Good morning:

What went before ONE: The lost has been found.

I looked in the closet in Steve’s office that the cats like to bat springs under, and there were four springs — one each of red, yellow, green, and blue — and one somewhat furry wrist brace.

So! I now have a dedicated glassworking brace. Go, me.
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What went before TWO: So that’s 1,140ish new words, bringing the WIP to 98,770ish. Now, I need to do some picking up for Sara, who arrives V. Early tomorrow, eat a lateish lunch, and do as many picky little tasks as I can before it’s time to leave for glassworking class.
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What went before THREE: Always a shock, when years later you reread a story you had written that you had thought was . . . not up to standard — and realize that it’s a good story, after all, despite it wasn’t the story you had, perhaps, intended to write.

“Our Lady of Benevolence,” by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.
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What went before FOUR: Wow, am I bad at cutting glass. Though, in my own defense, even the teacher thought there was a reason the glass I’d bought for sand was on sale. I am significantly better at cutting clear and pebbled glass, so — though it’s a poor workman and all like that — I’m blaming the glass.

Onward…
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Friday. Up earlier than I’d like, but the payoff is that Sara will be here in and in a couple hours I’ll have a clean house.

It is currently chilly down here in the shadowland, though sunny at treetop level.

Sigh.

The tea is really good this morning. Barkeep! Set me up another!

So, homework is to finish cutting out my glass, so the pieces are ready to be ground and — I dunno — next week. I’m having a lot of I Dunno moments, and while I recognize that this is in fact what learning a new thing is, it’s still … disconcerting. It probably doesn’t help that our teacher, who is very skilled and has been doing and teaching glass for A Long Time, occasionally forgets to articulate a step.

It was, for instance, only last night that I was finally able to understand why I needed “half a ceiling tile” and in fact, caught a glimmer of What Kind of ceiling tile. ANSWER: It’s to build the pattern on, after you’ve cut your glass. So! That would be a hard, as opposed to a fluffy asbestos, ceiling tile. Or perhaps a thin piece of board of the appropriate size. I’ll poke around downstairs and see what I have.

As I said last night, I have several kinds of glass to work with, and the … opaque glass is murder to cut. The several pieces of colored glass cut like a dream, and I suppose it’s a good thing that I started with the sky — which is clear orange glass — and cut my pieces with no problem.

Trouble started with the ocean — also opaque, swirls of blue and white that I had thought myself very fortunate to have found on sale — when I did a credible job of cutting several small pieces, but managed to break a bigger piece. Still, I have glass left over, so that can probably be salvaged.

Then I got to the swirly yellow, beige, tan part that was to be the sand. There are six? smallish pieces, and no matter how I leaned on my cutter, I couldn’t get a score deep enough to break properly. The instructor finally came by, looked at the carnage on my table and asked what my plan was. I said that I still did have several large pieces of the same glass leftover and that my plan was to start over. She took my cutter and a scrap, tried a score, shook her head and said, “Do you have the pattern pieces for all of this?” I handed them over. She fished the bigger pieces out of my scrap box and said, “I’ll do these. This glass isn’t easy.”

She didn’t have time to cut them before class let out, but she told me to bring them back next time and she’d cut them for me. So there’s that. And — lesson learned. I shall be working with clear glasses until I have something approaching a skill level there.

I suspect that my work was not made easier by having a cutter that leaks oil all over.

So! Not exactly a success, my first attempts. I thought I had prepared for screwing up, but, honestly? Largely due to ignorance regarding how many ways there were to screw up, I surprised myself.

Sara just texted to say that she’ll be a half-hour late, which gives me time to drink this cup and tea and make another before I retire to Steve’s office and open the WIP.

How’re y’all doing this morning?