Weekend Workshop Test 2
It has recently come to my attention that our second test run of our Weekend Workshop never made it to the Blog. All the pictures were taken, stored in a folder and then unceremoniously (and accidentally) moved to the CLASSES folder before I posted them here and wrote it all up. So without further ado we bring to you, Craig’s Window.
On Saturday, September 23rd Craig walked into class and began working on the Geometric #3 design. Like most of our students, Craig had no prior glass cutting experience so we started with a quick lesson on how to cut glass. About a half hour later we were confident that he’d be able to cut out all the glass that makes his window and we put him to work.
After tracing out a second copy of his pattern he cut it all up and then traced them onto the glass. He had deviated from the picture he’d seen of the window by picking various shades of blue. After he had everything cut he went on to grind everything so it would all fit together perfectly. You can see the pieces that are ground are held in place with pins to make sure that everything doesn’t shift while trying to grind the other pieces.
Once everything was ground we made sure the window was ’square’ which means that each corner is a perfect right angle. With everything lining up perfectly Craig began foiling his glass. Every piece needs to be wrapped with a copper foil which gives the lead something to adhere to when we melt it. Each piece must be wrapped evenly or our lead lines will run thick and thin troughout the window. The pieces outlined in copper are the ones he has wrapped so far.
With everything wrapped we just need to tack it together and then cut the strips for the borders. Craig picked a clear bevel for the center of his window. You can see thru it and see the lines for a center option if a bevel was not picked. We called it a day at this point knowing that the only thing left to do was cut the borders (a half hour task at best) and solder the window.
On Sunday Craig cut his border pieces on the strip cutter, tacked them into place and then added a brass channel around the edges which he then covered with lead so it would all color evenly. Here it is all soldered and ready for a dip in the sink to clean it up before applying the copper patina. He started at around 10:00 Sunday morning and finished soldering at about 2:00.
After all the flux was washed off Craig applied the copper patina to the window and then washed it a final time before waxing it and hanging it up to enjoy. It was 2 days of work but had a good time making this window. And just look at it!
Paul