Progress
Up early with Lorraine and worked a bit on my design for my stained glass window. Then I walked and bussed over to Evolution Arts.
A bit apprehensive, having come away feeling somewhat frustrated last week. However, this week I got lots of help from Ben. He helped me make a few tweaks to the sizes of all my bits in the practice piece, and I filed ends off lead, and used a glass grinder to slightly reduce the size of my green glass circle. Best of all I did soldering for the first time in my life, and found I was quite good at it. I lack confidence doing practical things, so anything like this feels like a victory. The thing soldered together, you then have to apply a kind of concrete to all the places where the lead meets the glass. This sets and makes the piece stronger and holds the glass in place. Then you have to tidy it up with extra scraping and then brushing. Once you start brushing the lead with the concrete in, the lead starts turning dark. Came out of the lesson feeling that I had gained skills, and really cheerful.
Afterwards I went for a coffee with Mick, one of the guys in the group. He's about ten years older than me, and a former electrician and then lecturer in being an electrician. Likeable chap. Then I went into another cafe to do some work for a bit.
Popped around to see Janet and Ken. Janet upset because Rossi their cat had died this week. These animals are like members of the family, and it is hard when they go. Hus was there too, making raised beds in the back garden. We had cups of tea and chatted for a while. Nice to pop in.
Then I started walking home. Jumped on a bus for a bit, then walked back up through Preston Park as I wanted to make sure I had my ten thousand paces again today. Home and at my desk again. Time to do a bit more, but my brain was empty.
Lorraine home and we went to the Preston Park Tavern, which was really busy. Lorraine making me laugh with some of the bizarre stuff the kids were up to today. Then we went to the Park View, and this was really busy too. We had a quick beer in the Park View then bought some fish and chips from across the road, and then ate them at home, watching the Cylons obsessively before bed.
Below a quick snap of the practice piece in progress. Still needed to be cleaned up and the cement tidied up, but getting to this point felt like a bit of an achievement.
A bit apprehensive, having come away feeling somewhat frustrated last week. However, this week I got lots of help from Ben. He helped me make a few tweaks to the sizes of all my bits in the practice piece, and I filed ends off lead, and used a glass grinder to slightly reduce the size of my green glass circle. Best of all I did soldering for the first time in my life, and found I was quite good at it. I lack confidence doing practical things, so anything like this feels like a victory. The thing soldered together, you then have to apply a kind of concrete to all the places where the lead meets the glass. This sets and makes the piece stronger and holds the glass in place. Then you have to tidy it up with extra scraping and then brushing. Once you start brushing the lead with the concrete in, the lead starts turning dark. Came out of the lesson feeling that I had gained skills, and really cheerful.
Afterwards I went for a coffee with Mick, one of the guys in the group. He's about ten years older than me, and a former electrician and then lecturer in being an electrician. Likeable chap. Then I went into another cafe to do some work for a bit.
Popped around to see Janet and Ken. Janet upset because Rossi their cat had died this week. These animals are like members of the family, and it is hard when they go. Hus was there too, making raised beds in the back garden. We had cups of tea and chatted for a while. Nice to pop in.
Then I started walking home. Jumped on a bus for a bit, then walked back up through Preston Park as I wanted to make sure I had my ten thousand paces again today. Home and at my desk again. Time to do a bit more, but my brain was empty.
Lorraine home and we went to the Preston Park Tavern, which was really busy. Lorraine making me laugh with some of the bizarre stuff the kids were up to today. Then we went to the Park View, and this was really busy too. We had a quick beer in the Park View then bought some fish and chips from across the road, and then ate them at home, watching the Cylons obsessively before bed.
Below a quick snap of the practice piece in progress. Still needed to be cleaned up and the cement tidied up, but getting to this point felt like a bit of an achievement.
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