Bayou Salé GlassWorks

It was a small class of just one person Wednesday night when Gerald came in to finish his LSU window.

When he left last week all that was left to do was add 2 borders and then solder it all together.  We cut a thin 1/2 inch border of the yellow glass and tacked it into place as you can see below.

Next up we put a larger 1 inch border of the purple around everything and then finished it off with some brass channel and hooks.  The rest of the night was spent soldering.  I went over it quickly for Gerald but I didn’t have to fix much of anything.  His soldering is very good.  Then he washed it off in the sink and applied black patina to it.  After a second bath he waxed the lead lines and then we hung it up to see what it looked like.

It’s another fine example of the work that Gerald does.

This was the last class of the year and we will be headed out to PA for the next 2 weeks which means that  we won’t be have any progress postings on here of our students work.  But keep looking here because I’m sure to post an update of the trip to PA and maybe even a picture or two.

Classes will resume on Thursday, January 11th, which is not our normal day but we will be arriving back in Louisiana late Tuesday.  Rather than waiting another week we will have 2 sets of classes for anyone interested in coming on Thursday.  The morning class will run from 10am until 1pm (or thereabout) and the night class will run from 6pm until 9pm (or thereabout). 

We wish everyone a happy holiday season and look forward to seeing you all again soon.  Stay tuned for further developments as they happen right here on the blog.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks 

Jane managed to escape on me again this week without me getting any pictures of what she got finished. I don’t know how she manages to do it, but she’s the only one who seems to manage to get out of the shop while avoiding my camera on a semi-regular basis. The best I can do is show you the a picture of the window we based her newest pattern on. We changed the number of flowers from 3 to either 8 or 9 (my memory is failing me here) and the birds will be two different colors but aside from those differences you will be able to see the similarities when I get a picture of her window on here during the next class. Today she got everything but the background traced out on glass and then broken into individual pieces.

Meanwhile, Ellen finished cutting all the glass for her center panel and then tacked it all together. We transfered the tacked window to another smaller board to make it easier to transport home with her where she can work on soldering it during the Holiday Season. Her remaining 2 panels are both half the size of this one so Ellen is making great progress!

Cheryl finished her USL sign at home and brought it back so I could put some hooks on it.  Tonight she got her next pattern all lined up and the glass all picked out. It’s going to be an underwater scene with assorted tropical fish throughout it. I was so hung up on getting a picture of the USL Window that I didn’t even think to photograph the pattern that she colored in. Here’s a look at her USL sign and a black and white picture of the pattern she’s doing next.

     

Lastly we have Joey whose finished Parrot Window looks great!  His daugheter, Danielle, had a hand in getting this started and Joey just decided that it was time tofinish it and get it off the table.  It took some work to  finish it up because the flux had sat on it for so long but in the end we got the lead to adhere to the copper foil and as you can see it looks great.  Joey will be doing 3 kitchen cabinet doors when he come back for classes next year. 

Gerald wasn’t around tonight but I suspect we’ll see him on Wednesday night.  As a pleasant surprise this Blog is actually being completed on the same day that the classes have occured!  If Gerald makes it in tomorrow (Wednesday) look for another entry here to see how he’s making out on his latest project.

The last thing I have to show you is the completed Peacock window.  It’s taken a long time but we were working on other projects while this was going on.  It will certainly be good to get back the table that this had been taking up for the past 4 months or so.  Here’s a full sized shot and then a quick closeup of the lead border that travels around the window.
   

We will be off to PA from the 26th to the 9th so the Blog will be neglected for the next 2 or 3 weeks while we are away.  I’ll make a post or 2 during the trip and post the class schedule on here before we leave.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks 

I have had a few coals in the fire this week and the blog was put on the back burner until the weekend.  Maybe things will get less hectic around here after the holidays.

Let’s start with Joey and fill you on on what’s been happening with him.  He picked up Danielle’s Parot window that was started back in August but never finished because Danielle ended up back in school during the middle of the project.  All that was needed on this window was a face for the Parot, the border and some soldering.  Joey handled almost all of it in class on Wednesday night so we’ll definately see this window hanging up next week.  Here’s what it looks like now with only a quick soldering left to go on it.

