The Tinkling Sound Of Small Pieces
We have quite a few windows to cover here this week and I’m more than a bit late in getting this page updated so let’s jump in and see what we have to show.
Due to a miscommunication we missed out on having Joey show up this week. Because of that we have no Rooster to show you but mark my words well see it and one other next week! We do, however, have Jessie’s almost completed Owl window pictured below. She got all of the feathers ground which only leaves her with 17 pieces left to cut and grind. She’s taken her glass home to wrap this week but I’m not expecting her to have it finished when she comes in since it’s been a hectic week here on the Bayou. Nonetheless, I’m sure she’ll get pretty far along when we see Jessie again next week. Meanwhile, enjoy her owl window with the center all cut and ground. She’ll add the final borders when she gets all of this wrapped and tacked. If you had any misconceptions about how this window was going to turn out when you saw it sitting here all unground last week, well, think again because it’s turning out PERFECT!
Cheryl was in and out and then back in this week all in the span of about 4 hours. We’ve hit yet another snag with her address window glass– the wrong glass was shipped to us for the second time in a row. We’ll figure this one out soon enough and get her back to work on it shortly. Luckily Cheryl has a number of projects on the burners so she was able to jump over to another LSU window that she’s trying to get completed. She’s not quite sure of the placement of the actual LSU letters on this window so I can’t say if it’s the top or the bottom section that she has completed but rest assured that she did complete the section with the letters. She’s leaning towards putting the letters on top of the Tiger’s eyes as shown in the picture below. If you think that they’d look better on the bottom leave us a comment and let us know!
Fran has completed her Camaro window as I suspected she would. I hate to sound like a broken record but I am amazed at how quickly she’s picked up on the soldering part of making stained glass. Because of her great soldering I didn’t have to work at all to smooth over any rough spots. The window looks great and Fran should be proud of it. Next up for Fran will be the Cocky Rooster that Joey is working on only with a different color scheme. Don’t you love the chrome and the windshield in this window?? 
Ellen continued working on the 369 pieces for her Clematis Lampshade. The only thing left to cut are the flower centers and we’ve decided to fill them in after the lamp is tacked together to make things a lot easier. This week she continued grinding pieces and then left with roughly 100 trim sections cut and ground. There’s a good chance that we’ll be arranging all the pieces for this lamp in the coming week so we’ll finally get a good look at what this Lamp she’s been working so hard on is all about. Here are some of the final pieces that she completed before taking her remaining pieces home with her.
Gerald finished his Pelican Window Tuesday night and what a window this turned out to be.  Pay attention to the detail all throughout this window and how the small pieces that make up the water just make this window stand out so well. The colors are slightly washed out because I needed to use a flash on the front of the window to get the colors to show. Since this will be hanging against a wall Gerald picked colors that worked well without being back-lit. Gerald has plans for one of the largest windows ever made in class (luckily it will be done in 3 sections much like Ellen’s Fireplace screen) and I can’t wait to see how that turns out. If it’s anything like any of his other projects I’d have to say it will be amazing.
Tommy, like Gerald, came in and finished his window this week also. You got a good look at what it was going to look like last week but the finished project always has a certain charm to it that you can’t see when the window is laying on the table covered in chemicals. Tommy’s soldering was nothing short of amazing. It seems that our 3 newest students (Fran, Mark and Tommy) have taken to soldering like fish to water. After it was finished Tommy got to see the process that turns the silver solder into a coppery color (his butterfly was finished in silver so he didn’t get to see this process before). After scrubbing off all the chemicals from his window he dried it off and we simply coated all the lead with a copper sulfate solution which chemically alters the silver solder to copper. After one finally wash to remove the Copper Sulfate Tommy was able to clean up his window one last time and take it home. As you can see, Tommy’s window turned out perfect! He has plans to do another LSU window but is a little unsure when he’ll start it so keep your eyes opened on here to see when he jumps back in to tackle another project. In the meanwhile, we’ll be missing him!
And lastly we have a look at a window that will certainly be finished next week for sure. Mark soldered not only the front side of his panel, but a lot of the second side as well! Like everyone else he was very worried about starting the soldering process but as I said earlier, he had nothing to worry about. His soldering is fabulous and because of this his window will be going home at least a week earlier than I expected it to. The colors look a bit drab and washed out here in the picture but believe me when I say that this isn’t the case when you see the actual window in person. Once again I had to use a flash against the front of the window to take the picture which in turn lightened the colors. I could have lifted the window in the air and lit it from behind to give you a good look at it but I’d rather wait until next week when it’s completely finished. I’m going to warn you, it’s going to knock your socks off! Great work Mark!
That about wraps it up this week. We’ll be back on schedule next week and Joey and Jane will be joining us again so expect the blog to arrive at it’s (more or less) usual time of Thursday morning.