Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Craig started the class tonight assuming that he would need another week to finish his window but by 7:00 we all knew that it would be finished that night.  When he left last week he had finished tacking all of the window together.  Tonight was to be a night of soldering, which normally doesn’t take long, but his window is almost 3 foot by 3 foot in size so I told him not to expect to get it all finsihed in one night.  There was a lot to solder but Craigs soldering was beautiful and needed no touching up on my part.  The first side was completed just after 7:00 pm which meant that he would most likely finish the second side by 8 or 8:30.  That left us with washing and cleaning the window, which actually took longer to do than the actual soldering.   In the end we ended up taking it outside and hosing it down while we went over it with a sponge to get rid of the oily flux and small solder balls that form as you solder something that large.

In the end I think that Craig was VERY happy with what he accomplished.  I’d like to have been able to take a picture of this window in the sunlight but that’s not possible when your class takes place at night.  Below are two pictures of this stunning window.  The picture to the left shows it while being illuminated from the back by a flourescent light.  The one on the right was taken with a flash so you can see the texture of the glass that was used.  Craig did a great job and we can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.

   

Gerald arrived after work and started in on reconstructing all the pieces he’d wrapped at home over the week.  Then he set about tacking the center part together.  We’d left some small pieces blank so we could fill it with the same glass that he planned to use for his background.  Once he had everything tacked together he had to cut the Seedy Glass so he had two perfectly square pieces. Next he laid out his background and placed the center piece he tacked together on top of it.  Since the pieces for his background weren’t long enough to cover the entire pattern we had to bend the rules a bit to get it appear to be cut from one big continuous sheet of glass.  Careful cutting left him with pieces large enough to fill in the areas the background glass wouldn’t originally cover.  The trick was insuring that the grain of the glass was consistant through it all.  Once that was finished he had to carefully grind and wrap everything and again tack it all together.  His last step was filling in those small pieces he’d left opened with the leftover scrap from the background.   It would have been easier to manage if we could have cut them first but you should always cut your larger pieces before the small ones.  There’s nothing worse than cutting your small, easy pieces and then realizing that you no longer have a piece long enough to get your remaining larger pieces from.  Luckily that didn’t happen to Gerald. Here’s what he has this week.  Next week his border glass will be here and he’ll have this tacked all together. To the left is his window without the glare of a flash on it.  To the right we have the flash on so you can see the texture of the glass he used.
    

We have 2 more classes coming up tomorrow so be sure to come back and see what else our students have accomplished during their class.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Michelle started her Iris Window today and managed to cut and grind all of the flower, pot, and leaves.  I think she’s begining to see that she can really do this and that it’s not nearly as hard as she might have first thought.

I didn’t manage to take a picture of what she accomplished today, but here’s a picture of her pattern filled in with approximate colors.

Michelle’s doing great and I can’t wait to see how far she gets next week.

First and foremost we are losing Ann as a student. We wish her well and will all miss her very much as she was one of our founding students who was here with us from the start. Ann says that she may return when things settle down in her life and we hope that happens soon. Her plan for today was to just show up and enjoy the company but we put her to work right away. Rather than waste a class we managed to use up some of the spare glass she had left over from her first window and make 2 Christmas Stockings complete with holly leaves. This is what she took home at the end of the day. Again, we’ll miss you Ann!

Kim ground, wrapped and soldered another butterfly but this one was different in a BIG way: her daughter Jessie had cut this one at home. Good job Jessie! Right after Kim called it a day and left, UPS delivered her bevels that she’ll be using in her project next week. Kim’s decided to join the ranks of the ‘big window makers’. Her bevel cluster is beautiful but we still haven’t really decided on a design yet. She’s given me an idea of what she likes and I’ll draw something up from there for her. Luckily, since she lives across the Bayou she can come over easily to see how things are progressing on her design. Here’s the butterfly that she and her daughter made today:

Julie worked up a storm today cutting, grinding, wrapping and soldering. We were originally planning on her grinding as much as she could and then taking that home to wrap but when we had the first of her eight panels ground we decided that the best thing to do would be to wrap it and solder it while it was all in place. Numbering these little pieces and trying to keep the numbers on them while she wrapped the glass would be next to impossible. It may slow us down a bit at first, but it will more than make up time in the end since we won’t be trying to guess where all these nearly identical pieces go. To the left we have her first panel all ground. To the right we have it wrapped and soldered together. She got 2 panels done today out of a total of 8. I’m guessing that as she moves along she’ll get a little faster. Not that she moved slowly today, but even I was having a bit of trouble figuring out just what goes where on this complex pattern. The sad part is that when she finally becomes completely familiar with the pattern she’ll most likely be on her last panel. Maybe when she’s finished she’ll want to do another one!

Ellen finished up the hand mirror that she came so close to finishing last week. Rather than covering the back with felt as I normally do to protect the back surface of the mirror, Ellen decided to cover it in foil and then try some decorative soldering on it. I didn’t think to snap a picture of the back side of her hand mirror but I have to say that I liked the look. I hope she did too because the front of the mirror is stunning.

After Ellen finished her hand mirror she moved on to a matching fan lamp. No one has done one of these yet in class so Ellen is a bit of a trailblazer here. We took one of the flowers from the hand mirror then mirrored it and changed it a bit so it wasn’t and exact mirror image. We wrapped this flower and leaf image across the middle of the fan lamp background and then she set out cutting and grinding. She’s taken it home to wrap it so it will be all ready for soldering next week. Don’t forget to look for her completed project here next Wednesday.

And that pretty much sums up what went on here this week. We all hope Billie is doing well. Even though she’s not here with us during class her name pops up frequently (and not in a bad way! ) Next week we have two new students starting and we look forward to getting to know this mother and daughter team.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Craig got to work and finished all his cutting. Then he ground all the pieces he’d cut, wrapped them and tacked them all together so we could add a zinc channel to add some protection to the end pieces and help square the whole window up. He’s all set now and will be spending next week soldering this massive window. Despite it’s size and the fact that it has the barest amount of solder holding it together, it’s very sturdy. In fact, it was sturdy enough to lift up so we could see what it will look like when it’s finished. Once we have solder on both sides this will be a very solid window. Here’s what we saw when we held it up.

Jane is almost at the same place that Craig is in regards to her window. She only has 8 pieces left to wrap before she sits down to solder. (And she knows how small amounts of glass somehow managed to wrap themselves while they sit here. lol) It’s looking great and she’s done a fantastic job throughout this project. Look for the finished picture of this window in two weeks. Jane will be on vacation next week and we hope she has a great time.

Last, but not least, we have Gerald’s Traditional Style window. Based loosely on a knotted bevel, we’ve added much more detail and resized it a bit. This is Gerald’s first project and he tore through it like a seasoned pro! He cut 24 pieces of glass using a translucent colored glass for accents with the remaining pieces cut from 3 different varieties of clear textured glasses. Then he set about grinding everything to fit. In a pattern like this, grinding the pieces exactly is a major part of how the finished window will look. If he doesn’t line things up perfectly the window will not have the flow that this design demands to look great. He had to work a bit longer than he probably anticipated, but by the time he left he had everything lined up flawlessly. This is going to be one stunning window and I can’t wait to see how far Gerald gets next week.

Everyone did great tonight and had fun working on their own projects and watching everyone else get further along on theirs. Next week is just around the corner for these windows, but look here tomorrow to see what our Wednesday class is up to.

Paul

Bayou Sale GlassWorks

We’ve started a morning class that runs from 10:00am to 1:00pm to make some more room for people who can’t fit into our night or afternoon classes.  One of our students that we had lined up was unable to make it in so we only had one person in our class this morning.

Michelle was a little unsure of how she’d do throughout the entire process of making this butterfly, but her fears were all unfounded.  She’s a natural at this and had no problem whatsoever.  After a quick glass cutting lesson she decided on making her butterfly in shades of green.  She used a translucent glass for both the wings and the body, with the body being darker than the wings.  For the head she chose and iridescent yellow glob.

Her cutting was flawless which meant that she had very little grinding to do to make everything fit together.  Michelle also wrapped her pieces evenly and quickly on the first shot.  In fact, I didn’t even have to retouch her soldering at all.  This is what she walked away with when the day was finished.

Michelle has decided to make an Iris window for her first project. She’s picked her colors and will be ready to start cutting glass next week.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Kim had made a butterfly while she was home this week. She finished soldering it in class today and then worked on a cross window that her daughter Jessie had designed. We’ll be seeing the cross design next week along with a humming bird. And I know Kim has plans for at least one more of these intricate butterflies as well as a beveled window that I’ll be drawing up for her. It certainly sounds as though Kim will be busy both in class and out of class with all the projects she has lined up!

Ann finished her cross that she had started last week. Since the French Crackle glass was much thicker than we expected, we had to wait for a roll of 1/4 black backed foil to come in so it would cover the much thicker glass. She set right to work, wrapped her pieces and then sat down for a soldering session. Ann’s wrapping and soldering has come a long way from the first project she made. Here’s 2 different views of her cross. Great job Ann!

Ellen liked the hand mirror that Billie made a few weeks ago and decided to do one for herself in a different color scheme. She went right to work on it and has it all set to solder. When she finishes this project next week she’ll start working on a matching Fan Lamp. Ellen is using patterns in the glass to give her work a more realistic effect and it’s working wonderfully. I can’t wait to see the finished set!

Last but not least we have Julie who’s working on her first lamp. It’s a Frank Lloyd Wright design that consists of 8 sides with 39 pieces in each side. That makes a grand total of 312 pieces in this lamp altogether! A woman on a mission, Julie came in and traced her pattern out twice: once on wood so we could make a ‘jig’ to build each panel on and a second time on paper to use as a pattern. She then set her mind on cutting. She has about 90% of it cut so she’ll be working at a grinder next week making sure that everything fits into the ‘jig’ that we constructed to make sure all her angles are perfect and that her right sides line up with her left sides. Below and to the left is a picture of the pattern that shows what the lamp will look like when it’s finished. To the right we have the pieces she’s cut (piled 8 high). There are many more pieces cut than are pictured here but we couldn’t stack the smaller pieces that high.

And that about did it for our Wednesday afternoon class this week. We have another class starting next Tuesday morning (the 23rd) so look for 2 of our standard butterflies and a report on who’s new here in the shop! We still have openings available for Tuesday mornings so sign up quick before it’s filled and join the fun!
Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Everyone made it in tonight and we added a new student which means that we have a butterfly to show you today.

Let’s start with Gerald who made a butterfly with clear antique wings and a nice deep blue body as his first project. Antique glass is always translucent with random lines swirled into the mix. The clear antique has a very rich look about it and it certainly added some style to the butterfly that Gerald made. He contrasted the clear wings with a nice deep blue body and head. I’m afraid that our night class suffers a problem that will not go away: We are unable to take pictures of the finished projects outside with sunlight behind them. So we do the best we can indoors which generally isn’t too much of a problem but when you have clear glass in a project you really need daylight behind it to appreciate it fully. I’ve taken 2 pictures of Gerald’s butterfly. One against a white piece of paper (which doesn’t show the wings well) and the other in front of a towel in hopes of showing you some of the texture that’s in the glass he chose. All in all his work was flawless. Normally I’ll touch up the sodlering on the butterfly, but Gerald’s soldering was perfect enough for me to forgo any touchups as they just weren’t needed. Next week he’ll be starting a window made of all different clear glasses in a geometric design.

Amanda finished cutting the few remaining pieces of her fish and went to work grinding everything to fit. She’s made some good headway towards finishing as you can see from the left side and bottom sections of her window. This is going to be another nice one when it’s finished.

Christine spend the day at a grinder also. Her flower was all cut and she’s got about 1/3rd of her window ground now. I’m suspecting that she will be taking her pieces home to wrap next week. Again, this window is based on a painting that she did and I think she’s doing wonderfully.

Craig cut a lot more of his window this week. He gound everything that he cut and got it all tacked into place. This leaves him with 20 pieces to go before he can rest easy and take his time soldering. Since his window has 127 pieces altogether I’d say he’s making GREAT time! It’s really starting to take shape now and you can just about see what it’s going to look like when it’s finished.

Last but not least we have Jane. She’s got her window backgound cut and ready to go this week.  All she needs now are two borders and she’ll be finished cutting. Since she just did a border 3 weeks ago I think she realizes now that she’s almost finished with this window. The hard part is certainly behind her now and I can’t wait to see what this one looks like next week.

That was about it for tonight but rest assured you’ll see more here tomorrow when our afternoon class wraps it up.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

We had three students today and each of them finished what they were working on.  Ellen added the final border to her Iris Window.  She choose the same glass that she used in her background, a choice I have always liked.  A window looks good with a border around it, but adding another smaller border of the background glass makes a window look so much more attractive.  Ellen then put a brass channel around it and covered the brass with lead to make the whole thing match perfectly when finished.  Then came the soldering which she handled beautifully.  After a couple of baths in the sink we hung it up and took some pictures.  This is one beautiful window, don’t you agree?
              

Kim finished the colorful Hummingbird Suncatcher that she began last week.  When she walked into the studio she brought a fancy butterfly that she had cut out at home Tuesday night.  When she finished soldering her hummingbird she set about grinding what she cut the night before.  This is her humming bird and her ground butterfly which is back home  waiting to be wrapped so she can solder it next week.  This butterfly puts her first one to shame!

           

Ann added the channel to her street number sign and then set about soldering.  In about 20 minutes she was finished and the next thing I knew we needed to take a picture so she could move on to her next project: The Cross.  Her cross is approximately 15″ high and made of clear iridescent glass in the center with a clear french crackle glass for the border.  Wait until you see this one hanging up in the sunlight next week.

         
We lost out on having Julie, Billie and Joann this week, but Joann was able to drop off what she accomplished at home.  She’s working again so she’ll be in when she can to finish up her window.

Julie’s husband had some eBay matters to deal with which tied Julie up as well.  More details about this interesting turn of events  involving eBay and the State of Louisiana will be revealed later.

Billie will be showing up when she can.  Her mother is having some health problems which require Billies attention and although we missed her this week we understand completely.  Here’s to a speedy recovery for Billie’s Mother — We all wish her well.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

With Craig, Amanda, and Christine all not being able to make it in for class, we ended up with only Jane who managed to make some wonderful progress on her latest project. Last week she had picked a Rose window design that I had made years upon years ago. We scaled it down to fit in the window she wants to hang it in and then we altered the leaves to give it a more natural look. The original window was designed from either a pattern in a book or from some wallpaper we wanted to match and I was never happy with the way the 2 leaves looked– They looked like an afterthought just thrown in for good measure. Our new pattern has a much better flow and looks much more natural.
Jane sat down, cut up her pattern, and began tracing the pattern pieces onto her glass. She then cut her flower and leaves out and we managed to get it all ground and ready for her to take home to wrap during the week.

The hardest part of this window is finished which leaves us with the background and 2 borders. We all know that borders can be applied almost as quickly as you can wrap glass because the strip cutter makes the process of cutting the borders easy and exact.

Look to see a lion’s share of the work to be finished next week on this beautiful window. Janes version is on the left and the original (anemic-looking) version is to the right. Jane’s is a little narrower which, I feel, gives it a more delicate look. You can see that her’s will easily outshine the original.
           

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

It was certainly a busy day. We finished windows, started new windows, drew new patterns, designed lamps.. you name it, we probably did it!

Kim showed up and immediately set upon washing and coloring her window. It wasn’t that much later that we hung it up outside and started taking pictures for the website. It turned out wonderful and I hope Kim is proud of herself. Her work has really come a long way and it certainly shows here.

Kim has picked some butterfly patterns and a small oval humming bird pattern for her next few projects. She’s already got the humming bird cut and ground so we should see that finished next week!

Joann finished with her cutting and began the somewhat tedious task of grinding. In a window like this it’s important that everything line up perfectly. While that’s true in all windows it’s especially so in windows involving birds. If one feather is out of place it affects every other feather in line with it and instead of a graceful bird in flight you could easily end up with what looks like a crippled bird about to crash to the ground. But it looks like that won’t be the case here with Joann. Her grinding, like her cutting, is spot-on. She’s taken what she ground home to wrap rather than waste class time wrapping.  It doesn’t require any tools or make a mess so it’s practical to wrap pieces at home. Wrapping is a  boring process and doing it at home helps maximize the time we spend together in class by allowing the student to spend their class time doing things that they may need help with– not that Joann seems to need any help.

Ellen’s Iris windw is moving right along. She was able to tack together her flower, lay it on her background glass (which was cut to the correct size) and then trace around the flower. When she cut her background everything lined up perfectly and all she really had to do was skim her pieces to prep them for the foil. After she wrapped the pieces and tacked them all together she cut one of her 2 borders and got that ground, wrapped and tacked also! The woman is a powerhouse!

Julie, like Kim, set upon washing her window as soon as she came in. She then used black patina on it to help bring the lead lines out by adding contrast between the clear glass and the lead lines. A quick wax later and we had this beveled beauty hanging in the sunlight ready for pictures. I know Julie was pleased with it because I got a HUGE smile when I asked her what she thought of it. My only complaint with the window is that it correlates to an aspect of Indian Art a certain pretentousness which, conveyed in the glass medium we’re using, denotes a mixture of both Mad Abandon and Staunch Conservatism. JUST KIDDING JULIE!!!! I’d have loved to see her face when she started to read that last line. Julies window is perfect and I’d change nothing about it. Look and see for yourself:

Ann decided that she needed a small plaque-type window that would display her house number. Something simple but sweet. I beleive we hit the nail on the head because she got it drawn out, all cut, wrapped and tacked together. This one will be finished next week after it gets a quick soldering.

And that was some of what happened in class today. We’ve designed a unique Mission Style lamp shade for a base that Julie picked up and she’ll be working on that next week.

Lastly, we all missed Billie today and hope to see her next week. We also hope that all is well with her mother who was taken to the hospital yesterday. They both have all our prayers.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks