Bayou Salé GlassWorks

While comparing Magic Wands we’ve discovered that Cheryl’s are a bit longer than the two others we have in the shop.  I’m not concerned however– all the research I’ve done on Wands say that it’s not the size that matters…  It’s all about experience and how you handle it. 
Speaking of Cheryl, she finished her latest LSU Window and it looks great.  During the remainder of the class she worked on some more of her Magic Wands.  She’ll be finished with them shortly and moving on to making the bases that display them.  Here’s what she accomplished this week.

Meanwhile Joey finished wrapping the first of two smaller cabinet door inserts that he started working on last week.  After that was finished he tacked it together and then got the second door all ground.  That means there’s only one left to go before  he’s through with all 8 doors.  Joey, the end is near!

Fran Came in and worked on soldering her Owl.  When she finished the front I suggested that she start soldering the back side and that I’d touch it up after she was finished with it.  Rather than taking me up on the offer she wanted me to show her the rough spots so she could fix them herself.    After a few minutes of watching how to smooth over the irregular sections she picked up the iron and soldered some of the best lines I’ve ever seen her do.  She’s really made some big improvements with her soldering technique and seems to have the soldering process down now.  She then moved to the rear of the window and has half of the second side completed.  Expect to see this window hanging in the sunlight next week.

Mark, like Fran, finished soldering the front side of his window and then moved onto the second side.  He’s got about three quarters of the back side of his window completed so I’ll say that he’ll be taking this home the next time he comes in for class.  I can’t wait to see it with light behind it.  Just about everyone in the other classes has commented on his window.

Denise worked on her first wedding box this week.  With a deadline looming just ahead of her she still managed to get it all together in time for the wedding.  Here’s a look at the box and the grape window she continued working on after the box was completed.

Gerald began working on the second of his three windows and, as predicted, he managed to make some major progress on it.  There’s only a tree, some sky and a small flower bed left to cut before this one is completed.  The pieces you see cut out below have already been ground as well!

Janice and Grace came in and had all the pieces wrapped that they took home last week.   Throughout the night they took turns grinding the last upper right section of the window while the other would wrap the finished pieces.  By the end of the night all the grinding and wrapping was completed so this window is ready for a border!  It’s amazing how quickly this window is going together and they should both be proud of the work they’re doing.

Christine found out she had to make a few more mirrors so she continued working away on the newest additions to her mirror collection.  She made a few of the smaller ones as well as the full sized mirrors and I know she’s anxiously waiting for these to be over with.  :-)  I think it’ll be any day now so we should see Christine working on a brand new project shortly.

We’ll be missing Cheryl next week but we all wish her well on her little ‘vacation’ for lack of a better word.   The place will certainly be less colorful without her comments while working on her wands. 

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks 

A lot has happened this week so let’s get down to the nitty gritty of it. Gerald came in and washed off his window and then applied the patina to turn the lead lines from silver to black. The black color helps separate the greens in the lower left corner or the window and defines the leaves and flowers. His use of pastel colors really makes this window stand out in a ‘less is more’ kind of way. And remember, this is only the left section of a three window scene. Great job, Gerald!

Denise continued working on her Grape Window while she was in class this week. She has the last bunch of grapes traced out and then got them separated before leaving. Here’s what she got completed.

But the biggest Denise news is that she completed 13 Hand Mirrors over the weekend! I’m blown away at how fast she got these finished. Note the 3 smaller versions that she made in the picture below as they turned out to be very cute.

Of course Christine’s work is nothing to complain about. She worked on 7 different hand mirrors this week and will most likely finish them next week. She thinks this is the last of them but she needs to recount all the ones she has at home just to make sure. Come back next week and see these all finished and lined up in a row.

Another student who’s burning the wick at both ends is Cheryl who’s working on Magic Wands and her LSU Tiger Window. All of the top Tiger section is cut and ground so she’s taken that home to wrap and then tack together. It already looks great:

Her Magic Wands are close to completion as well. This week saw her finish 2 of her 9 Wands and the others are almost ready to start casting their spells so to speak. Expect to see a lot of these real soon.

Fran was back in this week and finished all the borders on her Owl Window. We then got a brass channel to surround it all and she’s taken it home to solder. Expect to see this one completed when we next see Fran.

Janice and Grace continued grinding their Window and this week you can really see what it it’s shaping up to look like. With only a small section in the upper right left to grind you can bet we’ll be taking this together soon. They’ve taken a lot of it home to wrap during the week and even got some wrapped during class tonight (The lower left and large water ripples). Mark my words when I say that this window is going to be stunning when held up in the light. Hey, it’s already stunning without light behind it!

And last but not least we have Mary Lynn’s latest project which will be finished in 2 weeks when we see her next (She’ll be off next week so we be missing her in our Blog post). She chose a Poinsettia done in red, green and yellow which is about 10 inches by 10 inches or so. It’s a great window hanger for Christmas and I think she’s going to like it. I’m pretty sure she enjoyed grinding this without having to worry about being such a slave to the pattern.  Because of that she got finished with it very quickly. In fact, all that is left is for her to solder it as she had it completely wrapped before she left for home.

Well, that was it for this week. We saw a lot of finished items and will see even more started and finished in the weeks to come.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Mary Lynn completed her 4 cabinet door inserts about 3 weeks ago but this week we’re showing them off in a new light– installed in the furniture they were made for. You’ve got to admit that the windows take on an entirely new light when you see them set where they belong.

As for this week, Mary Lynn learned about the strange art of wire work. The actual glass of her peacock was completed the week before but we wanted to make this look a little more special by adding some flowing wires around the peacock. It sounds easy enough but getting it to swirl around the finished piece in a graceful manor and connect at the correct sections of the glass is not nearly as easy as you might think. But as you can see, it certainly makes a difference to the finished project.

