Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Our Wednesday night classes got off to a good start with 2 new students who happen to be a mother and daughter team.

We got right down to business as soon as Cheryl and Danielle got in.  As always, both new students had a few fears that their butterflies wouldn’t ever turn out well, but we got them through it without a single hitch.

Cheryl picked a deep cobalt blue for the body and a blue/white opaque glass with just a hint of purple in it for her wings.  Her daughter, Danielle, picked a Semi-Translucent purple with a hint of blue running through it for her wings and a clear purple body.

Both Cheryl and Danielle got through the cutting lesson quickly and easily.  When it came time to actually cut the glass for the butterflies neither of them wasted any time.  Within a half hour  they had their glass all cut and then they went to seperate grinders to smooth everything out.  If it was a race I can honestly say that there was no clear winner.  They both finished at the same time and began wrapping the 6 pieces that make up the butterfly.

After a quick soldering lesson we were finished.   After comparing the copper patina to the black and silver finishes they both decided to leave the lead silver on their projects.  That makes these butterflies stand out a bit from the others we’ve had on here in the past because up until tonight everyone has gone with the copper patina.  Here are 2 pictures of the beautiful work that Cheryl and Danielle accomplished on their first night.
       

For their next projects, Cheryl has decided to go with an octagon humming bird scene while Danielle picked a circular window with a tropical frog in it.  Keep watching for more from these two.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks 

Only Ellen was able to make it in for our Wednesday afternoon class. Kim was in Texas and Julie got tied up at work. We hope to have the gang back together next week.

Ellen started soldering her fan lamp and within a half hour or so she had it finished. I gave her a quick demonstration on getting a bead around the outer edges and she finished the rest of it without a problem.

I asked Ellen what she wanted to do next and her answer was, “Something challenging.” Knowing how well she’s done I tossed out the idea of a lamp and she seemed eager to give it a shot. I learned long ago that the 11″ Magnolia is a wonderful lamp to start someone out with so that’s what Ellen began. She picked a white background, a green for the leaves and a nice deep pink for the actual flower petals. She went to work on the stripcutter making the strips that would then be cut into the 72 gridwork pieces. When she finished cutting and grinding those she moved on to the white background between the flowers. Then she cut and ground the leaves. Ellen got well over 100 pieces cut and ground Wednesday and she has a lot of glass to wrap during the next 2 weeks. Next week we’ll cut and grind the flower pieces and then start working on a detailed window that should both push and hone her skills. Below is a picture of what she has cut. Note the pink sheet of glass up high in the picture that will become flower petals next week.

And that’s what happened on Wednesday afternoon!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks