Church Windows

[glasisfun]

I love your pics too.  What a beautiful spot you live in!  I am enjoying reading about all your progress and how it all unfolds.  Thanks for sharing!

[JoanFrances]

amazing pictures Judy.  You have all the inspiration for painting anyone would dream of having.  You must be one strong woman, because I could not live in an area with temps dropping that low. 

[JudyK]

 

I am always up for company. Come visit.

[JudyK]

The last few days I have been a cutting fool. Several fingers are wrapped in tape and bandaids to prove it      But It is nice to be making visible progress. I am piling them to do all the grinding after the fingers heal and can get wet.

Today I had two pieces of glass fight back. First a brown for the upper corners. These pieces are 11.5" with a big curve and skinny points. I even tried blow drying the glass to warm it. I tried running the score from the back like when you cut a circle, but the ends would not coopporate . Grrrr.

So I tried to cut it in one big smilie face. IT WORKED! Oh, my gosh I could not believe it. Just then my son in law and 2 yr old granddaughter came in. He told her grandma was crazy! So right!

I was trying to make that long curve run and then at the very end have it curve tight. Broke the corners off every time. So, I scored it as one simple huge curve. flipped it over like when you cut a cirlce, and started the score running from the center by pushing on it with my thumbs over neopreme mouse pads. I worked it slowly toward the corners. The corners did not want to run but I just kept going back and forth from one to the other ....... and it worked. 

[JudyK]

The other booger glass was of course expensive RED. Half of those pieces reminded me of a beaver chewing it out and several of them had to be recut. I was so smug the last two days because I have not had to recut a piece. Then there are days like today   

I checked the red for annealing issues but it looked fine. It was just the red devil.

[JudyK]

I wanted to once again say how happy I am to have learned a new way ,for me, to cut pattern pieces. It is so much more accurate. I do not expect to do anything more than knock off a few points and round off a curve or two on the grinder.

When I was using contact paper my pieces always ended up about 1/16 too big. Just the way the cutter worked it's way around the pattern. But by using a heavy pattern paper that is not glued to my glass and cutting on a lower table I can be so much better.

I place the pattern on the glass and score one side. Then make that break. Now I can really snug the pattern up to that line when I reposition it. Make the next score and break. Then reposition the pattern again. It comes out so much tighter for me, and that means almost no grinding.      The grinder chips my glass sometimes and I HATE the noise. So less grinding is good .

[ct4mom]

I was taught using a vinyl pattern that was computer cut  and stuck to the glass...They are great but the girl charges an arm and a leg unless you buy the glass from her....no way...so I have used the card stock method and basically do what you do and works for me too...I also hate the grinder!

[Kev]

Sounds like a good process for the pattern pieces Judy.

[Capie]

All I can say is: I stand in awe of your beautiful work! 

[JudyK]

  Thanks, I owe most of my glass knowledge to friends like you on line. I have met some of the most amazingly generous people on this box.

[JudyK]

Christmas always slows down my progress  Then there was shoveling snow. Excuses, excuses.

I have been back at it for a while now, and painting this week. All the glass is cut. Except for the ladies in the background. I want to fuse them so they have bright colors in small portions. I did this and all of them came out with a glow when tested for compatibility. Grrrrrrrrr I could not use any of them except for one ladies pair of gloves.

Last week I bought new clear 96 coe. I suspected some clear I got years ago that looked rough on the outside of not being completely compatible. I fused a small piece of all of my clear, blue, green, and pink glass to strips of the new clear. I'll show you pictures another day of the test strips.

None of it glowed real bright under the polaroid film, but several did have a little, almost undetectable glow. It was the rough clear, the green I used for leaves, the blue I used for background, and the rough pink I used for roses. OF Course! All the glass I used was slightly incompatible. When combined they were a light bulb under the polaroid film . Grrrrrrrrr.

So soon I will redesign the ladies with colors that were completely fusible. How I am going to redo the roses without that pink I do not know yet. This also means I will be making new roses and cranberries for the first window . Grrrrrrr. I can't give it to them knowing the glass is weak. Even if it never broke, I would feel wrong.

The glass in question was made many, many years ago when they were still dialing in the coe thing for mass production. I doubt you would ever find this with new glass.

Meanwhile the kiln is cooling and the paint is flowing.

[Kev]

Judy, can you use enamels for the roses?

[JudyK]

Yes, but I am trying to use glass for color.

[Rebecca]

Enamels don't last as long as glass or traditional paints.

Rebecca

[TodB]

There's also flashed glass & acid or sandblasting....

[Kev]

I know but it's harder to get those colors in traditional stainers.

[JudyK]

There's also flashed glass & acid or sandblasting....

I have yet to find someone to show me how to acid etch. I just get horror stories. Since we live 2 hours from the nearest hospital I am bit hesitant, but it is on my bucket list of things to learn if I can find a teacher. I don't want to reinvent the wheel with this one.

Sand blasting is in my future. Last week we bought a $300 plastic sandblasting cabinet. I am excited to mess around with it this summer. But no time now .

[JudyK]

Okay, I have rebuilt the fused pieces and every thing is cut and ground. I love how the flowers in her hat turned out.

 I have spent the last two days redecorating my studio to be just for paint. The grinders and cutting surfaces are put away. Yippy!!!!!!

Here are a couple photos of the glass for the new window and half of the first window up for comparison while I am trying to match the borders.

[Kev]

Looking good Judy. What are you using to hold the glass pieces in place? Plasticine?

[JudyK]

Yup! old modeling clay. The kids are grown and gone. It's all mine now.