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By Jackie, January 13, 2010

Woke up to news of a 7.0+ earthquake that had hit Haiti.

The Haitians had plenty of problems to deal with without this…It put the economic problems of the world firmly in perspective for me.

• The seismic data recorded at Keele University, UK

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By Jackie, January 10, 2010

I started the day with a doodle: Cat on a bottle. It’s obviously not a cat – A cat with that length of neck wouldn’t do well! I know that from experience….

It used to be that respect and trust was earned. An apprentice would live with his teacher from age 14 to 21. If the apprentice was a good learner, and the Master a good teacher, he would become a respected craftsman at 21 and the cycle continued. During the formative years of his life, the boy would live in the Master’s home, on his floor, by his fire. The Apprentice would pick up the skills and knowledge of the Master, building a reputation for good or bad – character, temperament and skills. When he was finished with the apprenticeship he would have proved he was worthy of whatever respect he received.

We moved from this labour-intensive method of passing on skills to respect for intellectual endeavours. And now to virtual… Just because I type “15,000 people in Wisconsin have XYZ disease.” it doesn’t make it so. If I quote someone else on the internet for the “fact” it still doesn’t make it so. But we seem to believe what we read that is written by ANYONE. If I told you the same thing face-to-face you might be able to pick up on my lie – I am not a convincing liar. The look in my eye, my body language, the tone of my voice. All of these unintentional interactions are lost on-line.

“lol” doesn’t mean I actually laughed out loud – it means I acknowledge that someone made a “funny”. I might be just being polite. The façade I present on the internet is how I want you to see me, but it might be blown away by how you felt after shaking my hand.

The rise of social networking makes instant “friends” of unlimited numbers of virtual people. But we know nothing real about them because in fact they don’t exist. Reality is airbrushed (Photoshop tutorial to follow…?)

The truth was always what we chose to believe at the time. Now it is difficult to know who to believe.

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By Jackie, December 30, 2009

Here is my 2009 collection of interesting sites found on the web. Some are links to blogs or web sites. Some are podcasts.

Happy New Year!

Design

• Andersen Window Symbols
• Behance network – Huge collection of all kinds of creative output. Collections in all genres.
• Pentagram

History and pre-History

• Celtic Myth Podshow – Audio of Celtic Myths, by some very nice people.
• Dan Carlin’s Hard Core History – A different perspective on historical themes. (First podcast)
• Medieval and Renaissance Food
• Naked Archaeology
• Stone Pages Archaeo News – Archaeology. Good podcast.

Writing

• Pen on Fire – Podcast

Other

• Adam and Joe Blog – Very, very funny (BBC)
• The alchemy web site
• Alain de Botton – Philosophy
• Atomic Poet’s Blog – well written eclectic articles
• Biomimicry Institute
• Jon Richardson Podcast – more funny stuff from the BBC.
• Oxford Biographies
• TED.com – brain food. Talks and videos on everything.

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By Jackie, November 7, 2009

1. You will learn less from the projects you rush than from the one’s you invest your time in.
2. Some things cannot be done any faster. Patience is a gift.
3. Every project teaches you something new if you pay attention.
4. Sometimes you hurt yourself. This is part of the experience.
5. Don’t show people things half-finished.
6. There will always be some waste. As you improve, there should be less.
7. The things that don’t go exactly according to plan are the ones you learn the most from.
8. Things look very different in a different light.
9. The small, unexpected detail can be the most rewarding.
10. Always protect your eyes.

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By Jackie, November 1, 2009

If you decided to repair your broken glass panel – Here are some hints:

• For most designs, once you begin to dismantle the pieces, the panel will become more flimsy.
• Take your time, and make sure you support all pieces of what is left at all times.
• A blanket or cloth over a piece of plywood will allow you to move the panel pieces to the best, most accessible position as you work on it. The blanket will allow you to lay the panel fairly level but not create stress otherwise caused by different glass thicknesses.
• Pry as much of the foil and solder as you can up away from around each piece of glass that you are trying to remove. A craft knife point and a lot of patience is best.
• Position the panel so that the seam you will be removing is above a “waste” area and use a temperature slightly higher than you would normally use to solder. Heat up the solder seam and push the melting solder along until it drips away from the panel. Keep doing this until most of the solder is removed. Go around the broken piece area, repositioning the panel as you need the solder to flow in a different direction.
• Once all the solder (or as much as you can manage) is removed from the foil, you should be able to pry it away enough to take out the glass.
• Turn the panel over and follow the same procedure to remove the solder from the back. Once this is done, it should be possible to remove the foil from the broken piece while leaving the foil attached to the surrounding pieces. If any foil tears, you can re-wrap that area before you re-solder.
• Choose the glass for replacement and trace the “hole” left in the panel to make a pattern for this.
• Take care to match the texture, colour and any variations in the piece you removed (this is where the photos are handy)
• You are aiming for the repair not to be noticeable.
• If the break was caused by a weakness in the design, add copper reinforcing strip at this point to strengthen it.
• Fit, foil and re-solder the seams around the repair site as you would normally.
• Choose the patina to match the original one applied – test this on a test solder seam on some scrap glass first to be sure you have the match very close.
• Finish and clean – Breathe out!

