Saturday and Tuesday
Gerald needed to get a window ready for the Shrimp and Petroleum Festival and with time running short he showed up Saturday to get the basics of his window cut. Once we drew out what he wanted he was able to move at incredible speed and get it almost completely finished! The window you see in the picture with have a 3D wireframe built outward from the oil rig. It will be made of different thicknesses of copper rods, pipes and include a flat deck. Then the small shack on the right side will be brought outward (done in glass) in a similar 3D fashion. Finally, a stained glass shrimp with be placed onto the wireframe oil rig. Look for more of this very original design tomorrow night.
This brings us up to Tuesday’s classes. Jane had been working at home on her window and got her flower petals cut and ground. When she came in today she got the bamboo and all the background cut. Then she recut a number of the leaves to add more contrast to the colors and help seperate the bamboo leaves from the leaves on the Lillies. We’ve modified the pattern slightly from it’s original drawing in an effort to make this a more managable window. The original design was about 60 inches in length and the issues of transporting it back and forth as she works on it both at home and then again here in class were a bit scarey at that size. What you see in the pictures here is the finished pattern and all the glass that’s been cut in boxes waiting to be ground. Next week we’ll set it all up on a table and lay it all out. As always, Jane works at a perfect, steady pace. She worries about what she can accomplish and then ends up amazing herself at the end of the day. This is a HUGE undertaking and certainly not a window for a beginner. Jane’s handling it wonderfully and I can’t wait to get pictures of the glass all laid out so we can get a real feel for this window.
I expected that Ellen would be able to get 2 bunches of grapes cut today, but then she went above and beyond by getting 3 bunches finished! I helped her grind a few of the grapes and have to say that she cuts her glass EXACTLY as I do. By cutting off all the line that is on the glass she makes the grinding process go so much easier. All we did was skim the pieces and smooth out the points that occure when you cut a small round circle. When the ground pieces were placed on the pattern 98% of them fit perfectly without any need for adjustment. I can’t stress how important it is to cut the line off when you cut your glass but apparently I don’t have to stress this to Ellen who cuts like a professional. And just look at this window! Do you remember the picture of all the pieces she had left to cut from last week? Just look how manageable they are this week. 
Lane came in right on time, cut the lighter green sections of his Iris window and then set on grinding what he’d cut. He’s working smoothly and precisely as the picture below will show you. The borders of this window will go together just as easily as any smaller square window would so they aren’t even worth thinking about. All that Lane really has left to do is cut the purple Iris flower petals and then the clear background glass. As you can see, his pieces fit together almost perfectly already and most of them aren’t even ground yet! Look for some purple to be added to this window next week.  There’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll be wrapping glass at home next week.
Cheryl was able to work on her RV at home and most of the vehicle itself is cut and ground. We had to make some minor adjustments along the way but that is to be expected on a window that’s this detailed. The grinding on each piece must be perfect or the lines won’t flow together and will therefore ruin the look of the vehicle. I know Cheryle is worried that there were a lot of adjustments being made last night but this is normal on a window of this complexity. When you foil all the pieces they get larger and the design swells and shifts when you put it back together. That’s when you regrind key pieces so it all comes together again as it did last night. Once we were happy with it we tacked the RV together. It’s still missing a piece here and there, but most of the hard work is finished on this one. She’s started cutting a few of the background pieces and will be back in tomorrow night to get back to work on this. Good job, Cheryl!
Russ started finishing up a restoration job. The antique window had been damaged during Hurricane Katrina after it fell to the floor, had other items land on top of it and then sit in flood water for weeks. Luckily there were only two breaks in the glass that Russ will be reusing during the repair. The glass could be replaced with something similar but this window is too old to match perfectly. The lead came that holds this window together had been affected by the salt water that it sat in for so long. It had buckled and was very loose which means that it had to be completely disassembled and re-camed. That’s what you see Russ doing here now. He’s well beyond the halfway point so this window is almost finished.
Lastly, I worked a little on a Wedding Box that we have an order for. The top is complete save for it being soldered. Hopefully the box bottom will be finished during classes tomorrow evening. Look for a finished picture tomorrow night.
Paul