Contest Winners

Stained Glass Challenge Winner:  Laurie Roy (Methuen, MA)

Mosaic Challenge Winner:  Gayle Haynie (Cherry Log, GA)

 Congratulations to the following Winning Entries!

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May to August 2010

Stained Glass Challenge Winner

Laurie Roy Piece:  Magic Latern Window Size:  22.75" x 23.25" Product Used:  No Days Glaze (5/32", Pewter) Supplier:  Absolute Glass Grand Prize:  $500.00

I used bendable zinc channel with pewter No Days Glaze 5/32" for my "Magic Latern" stained glass window.  I usually work with Tiffany style using copper foil and lead free solder with a zinc channel but I was really getting sick of working with copper foil and the messy clean up from all that flux.  In the past, I have made pieces using caming and putty and found that my hands just got gooey from the putty and having to use gloves to work with the lead channel was always a pain.  Finding bendable came zinc and the No Days Glaze, I decided to see how it worked together.

What I found by using No Days Glaze, I could place my pieces of glass where I wanted them to go, heat them, squeeze them gently into place, pinning it, then leave it to cool while I set up the next piece.  The No Days Glaze held and I didn't have to tack solder as I went which allowed flexibility in making the piece.  If a piece wasn't in the correct placement or if I needed to just slightly nudge it, all I had to do was heat it and push or pull gently into the proper place.

There were some complicated curves in this piece, but all I had to do was take the piece of glass and the channel aside to fit and heat that grouping together.  Once cooled, it acted as one piece of glass ready to be added in the rest of the piece.

When I was almost finished assembling the piece, I put too much weight down on the area and I snapped a curve piece that went all the way to the center.  I almost cried.  I hadn't begun soldering the seams yet so all I had to do was heat it up, pull some apart, cut a replacement piece of glass, add some No Days Glaze and re-assemble.  It took just a half an hour.  I can't imagine being able to do that with traditional glazing methods.  I would have had to cut every solder seam which would have been quite a trial.  So I must say that using No Days Glaze for repair work would be as easy and mess free when re-assembling.

Soldering melts the No Days Glaze slightly but any excess glaze was easily cut away with a blade.  Steel wool and a blade removed any excess that got into the channel which could of been seen when I used patina to blacken the channel.  Otherwise if I left it silver, it would not have shown up at all.  I can just imagine that using the pre-glazed No Days products would work even better.

The inspiration from the piece I created was from a pattern by Leslie Gibbs of Gibbs Art Glass Hollywood Florida, which was shown in Winter 2009's Spectrum Art Glass Free Patterns Magazine "The Score"

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May to August 2010

Mosaic Challenge Winner

Gayle Haynie Piece:  Palm Tree & Egret Mosaic Size:  26" x 33" Product Used: No Days Mosaic Mesh Supplier:  www.streuter.com Grand Prize:  $500.00 For more information about Gayle or to view her collection of art, visit her website at www.glassbygayle.com Click Here to View Gayle's full report on the assembly of her mosaic piece.

I started (of course) with No Days Mosaic Mesh and I overlapped 1/8" to get the width that I needed for the panel.  I used a heat gun to tack the middle seam together.  I traced my pattern and proceeded to construct the panel with stained glass.  I would do sections of glass and then apply the heat with a heat gun to seat the glass pieces to keep them from shifting on me as I went along.

I consulted with an expert tile maker who has experience with outdoor tile and glass installations.  He suggested that I mount the panel to 1/4" cement backerboard once I had it constructed.   He suggested I use a thinset especially made for glass tile (I used "Glasstile Thin Set Mortar") to apply it to the backerboard.  These products are available at your local building supplier/home improvement store.  You can use a box cutter to cut through the cement backerboard, but because my project was oval, I cut the cement backerboard with a jig saw.   I went through 4 blades. 

Once the panel was fully constructed, I went over it again with the heat gun to make sure all the glass was secure.   Then I mounted it to the backerboard with the thinset and let it cure for 48 hours.   I used "Omni Grip" Maximum Strength Adhesive to apply the panel to the stucco wall.  The wall was prepped by rough sanding followed by power washing to make sure there was no loose material to interfere with the bond.  I used 2 long screws strategically placed into the stucco (using a drill bit made especially for concrete) to support the panel and keep it from sliding and shifting until it was completely cured.   I went completey around the panel with the adhesive to make sure the exposed edge of the cement board was sealed.  I let it cure for 24 hours (temperatures and weather conditions can effect the cure time).

Once cured, the screws were removed and the holes filled in with Thinset Mortar.  I them proceeded to grout it with "Simple Grout" Pre-Mixed Mortar.  I worked the grout into the crevices with a damp sponge.