Giant Blog Post

Because I am a master procrastinator, this massive blog entry is more of a reflection than it is a real-time account of my May Project experience. My apologies for that! However, I have done my best to make it engaging and I have consulted my real-time handwritten journal which includes some accounts of May Project.

Preparation / May Project Planning Day

Today I first meet Nancy Willimon, an accomplished stained glass artist, mother of Beau Willimon (creator of House of Cards), and possibly the most enthusiastic person over the age of 60 I have ever met. It seems that she loves everything she does. She describes to us the necessary attributes of a plausible design for a stained glass window, and we begin brainstorming. (After designs are due, we meet with Ms. Allison and Ms. Oates to discuss Mrs. Willimon’s suggestions and to design final proposals.)

Today I also meet Ann Dockery, the volunteer coordinator at the Crisis Nursery, who explains what goes on at the nursery. In short, parents in stressful situations bring their children to stay there for one or two days (or sometimes three or four). She takes me through all of the logistics, I sign a bunch of documents, and she schedules a background check for me with a fingerprinting service (which proves to be a bizarre experience). Then, she shows me around the nursery. The older kids (generally between 3 and 12 years old, through most are on the younger side, especially during the school week) stay on the second floor, and infants (and often their siblings) stay on the first floor. She shows me around the second floor, where I am struck by how much like a house it looks. There is a sitting area with a TV, a table for meals, a kitchen, a play space, and bedrooms. The first floor looks quite similar, though immediately as I walk through the door, a toddler walks up to me and wants to play with me. Although I can’t stay because I haven’t yet completed my background check, I know that this is going to be a really cool place to work.

Day One

It’s weird to be at school today. Not only is school closed, but we have already said our first goodbye at the senior picnic. And when everyone arrives in the painting and drawing studio, we learn that Nancy Willimon may not be working with us, as her husband has just suffered a massive stroke and is in the ICU. So Ms. Allison and Ms. Oates get us started on the project. Step one is to finish the to-scale design and figure out how the glass pieces will be cut and arranged (because there are certain shapes that are impossible to cut, such as interior right angles). However, Mrs. Willimon has already done this for me, and I move on to step two. I number all of the glass pieces and trace the entire design including the numbers onto a piece of frosted mylar. This is the template for the glass pieces. Then we cut the mylar with special scissors (foil shears) that take 1/16” out where they cut. Otherwise the foil that holds the window together would make it too big. It’s kind of like two pairs of scissors in one (there are three blades); these scissors are impossible to get the hang of, and they make this terrible squeaky noise. It is in this moment that I realize this project will take longer than I realized. It takes me over an hour (probably closer to two) to cut out all 78 pieces of mylar. The idea is then to glue one of the pieces of mylar onto the glass and cut around it. By the end of the day, I have learned a ton and cut my pattern, but I have also only cut one piece of glass.

Remainder of Week One

I really hate cutting glass. It was fun at first, but then it became one of the most frustrating things I have ever done. Really you score the glass with what looks like a teeny tiny pizza cutter, and then you put the cut inside a pair of pliers and hope with everything you have that is breaks on the line rather than into your pattern. But glass hates people, and it likes to break in straight lines, not following your pattern. I have to start over on probably more than half of the pieces I cut this week, and some of those I have to cut three or four times because they keep breaking into the pattern. Because of this, I “invented” a new stained glass technique called the Crunch Method, and Ms. Oates hates me for it. Instead of scoring the glass and crossing your fingers, you simply nibble at the glass with a pair of pliers until it is the right shape. NOT what they teach you at Preston Art Glass, or so I am told. But we are all so fed up with broken glass that many of us turn to the dark side. Irmak even makes a meme about it.

After cutting a piece of glass, I have to grind it to be the exact right shape (we find out later that small imperfections make life really difficult down the road). This is where most of the bleeding happens for me, at least. I have to put pressure on the glass so that the grinder does anything at all, and those glass edges cut me quite a bit. (This week, Ms. Allison brings us a box of around 100 bandages, and by the end of it all the box is empty.) Let’s just say that by this point most of us don’t really care if we get cut by glass because it’s happened to each of us dozens of times.

Week Two

This week I begin foiling my pieces. One side is copper and the other side is adhesive, and we have to put the foil all around each piece, because the solder sticks to metal, not glass. The first piece I foil is the one that I had the hardest time cutting because it is the largest (small pieces are easier because they tend to actually break how you want them to). Don’t ask me why I do this, but...I drop it on the floor and (I’m really embarrassed to say it) just cry for a few minutes. It takes me three more tries before I can successfully cut it again. I continue foiling as I cut and grind, because the monotony and despair in any one of these steps is too much to handle for too long.

Week Three (spent mostly in the Bonsack Gallery)

This week I continue cutting, grinding, and foiling my glass pieces, but I also spend quite a bit of time with Sofia and Irmak preparing and setting up for the Intensive art show. They are the official curators but have enlisted my help, and I help to carry pedestals and work, proofread artist statements, hang artist statements and labels, design a sign with Sofia, and install the work. It takes a LOT longer than I had anticipated (the better part of three days to be exact, though I help mostly on Thursday and Friday, Friday night being the opening).

First Adventure to the Crisis Nursery

The day before the Intensive art show opens, I make my first trip to the Crisis Nursery, where I head straight for the first floor with the younger kids. But tonight, everyone is on the same floor because there are less kids than usual. There is one nine-year-old, but everyone else is under five. Right when I walk in, a boy comes up to me and asks me my name. I tell him and ask him his. He responds with, “Sam I Am.” I play with Sam for the first few minutes, and other kids trickle in and out of whatever game is happening. We play Connect Four with balls instead of tokens, and it really just consists of throwing the balls around and dropping them in the game. We also play matching which is just looking for matches in the pile. I’ve forgotten how easily amused kids are and how much they like ice cream, and I am so enamored. I also love the kids who just want to plop down in my lap or to be held. I am the only volunteer left after about 3:30 (Ann had told me they only needed volunteers in the afternoon and evenings because they already had way more than enough during the day), so I feel like a celebrity. Over the course of my visit, we play, they eat snack, we play some more, they eat dinner, we play some more, they eat another snack, and all the while they take turns getting baths. After the final snack, they gather to watch a movie, and I decide I should be getting home. But I’m not tired like I imagined I would be after nearly five hours with energetic kids, and I’m really quite sad to leave.

Finishing my Window

The final steps for my window are finally here. I arrange the window within rulers to make sure it is the right size and stays the correct shape while I solder, then I cover the copper foil with flux so the solder will stick. After that, I use the hot iron to heat the lead and cover all the foil. This takes about an hour for each side of my window, and it smells really bad and I think I’m probably getting lead poisoning; I also have some close calls with burns. Then, I literally play tug-of-war with Ms. Allison to stretch my lead frame, because as I learn, lead is very soft and acts like cooked spaghetti if it has not been properly stretched. I cut the lead and place it around my window, soldering the edges.

The last step is to thoroughly wash the window and apply the patina, which turns the lead solder (which is initially silver in color) either black or copper-colored. And my window is finished! I don't have a photo of it with the patina and up to the light :(

Butter Churning (not related to May Project but still cool)

The day after I finish my window, I return to help everyone who hasn’t yet finished their windows. I help them for a couple of hours, and then Sofia reminds me that there will be a butter churning extravaganza in the quad. We rotate to churn, and it takes a solid two hours before we’ve made butter. Then we process and salt it in the FACS room, and it is surprisingly delicious.

More Adventures at the Crisis Nursery

The thing I love about volunteering here is how fast I can jump into the activity. Once I ring the doorbell and they unlock the door for me, I walk in the door and immediately a toddler walks over and grabs my hand. I go sit to play with him and he plops right onto my lap. The kids are on both floors today, so the oldest one here today is 5 (Her name is Bunny. She’s adorable and already a comedian; I have never met such a witty five-year-old.) The group of kids is entirely different, but the atmosphere is still as warm and playful as it was the last time I was here. The kids spend something like 20 minutes running back and forth across the nursery, and when they get tired they sit on my lap. At one point, I have three kids sitting on me as I read to them and it makes me really happy. Tonight they have the same schedule as last time, and again I leave as they prepare to watch a movie. And again, I am sad to go. I wish I had been able to spend more time at the nursery for May Project, but I can safely say that I know what I’ll be doing on my free afternoons this summer.

As for stained glass, it was an interesting experience even if we had some issues without Mrs. Willimon. She did come in one day for a bit to help us out, but sadly her husband passed away a few days later, so we didn’t see her after that. We did send her photos of our progress, though. We also had some help from Dr. Lowe who makes lamps, and a friendly Canadian lady named Mandy. However, I don’t think I’ll be making any more windows any time soon. Maybe someday, but I don’t think it’s for me. I am excited to see it in the STAR building, though!