Two business expos later and I finally return to project number two at the Bloomington Creative Glass Center. Would I still feel this is ready to put together? Will I go to Abby in tears and tell her she is wrong this project is a mess? The only way to find out is to get the box with the project and set up to solder this thing. I took much longer than necessary to arrange the pieces on top of the paper template. I would fret over the gap with the diamond piece, turn over a square or angled piece to get it to fit better. Finally I took several breaths and with prodding from Abby began to solder at the corners. (This squeezes the pieces together and when you pick it up the piece stays to together! It’s a marvel!)
I kept going until one side had solder in all the right places then turned the whole project over and repeated the process. When I finished I began to look for copper tape peaking through and then smoothing out the solder as best I could. Minutes went by that turned into an hour and then a bit more time passed before I felt this piece is ready to be cleaned of flux. I took care of this gently cleaning the project and then drying it off before showing Abby and a few other volunteers the finished product. They really like the colors and how well it came out.
I hope in the future to redo this piece in different colors. I want to see using a different tool, think a Dremal tool, to grind the diamond piece and some of the angled pieces will be less aggressive and thus result in better fitting pieces. Also, I would like the pieces to be closer to the same size in each section instead of the left side with smaller pieces than the right. Lastly, no dent on one side where I pushed two pieces too far in.
I believe I will get to this point but it will take a while perhaps years to do so. Until I get there I have an intermediate stained glass class that begins in April! I will have the chance to learn new things and improve. I am really looking forward to it.
