Bayou Salé GlassWorks

We have another completed project this week so let’s jump in and take a look at what Julie finished while she was in.

It’s been hard to see just what she was working on with all the clear glass, but now that you can see it back lit there’s no mistaking that this is a classic design. It’s going to reside in a transom above one of the doors in her house. The black lead really contrasts perfectly with the sharp textures of the clears in this window. Great Job!

Mary Lynn got all of her flowers and leaves cut out and moved on over to the grinder. She’ll grind all of this and tack it together before she cuts out her background. This will save glass and make fitting everything so much easier. Here’s a look at the left side of her window with the humming bird and flowers ground to fit..

Janice ground and wrapped all of the pieces that she took home with her last week and I must say that she’s advanced so quickly in the past few weeks. She’s completely comfortable with the entire cutting, grinding and wrapping process and it really shows. This week she did the remaining pieces of her Fleur De Lis. We’ll have her tack it together next week along with her four corner pieces. Once that’s done the rest will be easy.

Fran has been working faster than ever and has all of her Fish window cut out. She got all of her background cut, ground, wrapped and tacked together which gave her enough time to also cut her border pieces. She took them home to wrap and there’s no doubt in my mind that she’ll be soldering this next week. Doesn’t this look great?

Denise came in and started working on an Iris window. She got the flower, leaves and vase all cut out while in class and then came in today (Friday) for the glass to make her border. I have a funny feeling this one will be hanging up VERY soon now! I didn’t manage to snap a picture before she left but I colored in the sections of the pattern that she got cut out so you see how much progress she made.

Grace filled in all her missing pieces in her window and then decided on going with a double border to finish this off. She’ll go with a thin border of white and offset it with a larger black border. She’ll be attaching the borders next week and then start soldering this piece. Talk about a striking design….

Our last window of the week belongs to Gerald. We’ll be seeing this one in full sized and lit up from behind next week for sure. His border and zinc channel is attached and he soldered the front as well three quarters of the back side of his window. Next week he’ll wash it and color it before we get to see this project wrap up for him. Remember, this is the center window of a 3 panel scene…

We also had a visit from Lane this week. He’s got some windows planned in his head so don’t be surprised to see him pop in to make a window or two in the coming months!

That about wraps it up for this week. Come back soon!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Well, we heard that Cheryl had finished her Angel last week but I never did have a finished picture until now. I have to admit that taking pictures during night class has become much easier now that we have a window in the place that allows us to get a back lit image. And Photoshop does wonders with the background as well….

Mary Lynn wasted no time when she came in. She cut out 2 humming birds, a butterfly and the remaining ribbons in her address window. She took it home to possible get some grinding done as well. Once she gets the flowers and leaves cut out she will grind and wrap it so we can cut the background from the actual glass pieces. This makes grinding the background almost pain free.

Grace got a lot of work done while she was at home last week. She managed to grind and wrap all of her window except for the wolves (which she didn’t have cut out). The wolves are all cut now and so are the Indians lips (they were fun trying to come up with a color for). That means that all she needs to cut out is a border. I forgot to take a picture of her window before she left so here’s a look at what it looked like last week.

I also forgot to get a picture of Janice’s window. She had all her corners ground and wrapped so she began cutting out the large Fleur de Lis that will be in the center of her window. She’s cutting it out of 3 different types of clear glass and she’s almost ready to grind it. I’ve touched up the pattern from last week so you can see what she accomplished this week while in class. Although it’s a big window there aren’t that many pieces in it so she’s really getting this done quickly.

Gerald has cut the last of the glass on his window. All he needs to do is attach his border and start soldering! I’m betting that when he comes in he’ll discover that his Zinc Channel will already be on so he can jump right in on his soldering.

Joey made excellent progress this week as well. He got his entire window ground in one night and then took it home to possibly wrap. Once it’s tacked together he’ll get a border cut and this window will be out the door! I remember when it would have taken Joey weeks to grind a window this complex!

Lastly we have Jane who cut out and ground a Bald Eagle window. She’s already talking about making a second one so we may see this one done again before too long. I have a funny feeling that when we see Jane walk in the door next week all she’ll need is a border and some channel on this to finish it off…

An that wraps it up for this week. We should see at least 1 finished project in our next entry so check back soon!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

When you are working with glass a few broken pieces are to be expected along the way. But sometimes things happen and the next thing you know you’re re-cutting pieces that have already been cut and ground. Such is the case with Grace this week. She was on her way to her car with the window that she ground at home during the week when the board it was on broke. The next thing she knew she was picking up all her pieces off the floor. When she got to class she put it all back together and surveyed the damage — There were about 20 broken pieces in all. But she buckled down, dug out the pattern pieces and had everything re-cut before she left. Even though it isn’t completely ground you can see how nice this window is turning out. At least the pieces that broke weren’t wrapped or even soldered together. I once had the top piece of a freshly soldered window come loose and watched in horror as it smashed into a thousand pieces. Only one piece was saved on that job. My hat goes off to Grace for keeping her cool and not getting all bent out of shape (when she had every right to!)

Janice was hoping to have all her corners ground but ended up being called in to work on her day off which meant that she ground her corners during class this week. Before she started I stressed how important it was that she make all her curves fluid and graceful by eliminating any rough areas and rounding out anything even remotely out of the lines. And Janice did WONDERFULLY! All her corners are ground and they all flow smoothly. Here’s one of the four she completed this week. Next week she’ll begin the center Fluer De Lis.

Mary Lynn did some minor redesign work on her window. We had added a butterfly to the original flower design but we changed the butterfly to a side view this week (the pattern she’s doing is on the left). After that was finished she began cutting glass and managed to knock out all of the hardest sections of her window– the letters and numbers. It’s looking good already…

Joey started by cutting the Orange and White sections of his window. We laughed about how he managed to get 2 of his colors completely cut out in under 10 minutes but it’s no laughing matter that he managed to cut out all of his blue glass as well. And trust me when I say that there’s a lot of blue pieces in it. He’s only got the yellow letters left to do next week and then he’ll be grinding.

Gerald has all of his window cut out! With only two small borders left to go on the top and the bottom, he’ll be soldering this in his next class. I can’t wait to see the three windows all next to each other and that will be soon now.

Winding up this entry is a window I made for someone up in Delaware. I thought it ended up looking very striking and elegant and wanted to give the students who weren’t in this week a chance to see it.

That brings us up to date again.

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks

Let’s start with a Spiritual Theme this time around.  We have a finished window by Jane and I think the subject needs no introduction.  It hardly took her any time to do and the work, as always, is spectacular.

Then we have a fitting companion piece made by Cheryl.  It hasn’t been washed yet, but I think you’ll get the idea.  We found the pattern for it on the internet.  Just look at all the detail in this angel.  And the real beauty of it is that her cutting required hardly any grinding at all to get this to fit together.

And our last Spiritual entry this week is a second Angel made by Jane while she was home last week.  She’s taken quite a fancy to the one that Cheryl made and has decided to do one of those next.

Next we’ll take a look at the Owl that Fran had made right before Christmas.  She had some doubts about the face appearing to be non-symmetrical so this week she knocked out the right side of its face and straightened it out more to her liking.  I didn’t see a problem with it before but applaud her for sticking to her guns and taking the time to make it look better to her.  When she was finished she ended up with this:

Gerald almost finished the glass cutting on his window this week.  With only the sky left to go and a few pieces of the houses we’ll be seeing this soldered soon now.  I suspect we’ll have one more week of cutting and then this will almost be ready for hanging in his home.  Pretty soon we’ll get to see the set of three windows together…

Grace cut the black out for her window which leaves her with only the wolves left to cut.  Rather than continue cutting she decided to take a bit of a break by spending some time grinding what she has already cut.  It’s a good way to relieve the boredom  of non-stop cutting each week.  This is another window that I really like.

Joey was in and started working on a logo inspired window for a company.  Taken from a shirt he brought in with him we were able to get a beautiful pattern drawn.  It’s too bad I forgot to take a picture of it before he left!  Here’s the basic idea of it although the finished pattern is circular in design.  Look for a colored picture next week!

I guess we’ll be ending this entry with a look at the patterns that were started this week.  The next one up is Mary Lynn’s Address Window that she began working on.   It’s got flowers, humming birds, a butterfly and two ribbon banners that show a name and house numbers.

Saving the biggest for last we have Janice’s Fleur De Lis Window that measures about 4 foot wide!  This one ought to be spectacular!  She cut the corners out before she left but again, I forgot to take pictures.  :-(  Be sure to click on the picture below to really appreciate this design (the thumbnail doesn’t really show much).

Lastly, we had a new student this week.  Another Jane (Jane#2?) who began working a her first project, a butterfly suncatcher.  Since she had to leave early we’ll wait and show you her project when she finishes it during her next class.

And speaking of next class– we have Mardi Gras interfering with out weekly schedule.  We’ll try to juggle around the schedule to make up for the holiday cutting into 2 classes.

We’ll see you in the next Blog entry!

Paul
Bayou Salé GlassWorks