Let the Cames Begin!

Hullo all, whomever you may be, tonight we give thanks for the continued existence and relative sanity of Jessica and myself. It was touch and go there for a bit.

After class Tuesday we made the trek over Brenda's again, stopping in the park near her place to have a bite to  eat, oblivious to the frustration and rage that would later consume us. I had stopped by a tea shop on my way to school and Jessica had brought along one of her beautiful bead necklaces and so we had a gift for Brenda, to thank her for all her help and the use of her studio. After our little lunch break we hopped over to Brenda's to get started.

As you may recall we finished on Monday having cut out all of the pieces and leaving a nicely tacked in half-wheel. 

We were excited to be using the techniques outlined in Theophilus' text on the subject which told us to start with the head of the figure and next place the body and continue outward. Having decided that the wheel was a more likely candidate for the "most central figure" award we started there.

 

Unfortunately it quickly became apparent that modern techniques have been established and widely adopted because they are easier than medieval ones. Working ouward from a central point means that nothing is anchored in very well. This leads to angry faces (which we carefully hide behind long hair) and angry noises (which we cannot convey online, not having recorded them) and angry gestures (as seen here).

We did make some progress, although it was tough going.

And we persevered with the medieval techniques despite an inordinate amount of cursing and threatening to murder inanimate objects (mostly on my part).

Once we had the inner potrions of the wheel tacked in place v-e-r-y care-full-y it was time to wrap one long piece of lead came around the outside edge. 

This turned out to be MUCH easier said than done.

After struggling with constantly moving pieces (and yet more cursing and frustrated/angry gestures, and stress relieving stomping - think four year old having a hissy-fit) and asking the advice of our lovely mentor, we gave up...

and pulled the whole wheel apart and put it back in place on our pattern.

We may not have mentioned this, but we arent master glassworkers and we only have until the 21st to complete this thing so we gave up on Theophilus (who I'm pretty sure was a liar and a crook who obviously just wrote the book as a laugh, to see how many stupid university students would think he actually knew what he was talking about and try to base the procedure for their projects on him.) 

*sigh* Anyways... We then went for a restorative, calming, not-murdering-inanimate-objects-or-throwing-the-whole-project-in-the-glass-scrap-bucket tea break. Brenda, also known as "The kindest and most generous woman on the planet" made us a pot of the 'thank you' tea we gave her two hours earlier and I discovered kindred "Flanders and Swan" fan (if you dont know who they are look them up - a comedic piano duo of excellent calibre). Once we had relaxed a bit (and the red rage had died out of my eyes) we headed back to work. This time with music!

We decided to cut our losses and start again from a more sane point. With lovely bracing and everything!

From this point on the work went fairly smoothly and quickly, and where it didn't we used the grinder to smooth down the edges. Do excuse my terrible jokes, the rant up there reminded me how frustrated I was earlier. Anyways... (again)

As I mentioned it started going at a really nice pace.

Before we knew it the wheelwright was in place and we were almost ready to start battling our nemesis once again.

We decided on one long lead came for the outer circle of the wheel, to make life easier. At this point we were quite happy with our progress, though we were still concerned about how long the stupid wheel itself would take us, not to mention soldering...

It was helpful to see the difference between what we had accomplished and what we had left to tackle. It calmed me down a bit at very least.

I would like to take another moment here to say how unimpressed I am with Theophilus right now. Working from the centre outward: stupidly difficult!!! Working from a braced corner: pure freakin' genius. That is all.

Sorry guys, that was mean, getting your hopes up like that: thats not all. Around this point Jessica's significant other arrived (the one who helped with the painting) and assisted us yet again (thanks Charles!!!).

It was about 8pm now but we decided, despite our earlier decision to leave at 8, to tank the wheel and leave the borders for another day (along with all the soldering). 

And so that is just what we did with a much appreciated assist by Charles. I led the parade, pulling nails out while Jessica followed, wrapping the long outer came around, and Charles followed her, tacking nails in to hold the newly added came into place.

Now we just have one more invasion planned during which we will finish the two borders and 'solder the hell outta this thing.' 

Now, everyone, listen up. Fingers and toes crossed that we get this window completed! That means you! Yes you! Cross 'em!