Out of The Blue - Part 2

It's done!  In fact, I delivered it to my client today and she honestly loved it.  I am so happy.  Her response was so important to me, and did she ever deliver, ha ha.  You know someone loves it when they draw in their breath, hold it for a moment, then start gushing.  "It's beautiful, oh I love it....It's perfect!"  Yup......that pretty much said it all for me.

The fit was very good as well, although I'd brought my husband along to help shave down some of the lead in a few key places.  She has someone else lined up to do the official install in the next few days, and they should have no problems.  She will give me a call to come see it once it is installed.

This was my first octagon-shaped window and my first ever panel to be installed to fit into an existing window.  Honestly, I was a little nervous about it all, but really, I had a lot of helpful advice before I even began.  This all really helped make this project come together smoothly for me.

John, in Ventura, said, "Make sure when you make your template that you mark which side is the top!"  Sounds so logical, but had he not told me that, I wonder if I would have.....  This stayed with me even to the end as I was adding the lead around the outside.  Although you can't tell from just looking at it, all eight sides were slightly different measurements.  So as I laid my lead to the pattern to cut it, I also labeled it as to which side it was cut to fit. 

John, in Santa Barbara, was very helpful in color/glass selection when I told him how particular the client  was about her colors.  He quickly collected several samples, lined them up in a window, and they all went beautiful together.  I did make a few changes: grayer for the dolphin,  light blue Baroque for the sky rather than waterglass, and I added a slightly deeper blue near the horizon.  John liked my choice of Baroque for the sky.  "Just make sure the lines flow from one piece to the other,"  he said.  He also said to be careful when making the template as all sides may be different.  He was sure right about that!  I guess octagon windows have a reputation of being a bit challenging.

Chris, here in Carpinteria (and my sister/mentor all these years) gave some great advice about putting it all together, as she knew my concern about not letting it grow, which can happen if your pieces are even a smidgen larger here and there.  "Just line up all your outside pieces to the pattern line, and tack-solder them in place. That way you know it won't grow, and you can make adjustments to the inside pieces if needed." 

Thanks everyone!!  When I get the opportunity to pay it back to someone else along the way, I will!

Here's a few pics of the finished piece.