Lantern, lamp and mirror

Last Tuesday, I finally finished my leaded lantern:

I now have to work on the base. My idea is to have a pine base, a wee bit bigger than the lantern (probably 20x20cm, the lantern being 15x15cm), with a groove to slot it in. A trip to the nearest DIY shop is planned next week, so I am hoping they will cut the piece of wood to the required dimensions, then I'll ask the carpenter at my work to dig the groove. Then, I'll work on the finish...

The other stained glass project I am working on at the moment is a Rennie Mackintosh style lamp. All the pieces are cut and ground but I can't solder it together because I don't have any black coated copper foil left and the teacher didn't get delivered this week :o(


So, I had to start on my next project :o)


It is a Rennie Mackintosh style mirror. I found it on the Internet here. No pattern was available so I just increase the size of the picture to an A3 size. The one on that website is much bigger, it is leaded. I am doing it with copper foil, it is not as strong as lead so I have to make it smaller. I will finish the edges with lead though.

West Coast

Last weekend we went to the West Coast of Scotland. We spent Friday night in Oban (which is only 3h drive from Dundee) in Order to meet with our friend Elise. The next morning the 3 of us set off early to go to Mull. We took the A828, along Loch Linnhe, to Corran where we took a ferry to Ardgour.


Then we took the A861 and A 884 to Lochaline and took the ferry across to Mull.
The weather was perfect. We had lunch in the harbour in Tobermory before going to the cheesery (Just outside Tobermory, on the road going to Glengorm castle).

We had a walk at Glengorm castle, along the coast before touring the West coast of Mull.


The next day, We had booked a boat trip to Staffa, an island 10km west of Mull, well known for its basalt columns. It takes 1h to go there and we had 1h to spend on the island. We saw some birds, mainly cormorants, and, coming back, we saw some puffins having a swim (sorry no pictures).

We then spent the rest of the afternoon on Iona where Elise and Stephane had a swim.

In the evening we took the ferry back to Oban where we dropped Elise before coming back to Dundee.

we felt like we had spent a week there, it was so relaxing! The West coast of Scotland is amazing and well worth a visit (well, several I would say).

Sun Kissed

We spent the weekend on the West coast of Scotland. We've been extremely lucky with the weather. Everything was perfect; blue sky, warm breeze, 20-25 C.
I am hoping to have more time and post more pictures in the next few days. In the meantime, I can show you these:
Loch Lubhair:


Calgary bay on the isle of Mull:

GG and Leon enjoyed themselves, as usual...

More later...

What's on my needles?

I haven't shown you any knitting for a while. I am still knitting but long term projects that seem to take forever as I keep knitting smaller ones in between...
I am knitting a men jumper (free pattern here). The pattern is very simple, 4x2 rib, with a nice cable pattern on the sleeves only. It will probably be turned into a zipped jacket. I haven't done the front yet, I am on the second sleeve so I have some time to make up my mind.

Last weekend I worked on 2 quick projects:
a head band called bamboozled (free pattern here)

and a pair of fingerless mittens (free pattern here).

Both are for a friend who's leaving next week.
I am also knitting a jacket for myself, called decimal (free pattern here).

Front and back are knitted in one piece, then you knit the sleeves and finish with the yoke (therefore, no sewing is required!). I am on the second sleeve for that one. I found the sleeves too wide to my taste so I had to change the number of stitches. As a result, the pattern won't match at the yoke so I am not sure how it will look. I might have to frog it...

Finally, I am still working on a lace project I mentioned earlier. I am now on row 157 (70 more to go) but progress is slow as it now takes me about 45min to knit a row.

leaded stained glass lantern

I had my first lead class yesterday.
I made a simple design for a square lantern.
It is 15x15cm. By chance, my friend had 5x5cm square bevels, which are perfect for the centre of the panel.

Then, I had to choose the glass. I decided on several shades of yellow/orange.

I didn't take pictures of all the steps. Leading is much more time consuming than copper foiling but it is very interesting to learn. In 3hours I just had time to cut all the glass and lead came pieces for the 4 panels and to assemble one panel. I still have to solder the lead joins. I couldn't do it for this panel yesterday because my friend didn't have flat lead came needed for the top and bottom of the panel. I will ask the teacher at my class on Tuesday.

My friend explained me how to finish it (she lives too far for me to go easily), so I'll do that during my Tuesday classes.
There is an additional step when doing leaded glass compare to copper foil: cementing. It helps secure the glass in the came, strengthen, and weatherproofs the piece.
For more details about leaded glass panel, click here.

Another lamp

Stained glass project number 4 is a Rennie Mackintosh style lamp.
I am at the grinding stage.
This lamp is going to be for me (again) :o)


On Saturday, I am going to learn another stained glass technique: leaded stained glass panel. I am not sure of the project I will be doing yet, a garden lantern or a window panel probably. Pictures should be available on Sunday...

Math and Crochet

One of my friends sent me a link to a great talk:
Margaret Wertheim: The beautiful math that links coral, crochet and hyperbolic geometry.
If you are interested, follow this link.

Have a great weekend :o)

Stained glass mirror

I have finished another stained glass project (Well, I still have to apply the patina): a mirror.
One of my cousins is getting married in September and I asked him and his fiancée if they would like a stained glass mirror as a wedding present. They liked the idea and I had carte blanche for the design, the only condition was that the colour had to be white/cream. I decided to use some mosaic tiles I had, white glass and some translucent beads with a thin line of white inside.



Now, I will have to bring it back to France without breaking it.
I hope they will like it, the wedding is in September.

BUPA 2009

Yesterday Stephane ran the BUPA Great Edinburgh Run (10 km race) in 39 min 37 s. Over 10,000 people participate every year. The atmosphere is fantastic and yesterday the weather was gorgeous :o)
A Dalek was running as well. I am sure it motivated a lot of runners to go faster, out of its gun range ;oD

The Dalek made it in 1h37, not bad with that bulky costume!

Stephane finishing...can you spot him?

Craft Hope (part 2)

I can now show you the girl doll I made for Craft Hope project 2:


I am really excited as my boy doll have a putative owner already! I posted the picture on Craft Hope Flickr group and I had this comment from Eren (she is going to bring the dolls to the orphanage): "P.S. I know JUST the kid who's getting this one. His name is Armando and he loves to swim!". I hope he will like it...