Meanwhile Joey began working on the smaller doors in the series of 8 inserts that he’s been working on. Although the pattern is identical to the 5 he did before the size is smaller by about half. After these two smaller windows are completed he’ll do one final insert that is the same width as this one but the length will be the same as the larger doors. For that one you’ll see a minor modification to the pattern but nothing drastic. With almost all of the glass cut for the 3 remaining doors we’ll be being seeing Joey finish these off soon now.

Ellen began working on what we like to call the “Traditional Window”. It came out of a book of Victorian style patterns but I have always felt that the design looks very regal and classy. We’ve seen this window made twice before; once by me in shades of greens and once again by Julie (who did it in clear glasses). Ellen has chosen do hers in varying shades of Blue and it’s already looking striking.  The picture below gives a great representation of what the window will look like when it’s finished because the only thing left to cut is the clear background and a thin border.

Denise cut and ground another cluster of grapes out of a semi-transparent geen glass. She’s a bit unhappy with her color choice for the first set of grapes that she made and has decided to re-cut those out of a much lighter purple so you can see the color in them without needing light behind it. Nothing will go to waste though as Denise will recut some new leaves for the first bunch of grapes and turn it into a suncatcher. Here are the green grapes half wrapped and the rest very close to being completed.

Janice and Grace finished cutting out the water for their window and then moved on to grinding what they’ve been cutting for the past 2 weeks.  With the two of them working together this window is moving at a really quick pace.  Thet started grinding on the left section of the window and are probably a good quarter of the way through it already.  I can’t wait to see this one finished with some light behind it!

Cheryl’s wands are on hold for a week or two while she quickly knocks out another one of her most popular windows– the LSU Tiger Eye. Less then a week ago she dropped by to picked up the glass so she could begin working on it at home. Tonight she came in with the bottom LSU section already soldered together and before she left she had the left side of the toger eye cut and ground! I don’t think I could have done it any faster or any more exact. Look for this to be completed real soon!

Gerald will certainly have the first section of his window finished next week. With the black border completed this week he was able to concentrate on soldering both sides of this panel. All that’s left to do is to apply the Zinc Channel that frames it out and then wash and color it. Check back next week to see this window with some light behind it.

Finally we have the latest in a batch of Mirrors by Christine. As you can see from the picture she still needs to cut the mirror for one of them but I thought it would be interesting to let you see just how they get assembled.  She cuts the mirror last to fit in between the two stained glass sections which ensures a perfect fit with minimal grinding on the actual mirror. Now that Christine is getting towards the end of her mirror making she’s thinking of other projects that she can work on. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that one of the mirrors pictured below was made by her son at home! Christine touched up the soldering a bit but I have to say that he must have inherited his mother’s talent for glass work since this was his first project!

And that about wraps things up for this week. Come back again next week to see even more finished projects.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Ellen, Jane, Christine and I all wondered if the word ‘Pizzaz’ isn’t French for ‘Pieces’. They certainly seem interchangeable in the stained glass world. If you want you window to have more pizzaz you need to add more detail which involves more pieces. I know it’s a long shot but it sounded about right to us!

Ellen was in again this week and finished the wedding box that she had started while she was at home last week. She had the side flower completed when she walked into class and before she left the box was complete. She had added the borders to join the side flower to the actual wedding invitation and then made the mirrored bottom of the box. We’re not sure what’s up next for Ellen but we know it will look great. Here’s her wedding box.  Don’t you think it’s a GREAT wedding gift?

Jane walked in with two projects closed to being completed save for borders. She made another Deer window and yet another Dove window. She got the border attached to the Deer window and we may see the Dove window finished when she returns again next week. Here’s a look at both of them but be sure to click on the smaller dove window to see the full size version.

Janice and Grace worked quickly and efficiently again this week which leaves them with only the water left to cut in their large Magnolia and Birds window.  THey mnove faster and faster each week and can honestly say that they’ve been getting really good at this.   I know this window is going to be spectacular when it’s finished. It already is in this unfinished picture! Look for yourself…

Gerald continued working on his scenery window. The left side is pretty much completed this week. He has the front all soldered and the only thing left to add is the border tracing around three sides. We’ve decided to do the far right panel next this way we can split any difference that might occur in size in the center panel and still have a symmetrical set of windows. Here’s the left section without the border on it. You’ll see the border next week.

Christine has 3 more mirrors under her belt this week. She’s finally mentioned that she can’t wait to do something different and I can hardly blame her after doing all these mirrors. the colors may be different but it’s basically the same thing over and over for her. Let’s hope she finishes soon so the entire mirror ordeal will be over for her.

Cheryl has almost completed her Magic Wands and has discovered the secret of their power– they are charge with all the cursing done over then while they are being assembled! I knew it would be quite an undertaking to do so many of these. They look deceivingly simple to make but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Nonetheless, her wands are really shaping up and I suspect she’ll have them almost complete next week.
Here’s a look at 3 of them sitting on the work table waiting to be washed.

Joey finished the last of his large cabinet doors and has only 3 more left to go. The three remaining doors are smaller than this one but are identical in design to the 5 doors he’s already finished. It seems that a lot of students are making a series of projects rather than a single window and then moving onto something new. I suppose practice makes perfect! It certainly shows here in Joey’s work.

And we’ll wrap up this weeks entry with a look at Mary Lynn’s completed peacock.  When I say that it’s completed I’m talking about the glass part of it.  there’s still some elaborate wirework to be done that will surround this large suncatcher and really give it some pizzaz!  Wait until you see this next week with some light behind it– it makes the one I made look bad!

And that’s it for this week.  Come back again next week when we’ll see even more completed projects and new ones started.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks