More leading.

How about those hands?!

Starting to lead up.

Also another shot of those gorgeous hands...

Oops, nothing happening. Tina's boyfriend must be in town today ...

Starting to lay out the old and new glass on the pattern

some detail of Tina's soft, gentle and feminine hands...

... and of course, a textbook example of the proper use of masking tape...

Tina now starts to remove the old leads and take stock of what needs replacing. Larger broken pieces are often used to replace smaller pieces to assure a good match.

The rubbing is tidied up and laid out for releading.

As for the staff, they're still recuperating...

Tina pins a piece of kraft paper over the window and with some balled up carbon paper makes a rubbing of the design to help in assembly. She then begins to chase the staff all over the store, thinking they too need to be rubbed...

some detail of the poor state of the window

The Beginning

a virtual basket case, barely holding together...

after taking some notes, and marking the window, Tina removes the window from the frame.

Another Project From Tina's Lab

here's the start of a photo pictorial of a window restoration that came into us this past month, ably being dealt with by our capable staff in the FigLab

New Product Exclusive to FIG

Literally Walking Out the Door

Just doing a final check on some emails, while almost walking out the door for a quick vacation (store will still be ably run of course), and I got some news- one disturbing, the other almost as disturbing.

Firstly, to Gary Brown, someone that gets picked on and teased mercilessly in this blog- not out of meanness, but out of my affection for him and Dot (how she puts up with him, I'll never understand)(do a quick search on Gary Brown, or any derivative of that name and see the onslaught of entries referencing him and you'll see what we mean). Over the weekend, his family were the victims of an unfortunate and devastating household mishap, that will affect them for months to come. We all sympathize.

Secondly, our One and Only Glass Supplier sent me wonderful news! They've reduced their U.S. surcharge down to just under 2% (actually 1.9%).

Hmmm. let's check the dollar...

at the exact moment their email came in, our dollar was 0.3 cents away from parity, at 99.7 cents.

Yup, makes total sense...

YIPPEE! More Fusible 90 coe Glass!

Wissmach Clear - 90 Coe Best Seller An economical way to stock up on basic clear glass.  Compatible with all 90 COE glass by all manufacturers. Sheet Size: 32" x 42" - Item: W90-01

Wissmach Black Opal - 90 COE Best Seller An economical way to stock up on basic glass.  Compatible with all 90 COE glass by all manufacturers. Sheet Size: 32" x 42" - Item: W90-02

Wissmach White Opal - 90 Coe Best Seller An economical way to stock up on basic glass.  Compatible with all 90 COE glass by all manufacturers. Sheet Size: 32" x 42" - Item: W90-03

Wissmach Blue Opal - 90 COE Best Seller An economical way to stock up on basic glass.  Compatible with all 90 COE glass by all manufacturers. 90 COE. Sheet Size: 32" x 42" - Item: W90-04

Wissmach Green Opal - 90 COE Best Seller An economical way to stock up on basic glass.  Compatible with all 90 COE glass by all manufacturers. Sheet Size: 32" x 42" - Item: W90-05

Wissmach Champagne Opal - 90 COE Best Seller An economical way to stock up on basic glass.  Compatible with all 90 COE glass by all manufacturers. Sheet Size: 32" x 42" - Item: W90-06

Wissmach Gray Opal - 90 COE Best Seller An economical way to stock up on basic clear glass.  Compatible with all 90 COE glass by all manufacturers. Sheet Size: 32" x 42" - Item: W90-07

Monthly Sale for April Now Up

This is it folks. The final picture that we've all been warned about. The picture so heinous and horrible that Mikey needed to prewarn us all to its offensiveness.

But let us not forget.

The purpose of this exercise is to announce the arrival of the next Fantasy In Glass Monthly Sale as found here.

Very sorry for the pictures...

Post # 3 in Mikey's attempt to desensitize his customers to the pending horrific picture about to be unleashed upon the great unwashed...

Continuing in our conscientious vein to protect and warn our customers of the pending dread of a horrific picture of Zenia signifying FIG's next monthly sale, we offer the next in a series in our attempt to desensitize you to the pending horror about to unfold...

An unflattering picture of Zenia always signals the arrival of another monthly sale at Fantasy In Glass.
This month's picture is so frightful and heinous that Mikey understands and recognizes that his customers must be pre-warned and prepared for the horror about to unfold.
For that reason, we will be conducting an extensive public service over the next few days by posting progressively ever-increasingly horrifying and frightful pictures of Zenia to prepare you for the worst...
Oh yeah, the Monthly Sale gets posted at the end, on March 31...

This Saturday Only

60/40 Solder- 5.5 lbs (not 5 lbs like most other places)

$55.55!

(cash/debit, limit 1/customer)

Sometimes Pics Just Don't Do It Justice

Another student's work from our Friday Intermediate class, even if it is Al...

Yippee! We Just Can't Wait!

Today at 12:30, the Canadian Dollar just crossed the 99 cent mark!

Last time we checked, the U.S. surcharge for a weak (?) CDN dollar was at an extra 5.1% (actual difference is 0.44 or less than 1/2 of 1%).

That means that when our dollar hits just over 1.01 U.S. we'll get a rebate of over 5%! Yippee!

Right?

What the Heck- Why Not?

Let's put a limited number of the Taurus 3 Ringsaws on sale, but just until this Saturday at...

$456.78 (cash/debit)!

Just a Small Rant- More To Come

We have been buying supplies from a price list originally based on a Canadian Dollar of around 85 cents. Yet we pay an added premium of 5.1% over those prices while our dollar currently sits at 98.4 cents (I know, 5.1% extra on a dollar that actually costs only 1.6% more has even me puzzled).

We've had new price lists issued over the past few months and yet the U.S. dollar premium still remains.

I have to wonder how they calculate their landed cost of goods if it's not based on the dollar they actually paid with.

This makes the purpose of the long-time practice of having a surcharge suspect.

Today, the CDN dollar is over 98.4 cents and the surcharge is 5.1%.

Using these numbers, when (if) our dollar hits over $1.01, we should see a Canadian Dollar rebate of 5%.

Can't wait to see what happens...

A Little Bit of Housekeeping

Upcoming seminars-

Intro to Fusing (for those who have little or no knowledge)- Sat. March 27

Hands-On Lead- (build your first lead panel)- Sat. April 10

Beginner Stained Glass- Evenings- Tues. March 23 start date (8 weeks)

Beginner Stained Glass- Days- Wed. April 7 start date (6 weeks)

Intermediate Stained Glass- Evenings- Wed. March 24 start date (8 weeks)

Intermediate Stained Glass- Days- Fri. April 16 to May 21 (6 weeks)

Go here for more details on Courses and here for info on our seminars.

This Blog Thingy

I've been been writing a diary, or 'blog' as they call it today, since June 2003.
I sometimes have a hard time believing that- gas was 48 cents a litre, solder was $5.99/lb, I didn't even know Gary Brown and we had a choice amongst wholesale suppliers in Canada.
Blog software has made it way too easy to do this diary thingy.
Posts can happen instantly and news gets passed on quicker and more frequently, the layout is pretty cool, and the ability to scroll through past posts is quite easy.
But, more importantly, it allows you a chance to add your own comments!
Agree or disagree, you are invited to offer your views and the best thing about this is that you can do so anonymously if you like. It's up to you to decide whether your comments get directed to me privately or to the blog's public viewing area- you choose.
Secondly, you are invited to subscribe to this blog and get all my rants delivered to your mailbox whenever they appear here. Just make use of the subscribe button at the bottom of this page.

Every Picture Tells a Story. Some Are Really Good

March 2010 Monthly Sale

... is now up for your perusal. Go here.

Even more significant is the continuing tradition of posting another unflattering poster of Zenia.

Free Stuff

We have a series of binders with well over 200 free patterns for you to choose from- including suncatchers, lamps and at this time of year, Christmas themed stuff. And now we've added another binder of free projects and patterns devoted to fusing and slumping for your amusement (frustration?). Yours for the taking.
Don't have a kiln? Then come in and use ours (only $10/firing!), or rent one and take it home ($8/day!).
And as we've always had for over 25 years- free studio space, along with the use of our grinders, irons and overhead projector.

ELAC FS 247 De Stijl Edition Speakers

Finish choices for loudspeakers usually consist of a couple of wood choices and gloss black, or a combination of wood and gloss black. ELAC has broken out of that mould with their FS 247 Art Edition floorstander, which now includes an homage to the Dutch De Stijl art movement of simple geometric shapes and colors.

The FS 247 stands 40.2" tall, and utilizes ELAC's "JET III" air motion transformer tweeter and two 5.9" woofers. The woofers feature stamped aluminum-sandwich cones with a unique appearance that ELAC calls "crystal membrane". Frequency response is rated at 30Hz - 50kHz, with 89dB/W/m sensitivity. Pricing starts at $1500