___________________________

© 2009 Jackie Barnaby
All Rights Reserved

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By Jackie, October 27, 2009

This design is a simple one to cut and make.  Make sure to mark each pattern piece carefully if the glass you choose has colour variations or a texture with a direction.

Here is one interpretation of the design. Notice the different effects of back and surface lighting on the colour and texture of the finished piece.

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By Jackie, October 27, 2009

This free pattern is a good one to start with and is one of my best sellers.

Most of the cuts are simple and the design highlights the need for good choices in colours and textures to make the frog the focus of the panel.

I have made this one with a glass ‘glob’ for the eye (either adjust the design or enlarge the pattern to make the eye piece the size of the glob). The Eye can also be an overlay of foil.

There should be 33 pieces unless you adjust the design.

The top center junction of the frame and the reed tip (between pieces numbered 4 and 6) is the best place to add a hanger.

Have fun with it!

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By Jackie, July 14, 2009

Repair or remake? That is the question..

This should have been an “after” photo but it fell during photography!

Now it is the before photo for repairing a stained glass panel.

STEP 1 : Assess the damage

Put the panel on a well-lit flat surface for inspection. (Watch out for small glass splinters)

Take photographs – the panel will look nasty during repair.

• How much of the panel is broken?

• Do you have appropriate glass to repair with?

o Check colour (in natural, back-lit and lamp light), texture of both sides, and thickness.
o Are colour variations in the broken areas a part of the picture.
o If this is a vintage or antique piece – seek professional help – don’t repair with modern glass unless you HAVE to!

• Have the breaks in the glass made the panel flimsy?

o Yes – the piece needs to be replaced and possibly reinforced.
o No – can you foil over the break and do a cosmetic repair without destroying the design.

• Are the breaks in the glass “clean”? – no splintering

• How much of the soldering and foil needs to be disturbed to get to the broken pieces?

At the first stage, you need to decide if it would be faster, cheaper or more enjoyable to make the entire panel from scratch; or, if a repair is even possible.

If you decide to repair, a close inspection at the beginning will make you familiar with the panel and could save a lot of trouble.

The broken peacock above is being repaired ~ The plain glass pieces are easy to match, cheap to replace and easy to get to. I have the added bonus that I still have a copy of the original pattern that I designed.

___________________________

© 2009 Jackie Barnaby
All Rights Reserved

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By Jackie, June 22, 2009

The next estimated Jackpot in Massachusetts is $68 Million, or about $41.4 Million if you opt for cash. That is a LOT of money..

I would be thrilled beyond words to win a million dollars. (I was actually quite pleased to win $10 on a $2 scratch ticket yesterday.) But, I don’t think winning $41 million would make me 41 times more thrilled.

Forty other families could be as thrilled as me, if the lottery people limited the winnings to a single million apiece, and paid out to more people.

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By Jackie, June 13, 2009

This article follows  on from How to make a stained glass panel

Finishing and Cleaning

Your panel looks a bit disgusting until it is cleaned and polished.

• First you must remove ALL of the flux and it’s residue from the glass and the solder. There are neutralizing products that will stop the flux from being caustic.
• One more thorough rinse is recommended once you think the panel is clean.
• Patina is the effect on the surface of the metal caused by a chemical reaction. There are premixed solutions available to change the solder from it’s silver color to copper, bronze and black. You can also mix a solution of copper sulphate (available inexpensively as crystals) Experiment with the strength of the solution to achieve the color you prefer. This is wiped along the solder joints to leave the desired effect, which will vary with the amount of copper in solution, the temperature at which it is applied and with the length of time you leave it before rinsing again.
• Before you apply a wax or polish finish to your panel, make sure it is completely dry. Pay close attention to the solder joints – rubbing the wax onto all of the surfaces as you apply it.
• Once a cloudy film is seen, you can begin buffing. Start at one corner and work your way across the panel, rubbing each piece of glass and it’s borders individually. Use a soft rag (not paper towel). Pieces of old sweatshirt work well. Use a clean piece as soon as the cloth becomes blackened. You must get all of the excess wax off on both sides of each piece of glass or a haze will appear. White crud will form at corners and along the edge of seams if you have not cleaned the panel completely before waxing.

Hanging hardware

If you decide to use hardware to hang the panel, solder it to a seam and take into account that the panel will probably need to be able to hang level. If you are adding hardware to secure a panel in a frame, space the hardware as evenly as possible and make sure that the panel is clean on both sides before securing it in the frame. Desoldering and recleaning is an annoying job.

___________________________

© 2009 Jackie Barnaby
All Rights Reserved