Glass school started again yesterday & it was SO nice to be back. I had really good intentions of carrying on my glass work over the summer break but with my studio not finished and missing some key bits of equipment it didn’t happen so it was great to have everything I needed and to be able to get some more bits cut and in place (not permanently yet alas). The main bit of progress last night was her hair which I had put a bit of water glass aside for (it had the perfect swirls for hair) so all that was left was to bite the bullet and cut (Sarah helped me a lot as the pieces were tiny!).
I’ve still got a small bit of face to cut but once that’s done that’s the mermaid completed. Next to be copper foiled/soldered will be the purple fish that go above and below her tail and then the slow but satisfying task of fitting the pieces of ‘water’ around her. I’ve started keeping a glass inspiration book as well as adding to my pintrest board and future projects/ideas are piling up (and I received my first commission a copy of my previous design with two dragonflies but featuring different colours for a friend to give to a relative) so anxious to get this panel completed! Yesterday night Sarah also brought a rather different project.
We have goals to work towards each term at glass class & part of the reason I wanted to complete the mermaid panel was to get better at cutting curves. I think this was a good thing to aim for but after doing the glass painting class I started wondering if there were other aspects of doing glass that I hadn’t tried but would enjoy. With this in mind I booked on to a microwave glass fusion course (also with Sarah) and was looking at other different classes. Sarah had recently been given some old panels by the wife of a chap who had restored windows. Unfortunately her husband had died and his wife wondered if Sarah could pass these panels onto us, her students as she thought her husband would be pleased that other people were learning/enjoying them and they would get restored. As you can see they are not in great shape but I’m really looking forward to learning the techniques of restoring and seeing this pane returned to its former glory. Now just to get my studio sorted and get to work!
When I was a child I had stained glass panels just like the one you have for restoration! I loved them and the way they cast coloured shadows on the carpet when I was playing.
Hopefully I can bring that one back to its former glory, thanks for sharing your memories. x