Cheryl did the double borders for her USL window and I must say that the colors are striking.  She handled the borders by herself and everything lines up nicely as you can see in the picture below.  She pounded out this complex window just as quickly as  the easier LSU patterns she had done in the past few weeks which shows how her skills have improved.  This one has no choice but to be finished by next week and I have no doubt that it will be since Cheryl gets a lot of soldering done while at home.   I can’t wait to see it hanging up when some back light can show off all the colors.

Gerald was slaving away at his LSU window this week and managed to get all of the background cut, ground wrapped and tacked together.  Look for a double border on this one next week and then it will be nearly complete.   It was a tight fit with the glass he had but he got it all out even after I accidentally cut his background glass on the wrong axis first which meant that he really had to work to get this together, lines up and square.  Luckily he didn’t get mad at me for making his work this week a little harder than it needed to be.  Thanks Gerald!

Ellen finished with the grinding of her Bayou Scene window and then spent the rest of her class wrapping the pieces.  What she didn’t finish went home with her where she can wrap it more comfortably in front of the TV. :-)  There are a few pieces that are missing but only a small handful and that’s to be expected when you cut out a window with this many pieces.  It’s too easy to mix up your pattern and move one or two into the CUT pile when you really didn’t cut the piece out yet.  This is very minor and will all be handled next week.  You can really see what this is going to look like now that it’s all fitted together.  The entire project isn’t quite finished yet as there are left and right side panels to go with this center panel!

Last, but not least we have Jane’s latest project.  She cut all of it out (except the border) at home and came in with it all tacked together.  She added the border and then soldered the front side of it during class.  All that’s left to do is the back side and she’ll do that at home.  That means that this picture is the last we’ll see of it since Jane finishes off most of her projects at home by herself.  Actually, it looks complete because the front IS completely finished and she washed it before taking a picture.  You can’t even tell that it hasn’t been patina’ed yet.

Look for some pictures of the Peacock window here next week.  It took a lot of solder (10 rolls) but I managed to get all of it soldered just yesterday and will be washing it and coloring it today (Saturday).

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks 

It was a somewhat quiet week as everyone seemed to be very involved in their projects but the lack of conversation made for a lot being accomplished. Jane came in and had a smaller variation of her original Dove window started and almost completed. (Click here for the original.) She cut, ground, wrapped and tacked everything but the final border while she was home this past week. We picked a border color, cut it out and then she set upon soldering it all together. By the end of the class it was almost completely finished. All that was needed was a bath and some patina which Jane decided to do at home. Here’s her latest Dove window. Excuse the picture because the window is covered in flux…

Ellen’s window is almost completely ground at this point. There are under a dozen large pieces left to go and then she’ll be hitting this up with solder!

Cheryl was busy grinding the Fleur de Lis part of her USL window. Pay attention to the deep curves that make up this section of her window. Curves like that aren’t fun to cut OR grind into place. It’s taking shape now and the rest of it should be fairly easy for her to get through. I can’t wait to see this one lit from behind. I think it’s really going to sparkle nicely.

Joey managed to solder his cross while he was at home this week. We touched it up and then gave it a bath and a copper patina coating before calling it finished. Actually it looks just like the one Cheryl finished last week so now they have a matching pair. There’s a possibility that Joey will begin working on a large swan window next week. We’ll let you know what his plans are here next week. The picture on the left is Joey’s cross. The picture on the right is Cheryl’s that she finished last week. They could be twins!

Next up we have Gerald’s latest offering. As you know, we have been unable to show you just what he’s been working on lately but that all ends this week as you can watch step by step what he is doing for his next project. It’s an LSU sign with a twist– this one runs taller than longer because it also features a second part of the logo. This will be set in a purple backgound next week.

Finally we have an order that Russ finished working on during the week. You may have seen the basic pattern on here before. There’s a picture of it on our main website (here) and then Julie did it in all clear glasses during the summer (here). Russ modified the design from a square to a retangle and then adjusted the center accordingly. Colors were picked by the customer and we’ll be delivering in on Saturday where it will remain hiden until Christmas day.

