My friends for whom I’m making this window agreed to the minor change to the bottom center border edge, so today I implemented that, plus made a bit more progress overall. I had to spend some time cleaning out my grinder (it had been waaaay too long) and changing out the grinder bit, as well.
A bit more progress
I’m actually starting to run low on the medium gray glass. I went by Blue Heron this week and talked with the owner a bit and he thinks it is Steel Blue / White from Spectrum glass. He promised to order some for me when he places his next glass order.
Things move a little faster when you’re working with larger pieces of glass. Still, after the second band-aid, I decided to take a break. I also need to buy a new grinder bit. Nothing is glued down yet – need to do a lot more adjusting and be able to see both sides of the project at the same time when I start gluing. So far all of this has been done with my hand cutter and glass grinder, though I’ve been tempted to get my saw ready for action a few times.
Closeup – bottom left quadrantView of today’s progressTrusty glass cutter!
Marking the pattern pieces with their planned colors
Before I start working with the glass, I lay out the pattern and mark each piece with the planned color to be used. In this case, white is unmarked, dark gray is colored in with a dark pencil, orange is colored orange, medium gray is marked with an “M” and light gray is marked with an “L”. I had to take my time doing this because the pattern is not symmetrical and the colors have quirky variations that are important to the overall look.
Hopefully I didn’t make any mistakes.Overall view of the glass chosen, the pattern and the colored guide image.Overview of the various shades / types of glass to be used: orange, medium gray, white, dark gray, light gray.Do it and then do it again!
Now I’m working on coloring in a second copy of the pattern. One copy will be used to lay out the glass on top of as I progress through cutting the pieces while the other one will be cut up to use as guides for the individual pieces as I cut them.
So I had to clear off most of my work table for the pattern for this next window project. This will be going into a large window (31″ x 48″) for privacy in a powder room. We discussed the glass to be used over the weekend and settled for art glass in shades of gray, white and orange (no clear). I have to special order the clear backer glass that I will use to mount the individual pieces in place. I had considered making this with lead or copper foil, but after researching issues of strength with a window this size and discussing with my friends who will take this home, this will be a resin pour! The size will bring some challenges along with it because I will need to be able to reach all sides of it when I pour the resin, but I think it will be a fun project.
Some friends are doing some home renovation and have asked me to make a glass panel to decorate and provide privacy in a 31″ x 48.25″ window in what is to become a new powder room. I was planning to do it with resin, but when they shared the design they chose with me, I started having second thoughts.
Frank Lloyd Wright – Waterlilies
It’s actually just the top half of the pattern (in order to fit their window). When I saw all that clear glass area, I realized that it would be difficult to achieve the level of privacy they would likely desire for a big window by a toilet! I might have to dust off my soldering iron and see if I can do it with copper foil.
I’ve never made such a large panel without a solid background, and I’m pretty sure a piece this size would require some significant reinforcement. I’m also not the best at fitting pieces for a copper foil project that has to fit an exact opening, so my confidence is a bit low that I wouldn’t end up with a disaster on my hands if I did it with copper foil.
Perhaps I could use a light blue background instead of clear. Even still, the large rectangles at the bottom won’t provide a lot of privacy. I would have to use opaque glass, which I don’t believe I have on hand. I will have to think about it for awhile.
