23 February, 2010

Stained Glass Class -- Putting Those New Skills to Good Use

There hasn't been much blogging done around here, although we've continued to plug away at the house. Work-work and clients have been taking up a lot of my time. (Thank goodness for that, really; it's been a tough year with the economy and all.) I also started a beginner-level stained glass class. My dream is to be able to replicate some of the original stained glass window designs we have in the house and carry the theme through to other windows. Here's an example of one such window:


And here's my first class project.

 

Stop laughing. It's a cute little mushroom. Admittedly, my second project was better:
 
However, I am probably being a little over-ambitious on my third (and current) project:

 

Those are some darn tiny little pattern pieces. 


When we moved in, we found an old dresser in the basement, and a drawer full of stained glass pieces. It looks like it originally came from the large window in our stairwell, and I think most, if not all, the pieces might be here. When I feel confident enough, I will try to reassemble it:

It will go in a wooden frame and hang in the window. I imagine it will look fairly similar to how it once did.

In the mean time, I have completed one repair project. I found this table lamp on Craigslist about five years ago. The glass is not original, and was not even cut to size.

So I made a nifty template, gave my shiny new glass cutter a trial run, and replaced the panels with a warm butterscotch glass I liked much better.
Plus, it complements the colors of our stained glass windows!

Okay, okay, you forced it out of me. I actually cracked the fourth panel on my final cut, and need to buy some more glass. For now, that side is facing the wall so you can't really see it.

5 comments:

Karen Anne said...

That's impressive, particularly the second project. It will be great to see the basement glass back together.

Lady Quilter said...

Joanne's grandmother should be here to see this. She worked in stained glass a lot, we inherited several of her pieces including a lamp that's in storage until we find a spot for it. I know they would have had a ball working together.
Boxmom

Tonia said...

I love how the cats make cameo appearances in your blog posts. "Is something going on? I must be in the middle of it!"

Joanne said...

Karen Anne--Thanks! I'll have to post pics of the current project later this week. I think I'll do a lot of little, practice projects before jumping into the restoration work.

Tonia--Those cats are true foremen. They'll pic a perch and supervise, trilling out comments and orders.

Anonymous said...

I've never done stained glass - will the mostly rectangular & triangular pieces for the restoration window be easier or harder than the curvy pieces of project 3?

That just sounds like the most fun - learning stained glass to put back together a window that was original to your old house! There is a special place in heaven for the person that so carefully saved the glass. Glad we get to enjoy it along with you.

Keep up the great work.
Cheryl
Orlando