Fracture and Streamer Glass

So today I went to the glass store. That is one place I probably shouldn't be allowed in with a credit card. I spent a couple of hours in there looking at all the glass that she had in there. I had several projects in mind and one of them needed some fractures and streamer glass. Below is a sample of that type of glass.I couldn't find it, and I probably should have left it there, but I asked if she had some, and she pulled out a piece that was about 2.5 square feet and told me the price. I had no idea that, that type of glass was as expensive as it was. However, I needed that piece to complete the project I had in mind. However, I had three projects in mind for this type of glass. But, she only had one piece (thankfully). So I quickly nixed the other two projects I had in mind for this glass.

But it is really pretty glass. :-)

eBay Strikes Again!!

I keep swearing off eBay because of my spending habits. I keep thinking I can stay away. However, it taunts me and I can't stay away. This time I bought 10 pounds of lead solder. Why did I do that? It turns out to be $30.00 cheaper than if I bought 10 pounds here in town. But, do I really need 10 pounds? Noooo. It will take a couple of years before I go through that amount of solder. While I was at it, I bought 50 clear glass bevels. Now what am I going to do with that many bevels? I don't know. I still have about 60 bevels I bought at the end of last year.

Oh well. I have come up with a little plan. The plan consists of making a whole bunch of stained glass things before April next year and then renting a booth at the craft fair and trying to sell my stuff. We'll see where I'm at by next April.

John William Concert

A couple of weeks ago I went to the LA Philharmonic conducted by John Williams. (For those that don't know, he has written a lot of music for movies including Star Wars, Jaws, and Indiana Jones.)

As we walked into the Hollywood Bowl, I started laughing. I didn't expect to see what I saw. There were several people that had light sabers. ??? Light sabers at a concert. Anyway, they waited until John Williams played one of the Star Wars songs and then all these people lit up their swords. It was the funniest thing to see. There were about 100 people with light sabers. One of the people in front of us starting taking pictures of the light sabers and made a comment about the nerdlings.

I was just surprised that someone would bring that to the LA Philharmonic. It was a good show.

More Cake.

This one I didn't take a picture of. No one would want to see it. I made a fake cake this past Tuesday night. We were learning how to make swags and other small things out of fondant. However, I was running late and didn't have time to get all the things I needed done before class. So when I got there, I went and purchased two round styrafoams to make a fake cake with. However, they were the last two in the store, and one had been munched on by a little kid. I figured, that it would go on the bottom and no one would be the wiser. So I went to class with my munched on foam and the teacher took one look at that and laughed. She had me leave it in the plastic so that I would be able to trade it in next Tuesday when I came back for class again.

So everyone at work is a bit sad that Wednesdays are no longer cake days.

Newest Stained Glass!!

So here is my latest creation. I actually finished this a couple of weeks ago, but hadn't posted it. I am really proud of my 133 piece panel. This was difficult for me to do because of the number of pieces. There were several times I had to walk away so I wouldn't break the glass in frustration.

Some of the pieces are so small that I wasn't able to foil them without completely covering them. I then had to go back with a razor and cut some of the foil off so the light could come through. I really liked the butterflies. They were cute. It is hard to tell from the pictures, but the butterflies are purple and yellow with a black center. The purple is hard to see through.

Stupid me...when I was soldering the panel, I went to flip it over and start on the other side. The plate actually fell out of the panel and hit the wood table. It only fell 2-3 inches, but it broke in half. Thank goodness I had purchased two plates because I thought I would do two panels (that was until I cut everything out for the first panel). So I was able to save the panel because I had an extra plate.

Just as I finished, I was straightening out some of the lead lines on the blue border. I had my little chisel hammer, and went dink, dink, crack. I broke one of the blue rectangles. However, that is easy enough to fix.

Last Cake Class..at least for now.

So I went to the last class for this session on Wednesday. My normal class is on Tuesdays, but I will not be able to get to this Tuesday's class so I moved it up to this week. We were to make a double decker cake. (Making the cake is actually another story for another day). So as I drove to class Wednesday I tried to think of what I wanted to do. I had wanted to make a cake with a bunch of the fondant roses, but didn't think I would have the time. So I decided to make a mermaid cake. It was fun to do it. Here a couple of shots of the first layer. All the "rocks" are really colored fondant. Also, do you like the dolphin? That one was easy to make it was actually fondant pressed into a soap mold. I did that for the seashells on the bottom layer of the cake. The pink stuff is supposed to be coral. However, after three hours of decorating, I was tired and wanted to be done. I wanted to use one of my pretty flowers, and I tucked that into the rocks. I know it didn't belong, but I was proud of my pretty roses. That mermaid sure needs her bangs cut!! I am proud of the school of gold fish that I made. I aslo think the seashells were pretty, but they were very easy. I just marbled some fondant and put it into a soap mold. This cake was fun to make. From the pictures you may not be able to see that I marblized the blue fondant with some green to try to give it a sea look, the top layer shows it better than the bottom layer. Anyway, everyone at work really loved it. It was carrot cake again. :-)

Pretty Flowers!

So here is shot of one of the pretty roses we made last week in cake class. It was actually very easy to make. I can't believe how easy it was. It looks difficult and intricate, but looks are sure deceiving. It is made out of fondant...the edible (yet yucky) frosting that lays over a cake.

To make this, all you need is a couple of flower cutters, a leaf cutter, a tool to frill the edges, a bit of clear vanilla, and a foam pad to work on. It took about 5 mins to make and I think it looks very nice. We made some other flowers that night, but they weren't as pretty as this one. We learned how to make Easter lilies, morning glories, and poinsettias. The other flowers were fun and easy, but I was more impressed with the rose.