to tack this together and begin soldering.  The only thing she has to remember is to NOT apply too much heat along the plate itself.  Simply make one pass with solder and then allow things to completely cool down before trying to fix any problems with the lead line that has just been created.

 

 

Martha's Birdhouse and Roses Window is now being foiled and this is when the window truly comes to life.  The copper foil helps to reveal where all of the lead lines will be seen which makes the window look even better than it already does now!

 

 

Lastly we look at the Modern Tulip Window that Betty is working on.  It got foiled, wrapped and tacked together this week and Betty even attached a brass channel to it as well.   I'm thinking that this will surely be among our completed windows in our next post.

 

May the Force be with you.

 

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

But My Granny Reads The Blog!

MiMi's LSU Tiger is a work of art featuring a uniquely perfect color scheme that runs over three feet in length.  It all comes together perfectly due to her  precision cutting and I know that the person that this will be gifted to will truly be moved.  

 

 

 

Lorrie's Sunflower Window took no time at all for her to make but her work was not rushed at all.  A perfect mix of colors insure that this will easily turn heads whenever anyone sees it. 

 

 

 

Ann's Borromean Rings Window was easily completed but it's very hard (next to impossible actually) to show you how the rings actually float above the circular background.  When lying 'flat' on a table this window actually stands one inch high because the interconnected rings have are not cut into the background but rather have been attached above it using six three quarter inch posts.  Alas, the only way to truly appreciate this is to see it in person.

 

 

 

 

Patrice smoothed out her soldering and then colored her window thus making this her second Umbrella Lady that she's made over the years with us.    This one has a different color scheme than her first and since I'm partial to deep blue I'm flat out saying that this one is my favorite of the two.

 

  

 

 

Cindy's Cardinal/Cross is an original design which looks great.  She didn't try to make things easier for herself by cutting straight lines from the diamond points on the edge of the cross.  Instead, Cindy chose to grind the pieces into position.

 

 

 

Let's latest Heart is another suncatcher and another win for her.  You just can't lose when you mix hues of the same color through out a subject matter (in this case the Sunflower petals) rather than going for just one static color.   Add to that the unique color forming the heart itself and you have another gorgeous large suncatcher.

 

 

 

Patrice doesn't sit still for long.  She also managed to complete another Modern Cross and a Turtle Suncatcher done in assorted oranges rather than standard greens.   The end result is stunning to say the least. 

 

 

 

Annette is someone else who always walks in the door with a suncatcher or two under her belt which she made at home during the week.  Here are two Dove Crosses in two different sizes.

 

 

 

Somehow I forgot to post this last week but this week we can see that Kerry has finished the cutting process for his Swedish Chef Window.  All I can say is, "Bork, bork, bork!"

  

 

Lorrie is only one week into her Acadian Flag Window and she has it almost completely cut it out already!  She still has to cut out three small Fleur De Lis' that will reside in the upper blue portion of the window but the easiest way to handle that is to cut, grind and tack together the FDLs and then trace them on top of the blue background piece.  That glass will then be cut for a nearly perfect fit.

  

 

Susan has started an Owl Suncatcher and wants to make it circular.  To achieve that and to be as close to perfection as possible she's going to grind everything so that it fits within this wooden ring. It's almost like having a square for circles!

  

 

An opened heart? Check!  A flower or scenery in the center? Check!  Uniformity across the board?  Check!   Who could be making this, Let?   Check!  She's certainly got a signature style and this fits it perfectly.  Rest assured that it will be completed before you know it.  

  

 

Although the pattern shows these two Chefs spaced apart from one another Susan R is going to cut them out and then grind and tack them together so that she can change their spacing within the background glass so that she can also fit a border along both sides of it.  In the end it will be everything that she had hoped that it would be.

  

Cindy has super hero fever and this week she managed to completely cut out this Batman Suncatcher .  That's going to be Spiderman on the right and even though they come from competing comic book companies these two are going to exist peacefully along side one another in all of their stained glass glory.

  

 

There are only 10 pieces of glass left  for Bee to cut and then her  Front Door Insert will be ready to be soldered.  These last few pieces wrap around the complex corner accents so they won't go as quickly as standard border pieces, but they won't take all that long either.  I can't wait to see how far she gets when she comes back in.

