Nightmare Squid: in for the long haul

Okay, so I first started writing about the Squid like, two weeks ago, and I am still so not done with it. I spent all day Saturday cutting out all of the little suckers and connecting parts on the tentacle, and after five hours of straight cutting, it still looked like I'd done nothing.

That took you FIVE HOURS??

I was peeved.

Sunday it started taking shape; I'd gotten all of the watery bits cut, but at the last minute the shouty Muse told me in no uncertain terms that the dark blue part was just way too dark.

Shouty Muse: WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! THAT'S TOO DARK! TOO BAD I DIDN'T TELL YOU THAT BEFORE YOU STARTED CUTTING IT! HA HA, MY BAD!

So I took out the dark blue pieces I had just spent hours cutting, and my next plan is to use the foamy glass for that section. I hope the Muse doesn't give the thumbs down to that, because people, I'm 'a need to go on another glass run if that's the case.

Shouty Muse: THAT'S SLIGHTLY BETTER, BUT IT LOOKED WAY BETTER IN MY HEAD. YOU SURE DO SUCK AT THIS.

Thomas, the designer where I work, to whom I was relating this glass-related sob story, said: "It sounds like you're making a lot of problems for yourself."

Well, duh! Anyone with the slightest amount of sense would have seen that all those little suckers would be a complete nightmare to cut. But no! The squid has been envisioned by the idiot thug shouty Muse in my head, and so it must exist!

Next up: foiling all of these teeny bits of glass and then soldering it together. Who needs a drink? Pin It Now!

Not dead! Just...squid.

Whoa! I bet you all thought I died or something. So long since my last post! Well, you'll be relieved to hear that reports of my death were greatly exaggerated.

What have I been doing all this time? Glad you asked! One thing I've been doing is working with The Scotsman to clear out our loft/attic so I can have my own work space up there. He then took the top from an unused desk and built me a cutting table that's the perfect height for me. Isn't he awesome? Here's the new cutting table workspace:

The cutting table my husband built for me. It's the perfect height. Goodbye aching back!

He also built me a nice cubby holder for my glass:

The glass holder The Scotsman built for me. Best husband ever!

I love my new workspace! I've gotten my new Cutter's Mate set up now too. I'm still practising with it; it's taking a little getting used to. 

My new Cutter's Mate

I had an idea for a piece last week and got all excited to try and make it a reality. Here's my initial sketch:

RELEASE THE KRAKEN!

Yes, it's a squid. Why a squid? Don't ask me. My Muse just kind of springs up and says weird things to me sometimes. This time she said, "SQUID!" and I was like, "Really? A squid?" and she was like, "YES A SQUID. IT WILL BE COOL!" (My Muse is kind of shouty sometimes. I think she has to be to override the noise that's usually going on in my head.)

So, yeah. I'm making a squid. A stained glass squid. I think it's going to be cool, just like my Muse shouted!

This is how far I've gotten on it:

Squiiiiiiiiiiiiid!!

The squid itself is mostly opaque translucent glass, and the water will be clear blues and maybe greens. I'll be using, fittingly enough, what's called "water glass" for the water parts. Water glass has ripples in it, and for some reason I just love it. Pretty much all of my pieces so far have been done with water glass exclusively, so adding in some translucent opaque glass is a bit of a departure for me. But I like it!

The only thing that worries me is that cutting out and fitting together all of those little round suckers on the tentacle is going to be a nightmare. Thanks for the super-difficult-to-cut idea, stupid Muse!

I'll post more pictures when it's done. Hope you're all having a great day!

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