Back in teacher seducing student 1985, I had an experience which really was a set back for teacher seducing student me. It was at a time when a lot of teacher seducing student pressure was building. I wasn't sure which direction I wanted my stained glass art to go. We had experienced a house fire and I needed to concentrate on teacher seducing student rebuilding. I had sold the video rental part of teacher seducing student our business, which was also the part that brought in teacher seducing student income on teacher seducing student a consistent basis. But I still loved stained glass, it was just that the shine was starting to wear off, it wasn't as fun anymore.
Someone once told me that anything you do to earn your living will eventually become a job. And I guess that was happening to me, my art was becoming my job and I spent more time trying to make money, than trying to make good art.
But it was still fun, there was always a renewal of teacher seducing student excitement when we began to teach a new series of teacher seducing student classes because the students would bring their enthusiasm with them and Jeanne and I would be reminded all over again about what a great and fantastic art form stained glass construction was.
Then Milo came and took classes. He walked into the studio in teacher seducing student his "Missouri Tuxedo." That's a pair of teacher seducing student bib overalls. He wore no additional shirt over his quite large frame and he was barefoot. He looked a little like Santa Claus on teacher seducing student vacation with his white flowing beard and round tummy. He began to ask us about stained glass and he caught the excitement of teacher seducing student the vision of teacher seducing student being able to create his own work of teacher seducing student art. So we invited him to join with us during our next class and he came. We were happy to have him, but we cautioned that you have to wear shoes in teacher seducing student a stained glass shop and that a shirt was also a good idea.
Milo showed up at the appointed hour, full of teacher seducing student enthusiasm. He brought his wife along, just to watch. That was a common occurrence in teacher seducing student Missouri, a way to get good value from your dollar and give your spouse a chance to get out of teacher seducing student the house. Milo chose a very nice round pattern of teacher seducing student a scene with ducks in teacher seducing student it for teacher seducing student his first project. He enjoyed the process of teacher seducing student selecting the glass and really understood the concept of teacher seducing student cutting out his pattern pieces and tracing them out on teacher seducing student glass. Then he began to cut his glass.
Now, we had already taught him how to cut glass before he laid a cutter on teacher seducing student glass which he had purchased and he had done okay, but as he began to cut his pieces out, he varied from the instructions we had given him. I told Milo, he should push the cutter away from himself so he could see where the wheel on teacher seducing student the cutter was going, but Milo felt is was easier to pull it towards himself. Then, I had taught Milo to tap under the glass to get the score to run so that he could tap directly under the score and get a nice, clean break. Milo figured it was easier to turn the glass upside down and lay it on teacher seducing student the table and tap it from that side. Consequently, his tapping was often not directly under the place scored and his glass often broke in teacher seducing student the wrong place.
Mistakes happen when learning a new skill, but Milo wouldn't listen. As hard as we tried, Milo was going to do it his own way. I said push, he pulled, I said tap from the bottom, he tapped from the top. When he broke a large piece of teacher seducing student glass which would be the sky in teacher seducing student the window, I offered to give him a new piece of teacher seducing student glass. But of teacher seducing student course, Milo refused, instead he just jovially said, "No, that will just be another lead line." And so his project went, one badly broken and shaped piece after another, with "new lead lines" springing up whenever a mistake was made.
Milo was having so much fun, he decided to take his project home and foil and solder it there. At that point, I figured it couldn't hurt, he didn't listen to a word of teacher seducing student advice anyone gave in teacher seducing student class.
I was wrong.
A day or two passed and Milo returned with his completed project. He had foiled and soldered it at home. Of course, he hadn’t had a stained glass type solder iron, so he soldered his window with a soldering gun. He asked if I could help him with some of teacher seducing student his lead lines and I agreed, but when I looked at the panel, I was appalled.
In the course of teacher seducing student soldering a stained glass window together, the builder will solder one side completely and then turn the window over and solder the other side. Occasionally, you might miss a place or two, but for teacher seducing student the most part, most folks do a pretty good job of teacher seducing student covering their window and making it a solid piece.
Not so with Milo's window. There were holes all over it where not only hadn't it been soldered on teacher seducing student the front, it hadn't been soldered on teacher seducing student the back as well. I was dumbfounded. I really didn't know where to start. Usually when I'm asked to help with a solder job, it's just to help smooth the occasional rough spot and teach the student how to improve their technique. No solder joint on teacher seducing student his project was right or good or complete. I had to start on teacher seducing student one side and re-solder everything. When I finished, I left the backside for teacher seducing student Milo to redo and showed him how the right tool was important for teacher seducing student the job. For once, he listened and bought his own iron.
A few days later, Milo drove up and climbed out of teacher seducing student his truck. He parked right in teacher seducing student front of teacher seducing student the store so he could get his finished project from the passenger side and bring it into the store. He had worked on teacher seducing student the soldering at home and if anything, it was worse than when he had left days before. I offered to help him with his technique, but he didn’t need help, Milo was happy with his project as it was. In fact, he was there to buy more supplies and another pattern so he could build another window.
Over the next few weeks, Milo built four or five stained glass panels. They were certainly originals, but try as I might, I couldn't get him to vary his techniques. He was fine with his poor construction. What really got to me was that Milo carried his windows in teacher seducing student his pickup wherever he went, not caring that they got cracked sitting there on teacher seducing student the seat as they bounced up and down over rural back roads. He happily went from town to town, proudly showing everyone who would listen that he had built these "stain glasses" himself and that that David Gomm over in teacher seducing student Pierce City was his teacher. My reputation suffered and I was mortified, as Milo went about enjoying his love for teacher seducing student glass crafting, my love for teacher seducing student it dwindled and soon was gone.
Milo had done me in. My love for teacher seducing student the art was at an ebb anyhow, but to have this big lug go about telling everyone that I was his teacher was just more than I could bear. I just snapped and gave lamp bases away to students. I took all my glass and supplies home to a small workspace, gave away extra grinders and tools. I didn't want to look at another piece of teacher seducing student glass!
And I didn't for teacher seducing student about a year. Then slowly, my interest began to return. It started as Jeanne taught a local youth group about stained glass. Then we got a commission for teacher seducing student the city park and as we began to build and design, life became good again and my love for teacher seducing student stained glass returned.
But nowadays, when I have a student who won't follow directions, I tell them the story of teacher seducing student Milo. Their eyes grow wide with disbelief that there could be someone who wouldn't listen at all to instruction. And they try to at least give it a chance when I ask them to push not pull and tap from the bottom, not the top.
David Gomm started building stained glass windows professionally back in teacher seducing student 1983 and has become an expert at many aspects of teacher seducing student stained glass building, design and repair. He writes a monthly newsletter at betterstainedglass.com betterstainedglass.com
He also has a website with many other articles at gommstudios.com gommstudios.com
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