 

 

 

With all of the grinding completed on her Sewing Machine Window Melissa is just about ready to start foiling.  There are still two accent colors that reside on either side of the heart on the base of the machine that Melissa hasn't cut yet but I believe she said that she had a color in mind which she had left at home.  

 

  

 

 

There are only a few scant pieces left to go on Annette's New Orleans Window and those are only the four small sections of the steeple of the church in the distance.  Nettie's work on this has been outstanding and this week you can clearly see that she's achieved what she originally aimed for.

 

  

 

This pair of Cowboys that Judy is making is ready for foil but I may suggest an idea that's stuck in my head that will take less than five minutes to accomplish.   That's all that I'm going to say because I love to leave people hanging like that!

 

 

 

This guy is certainly looking menacing now that his face is together.  All the detail of this window is in Darth Vader's mask which means that the bottom is going to grind far more easily and quickly than the rest of this has.  June never complained at all while making this even thought it was daunting to her at first.

 

 

 

Martha's Birdhouse with Roses Window is officially all cut and ground!  I remember when it would have taken Martha weeks to grind all of those flower petals but now days she just heads straight to the grinder and three hours later has everything fitting together perfectly.  The rest of this should be a piece of cake for her.

 

  

 

I hate when class ends and someone has only a very little amount of work to go before finishing their window.  That's exactly what happened to Linda L this week.   When she returns we're going to look for any flaws in her soldering and then wash this and call it a window!

 

 

 

Patrice also tacked together her round Lady In a Bathtub Window and will get to work on a nice elaborate border system for it before you know it! 

 

 

 

After adding an extra layer of yellow glass along the top and the bottom of her LSU letters  Barbara was then able to use the same purple glass for the border.  The extra yellow strips prevent the border from bleeding into the letters and allows the viewer to more easily discern them in the finished window.

 

  

 

 

Betty cut out the background glass for her Tulip Window which fits together perfectly because she cut it from one piece of glass without using pattern pieces.  Everything lines up perfectly and really only needs to be ground where the tulips and the leaves touch the background.   Betty also ground a new Sunflower Heart of her own and has begun to foil all the pieces for that as well.

 

  

 

 

Lastly, Sheri has a Buddha Yoga inspired window in the works and this is the pattern.  She'll be cutting glass for it next week and that's when we will begin to see this come to life.

 

 

 

And there you have it.  Come back next week when we hope to see you again!

 

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

You're Lucky I Have A Lot Of Patience

Sheri's Hamsa Window sets it peaceful tone not only with it's subject matter but with it's tranquil color scheme as well.  She's forgone a border on this but was only able to because it's small enough to hang directly by the channel itself.  Had the window been any larger though, a border would have been necessary.

 

Let's Flower Window is bright and airy, and the heavily textured clear border that surrounds it works wonderfully.  As always, Let has perfect cuts and grinds throughout the entirety of this window.

 

 

 

Who would have thought a purple border on a Cardinal Window would work?  Well, when you use purple for the flowers on the branch that the Cardinal is  sitting on then you get to use it again and have things match up perfectly.   This is all Cindy here in everything from the design, to the colors and onward down to its flawless execution.

 

 

Betty strikes yet again with another Sunflower Window framed in a beautiful lime green border which keeps her window bright and airy.

 

 

 

 

Patrice made this Suncatcher while at home during the week and it only needed a hook on it to hang it from when she brought it into class.  Both stunning and perfectly symmetrical,  Patrice is proving that she hasn't lost her touch for stained glass in the months that she's been away. 

 

 

 

 

Sheri also came in with this Easter Bunny all set to be soldered.  By the time class ended she had put the finishing touches on this piece as well as her Hamsa Hand.

 

 

 

 

It seems as though everyone is working at home.   Linda L finished this pair of Beveled Crosses, one made in pure white and the other in an iridized clear glass.  The Bevel in the center not only acts as a beautiful focal point but also prevents the crosses from 'folding' along hinge lines that the bevel prevents.

 

Helen is making Butterflies and loves the simplicity as well as the beauty of the pattern that we call our 'student Project'.   I usually make a few of these when we go to shows because they are ALWAYS very much in demand.

Steve made a Shrimp Suncatcher out of one piece of round blue glass along with a small chip of red.  Once you see it it you can't miss it.   The majority of this was wire work and Steve handled it effortlessly.

 

Let loves her Large Heart Shaped Suncatchers and her latest Sunflower Heart falls in line with her sense style.  She may not have completed it this week but I can guarantee that it will be finished when she walks back into class.

 

  

 

 

Jan has begun work on a Transom Window and got eight pieces cut and ground for it.  These eight pieces are the only ones that requires a poster board pattern to cut out as the rest of the glass needed to make this will be cut from strips that we will measure out to cut.

  

 

 

Linda L has cut out the iridized textured background for her first name window and it not only cut easily but is grinding easily as well.   It's already halfway there and will be tacked together before you know it.

 

  

 

 

I was thinking this was a Dove Cross but it turns out that Cindy is in the midst of making a Cardinal Cross.  It's either that or one of us is severely color blind!  At any rate, by the time class was over it was all cut, ground and now ready to be foiled and soldered.

 

 

 

Judy finished cutting out all of the glass for her Father and Son Cowboy Window and has moved along to the grinder to get everything fitting together nicely.  She's at about the halfway point and is working from the bottom up.  She's moving along quickly on this and her stained glass skills just keep getting sharper and sharper.

 

 

 

Barbara has her LSU Window all foiled and will add some yellow glass to the top and bottom once this is tacked together.  This will prevent the purple border from bumping into the purple letters.  As a rule of thumb we only ever want a pointed section of a color bumping into the same color if it is used for a border.  The top and bottom yellow strips that will be added will prevent 'border bleed through'.

  

 

It may be all black but Darth is really taking shape now.  June has been spending her nights at the grinder whipping this into shape and now you can clearly see Darth coming together.  It almost looks like a movie poster.

 

 

 

With only two pieces of rose petals left to cut Martha's Birdhouse Window already looks like a million dollars.  Those petals have more than a few tricky cuts in them but Martha has handled the cutting with aplomb. I'm hoping that she has the room on this for a double border because I think a window of this stature deserves that little extra zip that a double border lends to a window.

  

 

 

Lara's Louisiana Collage is getting so very close now!  It's been entirely ground and mostly foiled as well.  There are a few minor pieces that still some some interaction with but the small amount of work needed on those is practically moot.  Tacking this together will be the next major step.

 

 

 

Bee has used Strong-line rather than Re-Strip to help secure her Front Door Window and now has everything cut out save for the final border.     That border will actually take a little more time than most borders not only because size is of the utmost importance but also because it isn't made of simple straight cuts.  Those ornate corners come with a price but it's only time and that always seems to march along  quickly enough.

  

 

 

Cheryl has added a bottom lip to her window so that she could keep the teapot's base and still surround it completely with her light green background glass.  When she comes back in she'll cut her border and then the soldering will begin.

 

  

 

 

Well, well, hasn't this moved along quickly!  Lorrie is just speeding through her complex Sunflower Window to the point where this only needs to be soldered before it's completed.  And I feel the need to remind you that this is only her second window with us.  She's taken her third pattern along  home with her so she can get started on that once she completes this.

 

 

 

The stripes on this LSU Tiger sure look backwards to me and that's for good reason-- MiMi is already well on her way into the soldering process of the second side.  With the Zinc channel already attached I'm willing to bet that this will be completed when she returns.   We've already held it up and yes, it looks stunning.

 

 

 

Here's another window that will surely be finished in our next post.  Once Ann's circular multi blue background was completed she moved along to finishing off the second layer of her window-- the lead covered  Borromean Rings.  By the time class had ended she had them washed, colored and waxed.  When she comes back they will get mounted on 6 posts that will in turn attach to the round background making this her second 3D window.

 

  

 

 

And if that weren't enough of a preview for next weeks post we also see that Patrice has completed the soldering on her Umbrella Lady Window.   That means that when she returns she'll get her run-throughs touched up and then finish it all off by washing and waxing it.

 

 

 

Last but not least we look at the pattern that Susan R is about to embark on.  These Two Chefs will reside in a frame so the size from left to right is very important.  Susan asked if she could get a border around this but my fist thought was that we don't have the space available for that, but then while looking at the picture I realized that we could squeeze the chefs closer together thus freeing up more room for a border on all four sides.  So I believe that is what we'll end up doing!

And there you have it, another exciting Post all wrapped up!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks