Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Ellen was our lone student this afternoon and she kept very busy with her grape-trellis window.  It measures about 21 inches wide and has about 225 pieces in it so she’ll be busy for a while.  She’s using a wispy white backgound but will leave the bottom of the window ragged rather than finishing it flat.  This will really complete the illusion that the grapes are truly suspended by the trellis.  Ellen worked completely on her own today without any help from me and did wonderfully.  She’s an excellant student who knows what she’s doing now.  Check out the beautiful gree/blue she picked for the leaves in her window.

Then came our night class, bringing with it our newest student, Joey, who has been watching on the sidelines for the past two weeks as his wife and daughter worked on their projects. Tonight he decided to make something himself. He really likes the Mickey Mouse pattern we have from the classic Walt Disney movie “Fantasia” – It’s the one with Mickey dressed up as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Now that Joey has made his butterfly this week and has the basics of glass cutting down he’ll be staring on that mouse next week. Although the picture below appears to be of an orange butterfly, take my word for it– It’s very red. I’m posting two different pictures of it, one with the flash on and another with the flash off. The butterfly turned out perfectly so make sure you check out his Mickey Mouse next week.

Danielle picked up where she left off the night before and proceeded to cut out everything but her background glass which, I have to say, shocked me because of how fast she managed to get that all cut out. And her cutting is right on the money! She’ll be grinding during her next class for sure. Here’s what she did this week and it’s looking VERY good!

Cheryl finished wrapping her cross and then soldered it all together. She chose to color the lead black giving it a more aged look than the copper coloring appears. I especially like the use of black patina when there’s some clear glass in the project, and the bevels in this cross certainly qualify as clear. Below are two different views of her cross: one with it hanging in the shop and the other of it laying flat on the table. Cheryl, like Danielle, did this project with a very minimal amount of help. She’ll be working on a window featuring an RV next week.

Lastly, I finished up a window during the afternoon class but was unable to get a decent picture of it. I tried again this morning and got a few better pictures but there just hasn’t been enough sun in the past few days to get a good shot of this latest beveled window.

And that about wraps it up for this week.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Jessie came in with a friend so she could show her just how glass is cut. She then finished cutting out all of her horse and decided to grind it at home rather than doing it during class. Having a grinder at home will enable her to get more done with less class time. Jessie boxed all her pieces before I could get a picture of her finished work so I took the liberty of doctoring up her picture from last week so you can get an idea of what has been done tonight. The hard part of her window is behind her now.

Christine came back and finished grinding the rest of her Magnolia window. She brought her Aunt along so she, like Jessie’s friend, could see exactly what it was Christine does while she’s at class. With the grinding all behind her, Christine is practically finished with her window. She took it home with her to wrap so she can begin soldering next week. This window may just be finished during her next class!

Cheryl brought her husband, Joey, with her this week and he watched, fascinated at the steps that he saw his wife and his daughter Danielle go through. I just checked my email and it looks like he’ll be in again tonight to start his own set of classes. Apparently he really likes the Mickey Mouse Window we have hanging in the shop and that will be his first project.

Cheryl finished cutting out all of her cross and then finished grinding it. She would have taken it home with her but she’ll be back in Wednesday night so she will wrap it here instead of at home. Cheryl’s pattern involves cutting four rectangle bevels and she did it with ease. Note the way each of the 4 bevels come to a point toward the center of her cross. This project will be finished tomorrow night and then she’ll begin working on a window involving a camper.

Danielle didn’t waste any time tonight. Her Parrot window is moving right along. She has a lot of pieces in her window so she won’t be finishing hers tomorrow evening but when it’s finished she’ll be very pleased at what the extra effort adds to her window. She’s making great progress. Here’s what she’s accomplished so far.

And that was it for our rainy Tuesday night class.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

First off, this is a large post with a lot of pictures so I hope all goes well with it. In the past I’ve had trouble when trying to post more than 5 or 6 pictures, so wish me luck trying to post 12 here!

Let’s start with Kim’s window. As we all know (from reading this blog on a weekly basis) her window was just about finished. All she had left to complete was soldering one of the corner sections on the back of the window. It didn’t take long before that was finished and Kim had to brave the heat and humidity outside to wash this rather large window with the use of the hose outside of the building. Once she had all the flux off of it she buffed it up and then waxed the lead to finish it off. The window is made almost entirely of clear glass and bevels save for the corner pieces which have a slight hint of color (Grey, Wispy White, and an Off-Green). Note the way the bevels in her border are cut and curved to fit her corner pieces perfectly. This is a wonderful window!

Jessie has begun working on something she’s wanted for a while now– a thoroughbred! I’m afraid that the pictures of this window won’t show much until we can get a light behind it so you can see the different glass used. Don’t be fooled though– this window is going to look wonderful next to her ballerina!

Ellen had pretty much finished her own beveled window during her last week here but still needed to wash and then color the lead with black patina. That meant that she had to wash her window twice (as opposed to Kim’s one washing) but luckily she was able to fit her window in the sink for both baths! Be sure to notice the use of the black lead lines in the photos to see how nicely it contrasts against the clear glass. This window also shows how you can use 2 simple square bevels to help fill the backgound without overpowering the central bevel cluster. Another great window by Ellen!

And here’s a quick look at the grape pattern we drew up together that Ellen will begin working on next week.

Again, it’s no surprise that Julie finished her 3D Stained Glass Wreath. We had seen the humming bird center in its finished state 2 weeks ago. Last week we saw the wreath cut and mostly soldered while this week she finished soldering and then tacked everything together on a twisted wire hoop. This is essentially 6 morning glory suncathers with a few leaves and blue glass globs thown in for good measure. Alone they’re nice, but put all together with the humming bird in the center… well, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves! What a beautiful wreath that anyone would be proud of! Here’s 3 views so you get the full effect of how the humming bird floats in the center.

Cheryl and Danielle began their new projects, a cross and a parrot window. Alas, Cheryl was called out of class unexpectedly due to work and I was unable to get a picture of what she’d accomplished. Well, truth be told, I actually forgot to get a picture of her pieces and pattern before they went out the door! Nonetheless, I do have the picture that she had found on the internet and said she wanted to do. So here’s the cross that she’s working on as realised by someone else. Cheryl will be using a slightly modified color palette on hers.

Danielle is working on a parrot window that’s reminiscent of the window that Jane almost finished a week ago. The difference is in the position of the parrot and the amount of detail in it. Although there are a lot of feathers and leaves, I have no doubt that this, like her tropical tree frog, will turn out wonderfully.

And lastly we have a window done by Russ over the past 2 weeks or so. His own design, it features a bevel cluster in a border that is then placed on another clear glass which is then surrounded by yet another beveled border. The window is done in all clears with black lead lines and fit’s in perfectly next to Ellen and Kim’s windows!

And that about sums it up for this week. Not to be left out, I have a beveled window in the works that should be finished in time for next weeks blog. You haven’t done stained glass until you’ve made a beveled window! lol

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

It was a VERY productive day today as everyone was soldering what they’d accomplished. Julie was grinding and wrapping as well as soldering, but she soldered nonetheless. She finished cutting 4 more Morning Glories and some extra leaves to use as fillers along the circle of her wreath. She has it all cut and almost all soldered now which means we’ll be ready to attach everything next week. Trust me when I say that the finished version of this will knock your socks off. Here’s what she has finished and all laid out on the work table.

Kim as finished cutting everything and has her edge channel attached. That left a day of soldering ahead of her. Since her window is very large she didn’t manage to finish all of it but she came very close. She has about a quarter of the back side to complete and then comes the fun of washing this large, mostly clear window. Since she’s leaving the leadlines silver on this project she won’t have to go over it 3 times with water and chemicals. I’d say she made a smart move there. Here’s 2 views of what she’ll more than likely finish next week.

Lastly we have Ellens beveled window. Most of our windows are finished off with a copper patina applied over the silver solder. As I mentioned before, Kim will be leaving the solder silver colored on her window. Ellen will be go the other direction and using the black patiana on hers. I’ve always felt that a black finish is the best way to go when you have a window that has nothing but clear glass in it — the contrast really sets the glass off nicely. So when you look at the pictures of Ellen’s window below, imagine all the silver you see turned to black.  This is a stunning beveled window with more bevels in it than you can shake a stick at!

Be sure to look here again next week to see all these projects finished, hanging and ready to walk out the door!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Craig is moving on us. I’m afraid it will be awhile before we see him again and I’d like to state for the record that we will be missing him. I hope he’s able to find classes out in Alabama so he can continue doing what he’s very good at doing– Stained Glass!!

Kim wasn’t able to make it to class last week or to the make up class so when we got a call from her asking if she could come in on Tuesday night we said SURE!

Jessie came in along with Kim and was able to finish soldering her ballerina window (she only had the back side to finish) but then we discovered a crack in one of her pieces. Within 10 minutes it was knocked out, replaced and re-soldered. Here’s her finished window looking even better than I thought it would.

Kim continued working on her tricky corners for her beveled window. When she left she only had one left to go. She’ll be back in on her regular class day tomorrow and I know for a fact she’ll be soldering.

Lastly we have Jane’s Parrot window. She put a thin border around the window and decded that was all it needed. Then she sat down and started to solder. When 9:00 rolled around she had the front completed but she still had the back to finish. Trooper that she is, she’s decided to finish it at home! Here’s a picture of the front and the back of her window. The shot of the back has been reversed so you can get an idea of what it will look like when it’s been soldered and colored.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Since our Tuesday classes were interupted with the holiday this week, we decided to have a make up class on the weekend for anyone who wanted to drop by. Danielle and Cheryl were anxious to finish their windows and did just that.

Danielle was initially unsure about being able to make a window but she stuck with it and ended up performing all the required steps much better than most new students. I think this is very evident when you look at her finished window of the Tropical Tree Frog.

Cheryl wasn’t as sceptical but she did have the normal doubts about how her window would look right up to the very end. In fact, just before she soldered it she asked me if her window was going to end up looking like the ones she saw in the shop. My answer was yes and I ended up being correct. Here’s Cheryl’s finished Humming bird window.

One of the benefits of having this make up class on Saturday afternoon was that I got to take pictures of the finished windows outside in the sunlight instead of hanging indoors with a florescent light behind them 9:00pm!

Cheryl and Danielle will be going on vacation this coming week so we’ll miss them this week. I hope they have a good time!

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks

We’ve had a slow week with the Holiday just having passed us by.  Both classes were unusually quiet today. I guess everyone was either worn out from the Holiday or just too busy working to talk!

Julie was in first and she cut out and assembled another pewter 3D casting of a humming bird. She plans on making a wreath of morning glory suncatchers and then suspending the humming bird from the center of it. Stay tuned to see how nice this is going to look when it’s together. Here’s two different views of the finished Humming Bird and a shot of the glass Julie picked for the morning glories (with the pattern traced out onto it).

       

Craig cut the green leaves that fit in the lower right corner panel of his 4 panel window. Then he ground and wrapped almost all the pieces. Next week he’ll have it tacked together and we’ll trace it directly on top of the water so everything fits perfectly. Don’t be surprised to see this a quarter of the way finished next week.

Danielle cut the rounded pieces for her border, ground them, wrapped them and then began to solder. She did very well considering this was the first time she really had anything sizable to solder. Her front is finished and the back only needs to be touched up before this window can be washed, cleaned up and then taken home.

Jessie finshed wrapping her window and started soldering also. Her front is finished but she still needs to get the back covered wih solder. All in all she’s moving along very well. I suspect this is another window that will be completed next week.  I can’t wait to see it finished.

Lastly we have Russ who decided that he wanted to get in on the beveled window craze that seems to be sweeping our classes. And I must confess that I also have one in the works that you will see next week. Russ used all clear glasses and only has to cut his final border before he starts soldering his window. You’ll see this one better when it’s finished and hanging up in the sunlight.

Well, that was it for our classes today. Our quote of the day is “Danger, Danger! High Voltage!” and if you were here for the class it would make perfect sense to you.

Paul

Bayou Salé GlassWorks