And that’s what happened her in Bayou Salé this past week…

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

We had plenty of finished projects this week which included a workshop which kept me away from the computer and getting this Blog out quickly. (Not that it’s ever really out in a timely manner!)
Let’s start by saying that we all missed Ellen this week and we hope to see her back soon. Rumor has it that there’s a slight chance she’ll be back next week. If not, we’ll certainly see her back at work on her fireplace screen the following week.

Then there’s Gerald who worked on a project but has sworn us all to secrecy about what it is. He did finish it and take it home with him so next week I’ll be able to show you what’s he’s doing next. Once his current project is delivered to the person it’s going to we’ll post a picture of it here online for you to see. Let me just state for the record that it came out wonderfully.

Jane was here this week and finished working on a magnolia box that she drew up at home during the week. When she came in she had the flowers all cut ground and wrapped so all that was left to do for the top was to cut the background and add the 4 border pieces. Once that was finished she began working on the box bottom that the top hinges on. She did a wonderful job and I couldn’t have drawn this pattern up better myself. The box came out spectacularly. Here are 2 views, one of the box in its normal position and a second of the box with the lid slightly raised so you can see the mirrored bottom. I only wish I’d known that the iridescent colors in the border didn’t photograph at all. You’ll have to take my word that the border has purple, green and lavender hints of color all throughout it.

Joey finished grinding the cross he cut out last week and then set his mind on getting it all wrapped. After that was finished he tacked it together and began soldering it. Unfortunately the night ended before he could get it completely soldered but you’ll get to see what it will look like anyway since Cheryl finished the same pattern this week. Here’s a picture of Joey’s progress. It looks great and I know it’s going to look good when we see it finished and cleaned up.

Cheryl finished her cross while at home during the week and brought it in so I could take a few pictures of it (and for me to possibly go over if I thought it needed any touch ups). It wasn’t that long ago when I would have to spend at least half the night making touch ups on student projects but that isn’t the case anymore. I nit picked here and there on the cross and within 15 minutes I declared it finished. Cheryl washed it, colored it and we hung it up to take a picture. Here’s the finished view which also doubles as a preview for what Joey’s will look like next week when he brings his back in.

Meanwhile, Cheryl went to work on her USL window. There’s a lot of detail in her Fleur de Lis as her letters are much thinner in this version compared to the lettering in the last 2 that she made. There’s not only more work in this one but the work itself is more tedious. There are a lot of sharp curves with thin pieces of glass all throughout this window but she’s getting through them all. I even gave her an option to make the “U” in 3 pieces but she managed to get it out in 2 without breaking it. Here’s what she got accomplished in class. And I can’t wait to see it next week when it’s further along.

Craig had come in for a mid-week workshop and finished up a cala lily window that he had cut and wrapped while at home. We cut a quick border for it and then got it all finished the following morning well before noon. This was another project that was done almost completely at home without any help from me. Good job, Craig.

While I attached the border and brass channel to his calalily he began working on the main project for his workshop- a large lighthouse window. He had 2 copies of his pattern already traced out and began cutting up one of them on Tuesday night. The next morning he cut all the glass pieces and got to work grinding it all together. He zipped through the grinding process and then sit down to wrap it. We figured that it would be time to eat by the time it was wrapped, but with a little help we were able to get it all finished and even tacked together. Using the strip cutter the border pieces were cut and skimmed on the grinder. That was when we called it a day at around 5 o’clock.

The next morning Craig wrapped the border pieces and put brass channel around his window. He soldered the front side and after I looked it over and gave it my approval he got the back side finished. By 3 o’clock it was hanging up outside where I managed to take this picture of his finished window.

As I said, it was a busy week here with a lot of projects coming in and out the door. My only regret is not being able to show you the beautiful Rose window that Gerald finished this week. Wait a minute– was it a rose window? I forget what it was now. I guess I’ll have to look at the picture myself and get it ready for the day when I can post it here for public viewing on the Blog!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks