Fun with Stained Glass

After years of wanting to take a stained glass class, I finally did it and completed the last of the four-week course last night.  It was so much fun and both easier and harder than I thought, but mostly easier.  Here is what I learned. 

First, you should know that I’ve taken classes in the past (painting, quilting, mosaics) but never finished the projects due to a chronic case of perfectionism tied to a mild lack of confidence.  I’d hem and haw at the starting gate about what design I wanted to use or how to start while all of the other students took off like they were going for the gold at the Olympics.  I’d get discouraged and would sometimes just stop coming to the class altogether.  But this time I was determined that things would be different.  I would not spend inordinate amounts of time fretting over how to begin or bemoaning every perceived mistake.  I would not focus on perfection.  Instead I would focus on staying with the instructor, completing each task on the assigned night, and just enjoying the process.  It was my first attempt after all so my project was going to have flaws anyway but at least it would be finished.  On the first night, I even told the instructor, Jack, about my sordid past with art classes and he assured all of us that we didn’t need to be perfect.  That’s all I needed to hear.   Boy, did I run with it! 

First Night:  We got some basic instructions on cutting and breaking glass and practiced doing so.  It was surprisingly easy.  We were then given a paper with the same pattern, a star, on it and were told to cut out all of the black lines from around all of the pattern pieces, which would leave approximately a 1/16^th space between them.  We could do this with regular scissors or with triple-bladed scissors that cut the black line out for you.  I found the triple-bladed scissors a little hard to get used to but did like them.  However, here is where I made my first mistake as I cut some pieces a little too much and others not enough.  Some had remnants of the black line on them and others were slightly misshapen.

 

Next, still on the first night, we numbered our pattern pieces then chose the colors and textures of glass we wanted to use for our project.  We learned how to lay the pattern pieces out on the glass to cut them correctly.  (For example, you wouldn’t want to start scoring the glass for one pattern piece in such a way that will cause the glass to break where you have another piece waiting to be cut.)  Once the pattern pieces were laid out, we used a marker to trace around them onto the glass being careful to number them and then cut out each glass piece.  We left the glass pieces assembled together on a tray.

Lesson Learned #1:  Take your time and cut your paper pattern as precisely as possible!     

 

Second Night:  We took the cut pieces of glass and grinded the edges on a glass grinder.  The first pass was to smooth the edges of the glass but then we had to compare the glass to our original template and grind down any excess glass.  The  grinding machine uses water with the spinning grinder so each time we had to completely dry the piece we were working on before placing it back on the paper template (so the template wouldn’t warp) to make further comparisons.  I found grinding to be the most tedious and least enjoyable part of the class for a couple of reasons:  1) because I had so much of it to do; and 2) because teeny, tiny little bits of glass fly up and get on your face, in your hair, and on your clothes.  However, the last reason wouldn’t prevent me from taking the class again. 

Lesson Learned #2:  Do not squander your freedom from perfectionism so flagrantly!  Cut the glass more precisely the first time around to waste less time on grinding.  Also, note that we wore protective eye gear while grinding but one reference work said you should also wear a mask so you do not breathe in any glass particles.  I’ll do that next time.

Third Night:  We wiped the edges of all of our glass pieces with a cloth to make sure all dust and debris is removed.  We then began applying copper foil to the edges.  This was a little challenging as we had to apply a thin strip of adhesive backed copper to the edge of glass in such a way that an equal amount of excess foil was on both side of the glass.  We worked our way around each piece, cut the foil then pressed it to the edges before pressing down the excess foil on to the front and back flat surfaces of the glass.  We pressed down the corners with our fingers first then with a crimper before using a tool to burnish or flatten the foil on the surfaces of both sides of the glass.  If we miscalculated and got too much foil on one side of the glass than the other, we tried to add a little more foil to that section to fix it or had to remove the foil completely and start over.  This is important because when you look through the glass, it is obvious when this is not done properly.  We then put each piece back on the pattern in order on a piece of wood.  Our instructor nailed pieces of quarter-round around our design to hold all of the pieces in place firmly.

Lesson Learned #3:  Apply the foil more precisely and evenly to the glass pieces so it’s even on both sides.

 Fourth and Final Night:  We applied flux (an acidic mixture to make metal adhere to metal) to key points on our design then soldered them with an extremely hot soldering iron and tin.  This was to hold the design together.  We then proceeded to solder the rest of the design on one side.  (Sorry, but I didn’t get pictures of this as I was too focused on what I was doing and forgot.)  This was both fun and exasperating.  It was cool to see how the tin would melt down the surface of the hot soldering iron and pool along the line of copper being covered.  It was frustrating when I didn’t move quickly or slowly enough and the tin either formed a lump or was too thin.  The cure was a blessing and a curse.  You see, you could apply more flux and then touch the soldering iron to the tin and it would re-melt and be movable.  Great, right?  Yes, except it is possible to re-work something too much.  Oh, well, it was a first attempt remember? 

Once we were done with the first side (not the outer edge, since that would be covered with a zinc frame), we cleaned the flux and debris off with water and dried our piece.  We then flipped it over and did the reverse side being careful not to apply too much tin as it could seep through to the other side we just completed.  Yes, there was seepage and I had to fix it by applying more flux and reheating and removing some of the tin.  Once this was done and the piece was washed, Jack used a miter saw to cut out zinc frame pieces which he fitted to our projects and affixed using a different type of more caustic flux.  (I didn’t really like the way it discolored the zinc frame but what are you gonna do?)  We used a file to smooth the edges where the mitered pieces met.  Jack then drilled holes for our frame hooks which were applied with more solder and voilà!  My project was complete!

Lesson Learned #4:  Take your time soldering so you get smoother lines with consistent and correct amount of tin.

Final lesson learned?  Creative people must do creative things.  Even just being in a creative environment is invigorating and feels right to the bones.  Find new ways to express yourself creatively.  Take a class and see it through to the end.  Even if you never want to try that particular art form again, you will learn something about it and, more importantly, about yourself. 

Why Paula Deen Makes this Southern Chick Sad

Paula Deen, Queen of Southern cooking, announced Tuesday that she has type-2 diabetes. Ordinarily that might be a sympathy garnering announcement but it has her critics up in arms and trash talking the food I grew up loving and that makes this Southern chick very sad. Let me explain.

First, I have to confess that, although I am not a super fan of Paula Deen’s, I do like her. I’ve seen a few of her cooking shows, as well as, other shows where she is being interviewed and I like her folksy, down-home country charm ("Hey, ya’ll!”). I guess it’s a Southern thing. 

I also like that she tries to preserve traditional Southern home-style cooking because I simply love the food that I grew up with! It’s about taste and home and mama. I’ve even written about it on my other blog. Still I know that Southern home cooking in the traditional sense is not the healthiest cuisine around. We all know that. So, what’s the problem?

Well, you see, Paula Deen has been under fire for quite some time for kicking the traditional up a notch or two…or ten! It seems for her that Southern cuisine can never have too much fat or sugar and so she seems to delight in concocting the most outrageous diet busters. (Deep fried cheesecake, anyone?) Add to that her age, weight, and an admittedly sedentary lifestyle and it’s a recipe for disaster. Sounds like it just might be her own personal problem but it’s not. Paula Deen is a well-known and well-liked celebrity. As a result, many take umbrage with her continued promotion of unhealthy foods in light of her diagnosis that, it turns out, she’s actually known about for several years. Really, how can someone continue to relish in and promote dishes like hamburger, egg, and bacon between two glazed donuts while knowing the health risks to themselves and others?

In Paula’s defense, she says that she has always spoken about moderation on her shows. She may have. As I said, I haven't watched a lot of her shows. However, of the ones I did see, I never heard moderation preached. Not once. Never saw anything about it in her cookbook that I checked out from the library a few months ago either. And moderation is definitely key when it comes to Southern cooking! I too have a weight issue and I am currently trying to eat healthier and lose weight. Does that mean I never want to have biscuits and gravy or chicken-n-dumplings or chocolate pie again? Absolutely not! However, I know that it cannot be the mainstay of my diet. Sure, my grandparents may have eaten that way and my grandma did live to be 98 years old, but my grandparents worked hard on a farm most of their lives and worked off as many calories as they consumed. They also had access to fruits and vegetables and non-chemically processed foods. It was a different time. Few people have that lifestyle today, which is why the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) states that one-third of U.S. adults are obese along with 17% of children aged 2 – 19. So, the question is, in a country where an alarming portion of the population is literally bursting at the seams, is it responsible for any public and respected figure to so brazenly flaunt an unhealthy lifestyle?

To rub a salted stick of butter into an already open wound, we also learn that Paula Deen is now the spokeswoman for Novo Nordisk, makers of a diabetes treatment drug reportedly costing up to $500.00 a month, and she stands to make millions from the deal. Seems sort of like being on the board of directors for a tobacco company while promoting a patch to stop smoking at the same time.

Still, some may feel that Paula’s diagnosis is her personal business and that she didn’t need to tell anyone she has diabetes and I agree. However, as a celebrity chef, she could have started changing her recipes to be healthier years ago. She could have preached moderation more loudly and more often. And, if she wanted to come clean about her diagnosis to help others, then why didn’t she do when she found out about it? Why wait until she has a deal with a pharmaceutical company? It all seems so disingenuous now and such a big let down.

To make matters worse, Paula Deen has committed the biggest crime of all--betraying her Southern roots by putting traditional Southern cuisine in such a bad light. And that just makes me sad.

To Do vs. To Done

I’ve never been diagnosed with adult ADD but believe I have it. It’s hard for me to focus sometimes. My brain swims and drowns with thoughts and ideas. It’s hard to remember all of the things I need to get accomplished from day to day, which is why I rely on lists.



I make “to do” lists every day. There is a certain amount of satisfaction in marking off items I’ve successfully completed. But really a “to do” list is not good enough for me. If there are items still left on the list, I feel I’ve failed for the day. So, to counteract that, I will occasionally keep a “to done” list. It may sound silly but every so often I track what I actually did accomplish for the day down to the minutest detail. From washing dishes, to folding laundry, picking up toys, making a doctor's appointment, wiping down the counter, taking out the trash, paying bills, writing a blog, or walking the dog. Anything can be recorded.



A "to done" list serves as validation and proof. Validation for me that, though there may be stuff yet to be done, I have done a lot to work toward reaching my goals and handling my responsibilities. It also serves as proof for anyone who dares to question what I did all day. Since they likely won’t have a “to done” list of their own, they will hush up right quickly!


If you’ve never kept a “to done” list, try it for one whole day and see if you aren’t similarly impressed with yourself!

Computer Generated Models: What's the Big Deal?

Retail clothing giant, H&M, is best known for selling great fashion at cheap prices. Well-known customers include Madonna and Michelle Obama. Today, though, H&M is in the news for creating computer generated swimsuit and lingerie models. Some groups are crying foul claiming that H&M have taken the need for the "ideal" model too far and are further exacerbating the problem many women have with self-image. H&M defends it position saying that what they've done is no different than what retailers have been doing for years--using near perfect models or mannequins to promote a product. And, surprisingly, I agree with them.

I say "surprisingly" because I have less than the ideal figure myself--far less. It would make more sense if I took the opposing position and villified H&M for their actions. But, truth be told, they have merely used technology to continue a common practice in the fashion world, that of displaying fashion in the best possible light. It's no different than a car manufacturer who puts a handsome couple in a sports car as they speed along a beautiful European street. And it's definitely no different than using live models with "ideal" body proportions or mannequins. You don't hear a lot of outcry over mannequins that are too skinny!

No, instead of being upset by "ideal" computer generated models, I support the practice. I hate to see anyone lose a job but the reduction in costs associated with hiring models and photographers could further lower prices, which would benefit the consumer and the company alike. Consistency in model body type also helps to give a true picture of the differences between garments--how they fit, where they sit on the body, etc. It's a potential win-win situation.

I do, however, have a suggestion for retailers. By all means, display your vision of the perfect model on the main screen for each item being advertised but then try something really bold and daring! How about showing other computer generated models with varying sizes and shapes so the rest of us can get a truer picture of what the item would look like on us? You could even designate which items are best for pear shapes, apple shapes, etc. You might worry that it would decrease sales but actually it would help the bottom line. If people could pick out an outfit, see how it would appear on them, and still make the decision to buy it, they would be less likely to return it. So, which is better? More sales, more returns? Or fewer sales, no returns? Also, what if your marketing and design teams had real data showing the sizes and body types most "real world" people gravitate towards? How could that affect your designs and future sales? It's worth thinking about.


In summary, people, don't let retailers and advertisers dictate how you feel about yourself. They are just trying to sell clothes. The truth is the world is made up of people of all shapes and sizes, which is a good thing. It's diverse, interesting, real, and it will never change--no matter what ad exec's or fashion designers do to hawk their wares!

Person County Revisted

Library of Congress Call Number: LC-USF34- 019729-E [P&P]

For as long as I can remember, I have admired an 8 x 10 black and white photograph that my Grandma Irene always had. It shows her sitting on a front porch with my Mom as a baby on her lap and with my two aunts and uncle surrounding her. It was taken in Person County, NC where my grandparents lived on a farm that my grandfather worked as a sharecropper. The photo depicts a lovely slice of time in rural America’s history that sadly cannot be relived.


Well, at the turn of the century, a NC newspaper ran a feature highlighting local moments in history for the prior 100 years. In the section on the 1930’s, there was a photograph of a sharecropper in a tobacco field with two of his children. They were only seen from behind but somehow a distant relative, who is also the family geneaologist, recognized the people in the photograph as my grandfather, aunt and uncle. This relative did a little research and found out that seven other photographs of my family were in the Library of Congress and could be viewed on the Library of Congress website. The photographs were taken by Dorothea Lange. Of course, I immediately went to the Library of Congress website (www.loc.gov) but I was able to find over 50 pictures of my family on the farm they sharecropped in Person County, NC and at the local general store.


It turns out Dorothea Lange was one of a number of photographers hired by the Farm Security Administration during the period from 1935 – 1944. Some of the other photographers include Walker Evans, Russell Lee, Gordon Parks, and Marion Post Wolcott. They were charged with documenting the plight of sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and migrant workers after the Great Depression as a way of drumming up support for Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. Under the direction of Roy Stryker, the program also expanded to include documentation of daily American Life. Since Marion Post Wolcott joined the project in later years after the new direction was given, her photographs are more varied and, sometimes, whimsical, which I love so check her out.


Anyway, throughout this post, I am sharing some of the photographs of my family that Dorothea Lange took. They are from the Library of Congress website (www.loc.gov). Once you access the site, click on “Prints and Photographs”, then click on “Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black and White Negatives”, then in the search field type “Person County”. Once you have one that looks like any of the photos in this post, you can then click on “Browse Neighboring Items by Call Number” to see more of my family.
 

By the way, the Library of Congress website contains a wealth of information. Besides the documentary photography section mentioned above, I also recommend the following collections: Civil War, Daguerreotypes, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, and Brady-Handy Collection.

Library of Congress Call Number: LC-USF34- 019758-E [P&P]

Library of Congress Call Number: LC-USF34- 019751-E [P&P]

Library of Congress Call Number: LC-USF34- 019706-E [P&P]

Library of Congress Call Number: LC-USF34- 019716-E [P&P]

Library of Congress Call Number: LC-USF34- 019727-E [P&P]

Library of Congress Call Number: LC-USF34- 019740-E [P&P]

Library of Congress Call Number: LC-USF34- 019733-E [P&P]

Library of Congress Call Number: LC-USF34- 019737-E [P&P] LOT 1498

Library of Congress Call Number: LC-USF34- 019784-E [P&P] LOT 1498

What My Grandma Taught Me

Some of the best times in my life were spent at my Grandma Irene’s house in NC. She was the quintessential grandmother with her short curly white hair and matronly figure, pantsuit or dress with stockings, and pumps with a 1-inch heel or Easy Spirit sneakers.


When I was seventeen, Grandma came to stay with us over the summer. She wanted to go walking at my high school’s track at six in the morning! So, I took her to walk in what felt to me like 90 degree weather. She wore a blouse, hose under her polyester pants, and those 1-inch pumps. While I sweated and complained and plodded along, Grandma walked—fast—and left me in the dust! In fact, she got up early to walk every morning until she was in her eighties. She was active all of her life. She was always bending over to prove she was still flexible enough to touch the floor and speed walking if we were walking too slowly in the mall.

Grandma always got up early in the morning to make breakfast, water her flowers, and tend to her garden. When I was little I loved getting to hold the hose to water her roses. I particularly remember her huge hydrangea bushes, which I called pom-pom bushes. To this day, hydrangeas are my favorite flower and seeing them reminds me of Grandma.
 

Grandma Irene was a fabulous cook. Having a serious sweet tooth, I seem to remember her strawberry preserves, pound cake, chocolate pie, pineapple upside down cake, and fruit cake the most. Actually, she was accomplished in many ways. She gardened, canned vegetables, sewed quilts from scrap fabric, crocheted afghans, crafted waste baskets out of recycled egg cartons, and made lace doilies, dolls, ceramic figures, and toilet paper covers.

Grandma Irene was fun to be around too. She loved to tell stories from her life. Sometimes I’d hear the same story so often that I’d tune it out, which was a mistake because, every now and then, Grandma would add some detail or tell a new story I’d never heard before. Besides telling stories, Grandma loved to tell jokes. No matter how many times I heard them, she was still able to trip me up! She liked to play dominos, rook, and rummy. Oh, yeah, and she was a cheat! I know because I was usually her partner. When she wasn’t scratching the backs of cards to mark them, she was winking at me or kicking me under the table to signal a play!

Caught Napping.  Again!

Grandma loved to be on the go. She was just as happy going on a ride out in the country as she was going on a trip out of town. She went with my family on many trips including once to a zoo where she rode an elephant when she was in her seventies! Even when she wasn’t feeling well, she would get dressed, put her ear bobs on, and she was ready to go. She’d always say, “I can feel bad out as good as I can at home.”

Grandma was a positive and happy person. She lived through two World Wars and numerous smaller ones; the Spanish Flu; the Great Depression; the advent of talkies, Technicolor, cordless phones, cell phones, and the internet; the sexual revolution; the deaths of her husband and daughter; and a double mastectomy. When I’d ask about farm life and living through the Great Depression, she’d always say, “We didn’t have much but we lived on a farm so we always had food to eat and a roof over our head.” Ask Grandma about her life and she would always say, “I’ve had a good life, a happy life”.


Grandma Irene passed away in 2003 at the age of 98. She was a great lady, a wonderful influence in my life, and an inspiration. I learned many things from her but I guess what I learned the most is to keep doing, learning, going, trying, believing, moving, enduring, appreciating, laughing, and loving!

How to Grow Old Gracefully

Some say that aging is a natural process. A part of the cycle of life. They celebrate aging as a counter move to age-ism and cite examples set by wealthy stars and former models who have grown older “gracefully” (i.e., they still look beautiful and well preserved). What utter rubbish! These propagandists neglect to mention anything about genes, plastic surgery or costly dermatological treatments, soft lighting, and air brushing. In reality, we get wrinkles, age spots, sagging skin, puffy eyes, etc., etc. Historians worry about the fall of man but what about the fall of woman?!? No, growing old is a very un-natural process that leads to one eventuality—death.

Anyone who puts faith in the truthfulness of God’s Word as recorded in the Bible knows that humans were meant to live forever. We were never meant to die nor meant to grow old. Aging, sickness, and death are by-products of the disobedience that began in the Garden of Eden and have been passed down from generation to generation like hair or eye color. The account of man’s descent from perfection has been carried down too, albeit with variation, in the teachings of Christian and non-Christian religions alike, therefore what I am saying should not be shocking to anyone regardless of religious persuasion. So, with the un-naturalness of aging established, is it actually possible to grow old gracefully?
 

The first thing I wanted to do is make sure I understood the full meaning of the word “graceful”. Seems elementary I know but there are lots of words whose meaning we take for granted when, upon closer inspection, we can obtain a much richer understanding. So, I decided to investigate. The ever handy Dictionary.com defines the word “graceful” as “characterized by elegance or beauty of form, manner, movement or speech; elegant”. Taking it a step further, I also typed the word “gracefully” in a Microsoft Word document and did a synonym search. Said search yielded results such as:  

Kindly, Charitably, Benevolently, Elegantly, With Poise, Charmingly, and Stylishly 

These words sum up quite nicely how anyone can grow old gracefully. Simply put, be all of those things. Stylish and elegant in our dress; poised in our carriage; kind and charming in our demeanor; and benevolent and charitable in our thoughts and actions. No doubt we each have examples of ones in our lives who exemplify these very characteristics. Follow their example and, to slightly paraphrase Dylan Thomas, “Rage against the dying of the light”…gracefully.

Southern Fried Manners

So, why is my blog called "Southern Fried and Tied Up?" Let me explain.  Despite the fact that I, like most people, prefer to do things when I want to and on my own terms, I really am all for norms and rules. They help to establish order and calm in a chaotic world. They give people with undiagnosed ADD a framework within which to bounce around. The problem comes with knowing how to balance between extremes. This is perhaps truest within the Southern culture.


You see, in the South, people run the gamut between extremes. You have your wide-open, wide-mouthed, yee-hawing, good-ole-country boy on one end of the spectrum, and your prim and proper, oh-so-refined, Southern belle or grand dame on the other end. What is considered polite conversation within the spectrum varies just as widely. Some swear like sailors while others speak with such gentility that it's as if they curtsy with their words.  Case in point, I was talking with a friend who brought up the “F-“ word. You know (looking from side to side and whispering)…”Fart”. My mother can’t stand that word. As she says, it is crude slang and other words can equally, and less offensively, be used. One could say, for example, poot or toot or pass gas.


Anyway, I remarked to my friend that sometimes I feel southern fried and tied up because of societal conventions such as those governing the use of words like “fart”. I quite liked my original expression—"southern fried and tied up"—because it is metaphorical of a larger pull and tug between being who you are versus who you are supposed to be, as dictated by society at large. It’s like the strain to breach the confines of a perfectly constructed cocoon that is all at once overwhelming, suffocating, and constricting while it is also warm, safe, comforting, and known. How does one navigate such a narrow passage and still feel unique?


As always, it comes down to balance. Balance between personal needs and the needs of others. Turns out it’s really not all about you or me and what either of us want. There is a bigger picture and still others to be considered. Here is where manners come into play. Manners have nothing to do with the individual who displays them but have everything to do with the recipient. Manners say “I respect you and your feelings”. The world certainly could use more of that.


Truth be told, I do let the “F-“ word, I mean “fart”, fly (no pun intended) every now and again but I also feel my Mom has a point. There is something safe and comforting in convention, in politeness, in gentility. Something that says the world hasn’t totally lost all redeeming value. Something that speaks of our better natures and our ultimate potential as a species. So, Mama, in harmony with Colossians 4:6, I will try to season my words with salt, making them palatable to those along the spectrum of society knowing that it can only contribute to the betterment of all.