Wednesday, July 13, 2011

What I was doing when I was cheating on you.

Pretty much the entire month of June on Wednesdays I was cheating on you. I wasn't posting those night and I didn't tell you why. But it's OK because now I have something fancy to hang.

Basically... I'm trying to try new things and experiences. My friend Emily and I joined a stained glass class and figured it'd be a cool thing to do one night a week, end up with hopefully a not lame ass project, and just try not to cut ourselves a lot. Fortunately, it was all that. And a shit ton of hard work.

Day one started with picking your pattern and your glass and some first steps. Emily and I were the only ones who came early (like we were told) to do those two things. There were three other women in the class and by the end of day one, both Emily and I decided maybe we were the smartest. At least the most efficient and able to understand instructions. Fortunately, I had a brilliant moment and asked which pattern would be the easiest- mostly because I'm lazy and all about the easy. So I got that, and the glass:
 Then we had to cut out our pattern and glue onto our glass. We didn't get any further because of the slow people who don't understand the concept of tracing and cutting. They truly looked at the instructor like an idiot when she told us to trace and cut. And their faces when she handed them a glue stick? I seriously at that moment thought maybe I should be in the advanced class.

Day two was cutting glass. Not going to lie, this was kind of scary. You have to score it then break it, and yeah. It was kind of hard. I'm not good at cutting things with curves. I can do it, but it's kind of a pain.
 Then you had to place your pieces on your pattern to see how much you have to grind.
 Then you grind and try not to fuck your pieces up. But I kind of loved grinding. I could have grinded all day. And the other three did. Emily and I though.. super efficient. We were feeling pretty confident with our stained glass skills at this point.
 But then MOTHER FUCKER, it came to the part where you wrap your pieces (easy) and soder (hard). I will be the first to say this was my first attempt at sodering anything. It's harder than hell. And so now when I see a tiny stained glass piece for an astronomical price? I totally understand why. This is quite possibly, the worst activity ever. Not only should you not have low blood sugar and the shakes when doing this, but you should just not get too excited about melting metal. You know why? Because then you are forever trying to clean up the globs and lumps. I think I spent a solid two classes trying to fix my soder so it didn't look like someone with Tourettes was doing this.
 I kind of failed on that. Because it's really hard. This was the best I could do.
 This is my finished piece. Because I'm really stupid, I sodered my chain hooky things to the wrong god damn side and was too lazy to change it. Oh well. So my piece would hang backwards. I say "would" because it's been on my counter since June 30. I'm just not sure where the hell I'm going to put it.
So all in all... we had a good time. I like doing things with Emily because she's laid back, she's funny, and she isn't afraid to try new things. Even if they do end up being way more expensive that we were initially told. The class fee was $45 plus supplies. On the first night we paid $40 for supplies. But every single week there was more and more stuff to buy. I think in the end I ended up paying like $120? Or more? It's an expensive piece of artwork. That doesn't even look that great. Oh well. HA!

The next thing we're doing is obviously the 5K in August. Then in September we're going to do a cake decorating class. Confession: I suck shit at baking cakes, getting them out of the pans, and then frosting. Good lord I can't frost. So if there is ever a time I'll make an ass out of myself it'll be in this class. I'll take pictures of my um... creations.

In the meantime.. I have something SPECIAL for my vlog on Friday. But I'll only be doing one if I get a few more questions for Dear Sara. You need to email me (sarastrand9438AThomtailDOTcom) by tomorrow evening or leave a comment on this post of something you'd like me to answer. Anything at all, lovelies.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think your piece turned out great! But it def sucks to constantly get added costs to things. I HEAR YA. My ceramics class? So far $176 for the fee, clay and tools. I'm scared to think about glazing and firing fees. I *think* it'll be $3 per piece, but maybe I had low blood sugar and couldn't read that day. LOL jk

Can't wait for Friday's vlog ;)

Nikolett said...

I think that looks AMAZING. I pretty much suck at anything hands-on with decorating or artwork so major kudos to you for learning how to cake decorate in September! Maybe you can have a vloggity vlog showing off your new skillz? And good luck with the 5K in August, I give you major props for that :) Hope everything's been going well!!

Oilfield Trash said...

That right there looks awesome.

And a perfectly reasonable way to cheat on me.

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

Cool looks good cleaver girl you are and I bet it was a lot of fun learning how to do it......

Dana said...

You did a nice job! That's awesome you have someone to go do creative/adventurous stuff with. PLEASE update us after the cake decorating class. I love to bake but when it comes to cakes, yeah, not that great with the process after the oven. :)

C said...

How fun! I need a friend who will try new things with me. I think that it looks great. Good work!

themajessty said...

the stained glass looks amazing!

I WISH I could attend a class like that.

Canadianbloggergirl said...

Expensive piece of art that doesn't look so good? I think not my dear, your piece may be expensive but I can appreciate the work that was put in. I can tell you that its better than anything I would be able to do!

CBG
canadianbloggergirl.blogspot.com

Ruth said...

I think it looks great. And you will do great decorating cakes. It just takes practice and you are very crafty so you can do it.

Kattrina said...

That's so pretty Sara!!! I love it!! I know you will rock your 5k - remember, it's 80% mental. When I did my first 5k I had never run before and I just ran/walked it and survived. The feeling was so great that I was addicted after that.

I LOVE cake decorating! It's the only talent I have. My mom was an amazing cake decorator and I watched her all the time. I am usually too busy to make anything great these days but I have about 10,000 cake decorating tools. It's so much fun. You'll love it and then be able to make fabulous cakes for the kiddos.

Julie H said...

I think it looks great!

When I was in high school my mom took a stained glass class. I went with her a couple times just to hang out. She made this big elaborate one (I'll have to take a picture for you sometime) and after she got it done she had it leaning up against the kitchen cabinets (why I have no idea) and I knocked it over. Only one piece cracked but I felt SO bad. It's still hanging in the kitchen over the sink though.