Roosters Everywhere You Look!
Joey came in with some soldering to do on his Rooster window which is actually a large (a VERY large) sun catcher. He soldered the front and back and then when I was finished working with Mark (you’ll read about his window below) I showed Joey how to apply a bead around the outside edges of the Rooster. The process is slow and tedious with a normal sized sun catcher so going around the edges of this took about 45 minutes or so. Once we were finished with that it was time for a quick touch-up on the front and back of the Rooster. I have to say that Joey’s soldering has improved immensely since his cabinet door windows that he made last. I hardly had to fix anything and the amount of lead that he used was perfect. Since we were running a bit late I had Joey leave his window with me to clean up so I could get a nice picture of it in the sunlight. As you can see from the picture I took, his Rooster appears to be more colorful than the one I did a few weeks earlier. I like his choice of colors!
And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for has arrived– Ellen’s lamp is actually viewable this week! Rather than posting a picture with close to 400 pieces of glass we have a picture of almost all of her pieces assembled together on the mold. We’ll be working on the flower centers next week and I’m 100% sure that we’ll actually have it off the mold. Soldering this lamp will be a piece of cake compared to the last one that she made since it’s only curved on 1 axis rather than 2. Even without a light inside it looks great. Remember that there are 2 more borders that get attached to the bottom of the lamp along with yellow flower centers.
Next we get a look at Fran’s Rooster which she started this week. She’s going to use colors that are very similar to the one that I did. The only real difference will be that the shade of purple she is using is lighter than the one I used. Although the pattern was already cut out, Fran made excellent headway into her second project (as you can see by the picture below).
Mark came in to finish soldering the back side of his Flowers and Birds window knowing that this would more than likely be the last night he’d spend working on this project. It didn’t take him long at all to finish it and then after some touching up he was ready to start washing, coloring, re-washing and then waxing. I wished that he had finished his window during the day class rather than the night class because I thought we’d get a better picture of it in the daylight but it looks fine to me pictured below with a florescent light behind it. Mark did an excellent job and will be moving on to a new project involving magnolias next week. And everyone seems to love his choice of border color!
Cheryl came in with the LSU letter portion of her window all soldered. She left it for me to touch up but there really doesn’t appear to be much to touch up as Cheryl has the soldering down pretty good at this point. She cut out the right section of the Tiger’s face and set upon cutting and grinding it. I was so busy that I really didn’t get a good look at it until she was packing it up to take home and what a surprise I got when I saw it. It’s been cut and ground wonderfully and really looks amazing! She had her doubts about it but I’m going o state here for the record that I think it looks and fits together fantastically. I do understand what she’s saying though because as I drew the pattern for her I thought it looked nothing like a tiger at all until I stepped away from it and then saw it again a few hours later. It’s one of those patterns that’s hard to see when you are working so closely with it. You lose focus of what you are making and only see the strangely shaped pieces in front of you rather than the tiger face. It’s a classic example of not seeing the forest from the trees. Since Cheryl is unsure of what she’s going to do for the eyes she left them solid yellow so she can cut it later. To help see what it will look like I’ve photoshoped an eye into the proper place. Also, I took the liberty of mirroring the face and attached it so it looks like the window is complete (the picture on the right). I dare anyone to say that’s not a tiger!
                              
Our last Rooster this week is an original design by Gerald. It’s just a closeup of the face (Gerald is apparently fond of that perspective) but like his tiger window it’s distinctive and stunning. After drawing out his pattern he started cutting and grinding as he went along. I think this one will be a fast one for him, and I think it will be another show stopper– this bird has definitely got some personality! I think we’ll see most of the glass cut next week so serf on over here then to get a better feel for this window
Finally, last but not least we have Jane who got back from her cruise and decided to start working on a deer window. After tracing it all out and then cutting up the pattern pieces she picked out some glass to match a photograph that she had and began cutting away. You can see the photograph she’s using as a color guide in the picture below. As always, I can’t wait to see how this one turns out when it’s finished. Knowing Jane, she may finish it at home!
That about wraps it up here. We’ll be back next week with some brand new projects.