the window that almost wasn't...but then was again.

So on Monday I went to yoga, and after class stuck around to talk glass colors with my teacher and her husband. Coincidentally, they went with the same color combo that I would have chosen.

After class I went back home and got to work on it. I had it done by the end of the day, but alas, was not happy with it. The red glass cracked in two spots, (though totally not noticeable unless you are looking for it) and the blue glass cracked in a much more noticeable spot. Also, the red glass globs I got turned out to not really be red glass after all, but rather clear glass with red paint on it that, yep you guessed it, started coming off. Grrr.....So I decided to redo it. Thats when the fun began.

In order to make the red symbol sit inside of the blue glass with no lines of solder, I have to drill a hole in the glass and then use my ring saw with the separating blade put through the hole and reconnected. The drilling is the tricky part. I have broken pieces of glass in the past doing this. Luckily I did not break the original piece, but then yesterday I was not so lucky :(

CRACK, a big line went shooting through my glass. That totally bummed me out, and after that I lost my steam for recutting a piece for the THIRD time after I had just done it the day before, so I took a break from working on it til today.

Today again, I went to drill holes in my blue glass, this time using my Dremel tool, thinking that it might be better. A little less likely to put too much pressure on it. But again, crack, crack, crack. Three little spider webby cracks. Not all the way through the glass, but still enough to ruin it.

At this time I was 1) extremely frustrated with drilling holes in blue glass, and 2) out of blue glass. All of a sudden the previously unsightly window started looking alot better.

So I "fixed" the crack by hiding it behind a solder line. The line connecting the border with diamond and the curvy piece on the top was not originally part of the design. It was born of necessity to hide a crack. At least it was a well placed crack.

The cracks in the red glass really are hardly even noticeable, so I am not going to bother doing anything with them. As far as the crappy "red glass" blobs, (note to self don't get them at Wal-mart anymore) I dabbed a little more red paint on them and took care of that.

The window is going to be placed fairly high up off the floor, probably about 8 feet or so, so these tiny little imperfections probably won't matter to anyone but me. Or that is what I tell myself.

In other glass news, here is further progress on the window panel. I still have to do those far off mountains in the notch, but other than that it is ready to be foiled and soldered.

The clouds were made by fusing glass frit (powdered glass) onto the blue background. The powdered glass gets mixed with water and a glue of sorts and then you can use a squeeze bottle to put it on. Unfortunately because it is white on a dark color background, when you hold it up to light it just looks kinda gray.

Aside from the window panel, I am also going to donate this pendant and earring set to the holiday auction. I am also working on a pair of socks, but I am doing them on two needles (small ones, size 2) because of color changes, (it will all make sense when you see them) so hopefully they will be ready by next Friday. If not, oh well, I guess I will have another pair of socks to wear.

Iffy and I are about to go across the street for Thanksgiving dinner with the neighbors. I made a bunch of kolaczky. Some of them I will take with me, some will be taken with me to turkey meal #2 tomorrow. See, even though I myself totally spaced Thanksgiving and didn't buy any Thanksgiving meal preparations, we will be ok anyway.

Adios for now. I must go and make myself look presentable.