Finished Octopus

Woo hooo! I finally finished the stained glass octopus that I've been working on since...let's see....JULY!?

I constructed the frame out of zinc came after The Scotsman very kindly bought me a hacksaw (you know it's love when he buys you a hacksaw!) and built me a perfect 45 degree angle mitre box. Because it was made to accommodate a wood saw, the woodworking mitre box that was available at B&Q had too wide a channel, which would have made for inexact cuts.

The zinc frame really makes the piece look more finished.

We've also been blessed with a rare sunny day here in Scotland, so some of the beautiful details in the antique glass are a bit more visible.

See the golden glints in the glass of the octopus' face? This antique glass is amazing.

Another angle

Sun shining through!

Those suckers on the tentacles took FOREVER.

Although of course there are many things I feel I could have done better on this piece, I do have to say that I'm happy that I've finally started to achieve edges that are more straight than I managed before. My cutting and soldering skills are getting better, but I still have a long way to go.

Nevertheless, this was a really challenging piece that took a huge amount of work, and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. The next one will be better! Pin It Now!

Abstract Schmoo Shapes

Hey, everyone! I was in The Netherlands last week to meet with some colleagues, and at one point during the meeting I was idly doodling on my pad (as I tend to do) and drew this little design of sort of Schmoo shapes in a row.

After the ridiculously intricate and time-consuming design of the octopus, I thought it would be nice to have a relatively simple design that I could finish in a weekend. To try and make the curves as smooth as possible, I laid it out in the free drafting software Solid Edge 2D.

So, here it is:

The piece is 12" x 12". Unfortunately it's not a very sunny day here in Scotland, so the colours aren't looking as bright in the pictures as they do in person. The purple bit is a deep, grape-y colour, and the orange is Spectrum wispy glass.

Here's another view:

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I made a stained glass octopus!

UPDATE: You can see the finished, framed piece here.

Hi all! Good news: today I finished soldering the stained glass octopus that I've been working on for what seems like forever.

I still need to put the lead came "frame" around the outside edges, and The Scotsman has said that he'll construct an actual wood frame for the piece. I also need to do the final cleaning to get off the fingerprints and winkle the last of the flux out of all of the little nooks & crannies. The piece is about 16.5 x 11.7 in.

I was just so happy to get it (mostly) done that I wanted to post some pictures!

The stained glass octopus with some sun coming through it. I wish you could see it in person, it looks so much cooler than photos can show.

Here's the soldering in progress. It's all full of flux.

Stained glass octopus, reverse side. He kind of looks like he's doing the Safety Dance.

A little closer up on the tentacles

Tentacle action!

So, what do you think? Would you hang it in your window? Pin It Now!

Octopus in copper

Hi everyone!

I've been working on the stained glass octopus all weekend, and I finally got all of the frillions of little suckers and pieces foiled. I'm waiting on delivery of some black glass paint to do the pupils of the octopus' eyes. (Right now I've coloured them in with black sharpie for demonstration purposes.)

All coppered up!

All those little suckers took FOREVER.

I'll be soldering and finishing the piece next weekend. Whew! This one took a while. Pin It Now!

Octopus Progress: finally finished cutting!

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Unfinished octopus.

Unfinished octopus who?

Unfinished octopus is happy to announce that despite being unfinished, at least all of those suckers are finally cut! Oh, my aching tentacles.

Hi everyone, yes, I'm still working on this never-ending stained glass octopus project. I did finally finish cutting it all out today, and even got a start on foiling.

If you recall, this is how the octopus was looking last week:

After being harangued by the Shouty Muse for the whole week, I decided the lower tentacle on the left needed to be longer, and speaking of creating multiple rods for my own back, I also decided that there needed to be another line of suckers on the left to balance the whole thing out. Why yes, I would like to do a whole lot more cutting on this piece! Thank you sir, may I have another!

New formula with 1/3 more suckers! 

So, yes. I finally finished cutting today. After much rejoicing at the prospect of not having to cut any more of those teeny little suckers, I got a start on foiling....all of those teeny little suckers.

Getting started on the copper foiling. This is going to take a while.

I really do love how the copper foil looks, though!

I knew this piece was going to take a long time, but I think I may have underestimated just how much time it was going to take. I sure do hope it turns out.

I think I'll name him Harold.

See you next time!

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More Octo Progress

Hey everyone! This weekend I made some good progress on the stained glass octopus I'm making. I ended up not working on it last weekend, because last weekend was sunny. In Scotland.I know, shocker! Thing is, when it's sunny out on a weekend in Scotland, it's kind of The Law that you have to do something fun outdoors. Because the next sunny weekend might come....never.

So, on both Saturday and Sunday last week, we took the boat out on Loch Lomond. Sunday we had a picnic on Inchconnachan Island (no wallabies sighted, but we did see some wallaby poo on the beach where we picnicked. We were able to positively identify said poo after we got home. Go ahead and Google "wallaby droppings," and you'll be presented with lots of images of the real article. God bless the Internet!)

Here's a view of one of the islands in Loch Lomond from our as-yet-unnamed boat:

A gorgeous day on Loch Lomond, The Trossachs

This weekend the weather went back to its normal dreich, rainy craptasticness, so it was totally on with the octopus.

Here's how far I got on Saturday:

Octo-progress!

And then I did a bunch more on Sunday:

More progress - note the "Sucko-matic" fume extractor the Scotsman built for me in the background.

Getting there - next up, the last tentacle with all of the suckers. Shudder.

That lower tentacle is probably going to need some re-working. I started getting tired and just jamming whatever shreds I could find in there, which Will Not Do. I should force myself to just knock off working when I start getting really tired. I just make mistakes.

Speaking of mistakes, here's a small FYI for anyone who is thinking about doing stained glass as a hobby: be ready to get lots of cuts on your hands. Lots. Seriously. When you work with glass, you start to look like a mad paper cut fetishist. Owie!

That's about all the news. See you next time, when I'll (hopefully) have that upper tentacle finished and the copper foiling underway!

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Mid-Century Modern Inspired (Waste Not, Want Not)

Hi everyone! It was subtly represented to me by another work friend that a piece of stained glass wouldn't go amiss for her upcoming birthday, and who am I to say no?

A sunny day in Scotland?! Somebody take a picture, quick!

I got started on this little piece last weekend and it's almost done - I just need to finish the lead came "frame" around the outsides of the piece.

For the background bits, I used this lovely textured glass that has an opalescent sheen. The circles are all scraps left over from other projects (my Grandma, rest in peace, had a wooden plaque on her kitchen wall that said, "Waste not, want not." I bet she approves.)

Another angle - love the textured glass background bits

The piece feels kind of mid-century modern, which isn't necessarily what I had in mind when I drew the design. But since the mid-century modern aesthetic is one of my favourites, I didn't mind at all.

When I finish this piece, I plan to smooth down the solder on the small circle on the left. That got a little blobby there.

This is the start of an extended glass-making frenzy that I'll be in for the next couple of weekends. I'm going home to America to visit my family and friends very soon, and I want to bring home pieces as presents for at least 5 people, so I've got my work cut out for me. I've got all the designs drawn and the glass bought. Wish me luck! I'll post pictures as I go along.

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Birthday present for a pal

It's a friend's birthday very soon, so I made a quick little piece for her.

I drew the design freehand very quickly, then cut it, foiled it, and soldered it in one Sunday afternoon. The only footnote I can really add is how easy it is to work with the 60/40 solder. Compared to the 50/50 solder I struggled so much with on the squid piece, the 60/40 was an absolute dream to work with. Here's the new piece:

Taken from below, with a little light through it. Not much light, mind you - this is Scotland, after all!

Taken straight on.

The piece is about 8 inches tall and 6 inches wide. It consists almost entirely of scraps left over from other projects.

For how quickly I banged this piece out, I think it's pretty nice. I hope my friend likes it! Pin It Now!

Out of Solder

Hey there! I bet you were wondering, "Gee, I wonder if she ever finished that squid."

Well, kind of. I got all of the pieces foiled up with copper foil, which, let me tell you, took a long, long time. When you foil your pieces of glass, you have to be really careful to get the piece of glass exactly in the centre of the foil, or it shows through on the other side. Then when you get the foil exactly placed on the glass piece, you have to burnish it down with a fid so that it sticks to the glass properly.

"Fid." I like that word. Here's what a fid looks like:

You burnish the copper foil with the flat bit at the end.

Since this squid piece has like a zillion little pieces of glass to foil, this took me, as I've already said, a long, long time.  But I really love when you get all of the pieces foiled. Each one looks like a little piece of jewellery in a copper setting.

All copper foiled up. 

Ain't it purty?

After that, you paint flux onto the copper and use your soldering iron to (theoretically) run a nice, even seam of lead along the copper bits, soldering the pieces together. In practice, my solder lines are not always as nice and even as I'd like them to be.

All in all, I got about halfway done with the front side of the piece, when I completely ran out of solder.

Looks like I'm going to have to return to the stained glass supply place before I can finally finish this piece. Curses!

Out of solder! Curses!

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