In the spring of 2012, I attempted to graft a Pear scion onto my apple tree using Winter Banana Apple as an inter stem. (All of he grafting i do is "Whip and Tongue" grafts wrapped in grafting tape. I then coat the wrapped union with grafting wax) The parent branch was a Winesap Apple branch with a grafted Winter Banana Apple scion from a few years before. (I actually have two of these paired branches.) I then attempted to graft two "Kieffer" Pear scions onto my two Winter Banana Apple inter stems. The "Kieffer" Pear scions started to grow, but died a few weeks later. This spring (2014) I attempted to graft this Apple / Pear union again using the same Winter Banana Apple inter stems. I had just enough branch on my Winter Banana branches to try this experiment one more time. This time around, I used "Sunrise Pear" scionwood. The grafting was a screaming success! (I had enough "Sunrise Pear" scionwood to graft two branches onto my apple tree, and two more onto an ornamental pear. All four pear grafts were a success!) I have no idea why this experiment failed in 2012 and was a success in 2014. I do not know if it had to do with the pear variety used, or if it had to do with environmental circumstances. I will re-post in 2015 with an update. There are a few different treads on this subject so I will be re-posting on those threats also. Below are pictures taken on 07/27/2014.

Linda, what a great question. Ordinarily I would be concerned if the silicon II was in an exposed area where there would be some stress or external pressure. The silicone if allowed to move would certainly crack and destroy the mortar. But in this case I used a very thin layer of silicone, mainly as a glue, to hole the glass in place gripping the bottom part of the glass and the tie wires so there is no movement. When the mortar mix is applied it connects to the sides of the glass, and the tie wires. When the mortar mix cures it is one piece sealing the silicone in sort of a cocoon which is not subjected to any outside force that would move the silicone. I cannot answer the second part. I pick up a "something" and see it as an all together different thing. But it is not always easy - I have searched for days looking for "something" to trigger my brain, without any result. Once I spent a couple of weeks (not 24-7) staring at a piece I never completed before I got an idea and the old incomplete sculpture was completely disassembled and reassembled as an entirely different item. I started working on a totem pole sculpture months ago, I reached a certain point and everything became a big blank. But IÂll get back to it one day  IÂll walk past it and the "magic" will happen. Here is the totem so far.

Go to the "stained glass and mosaics forum", all the information you'll need you will find there. Good luck! Ramona Here is a link that might be useful: stained glass forum

Thank you so much Carol. I printed it out, maybe I will have better luck. Let me ask you this...In so many instances when you download supplies the brush, filter and other goodies are together. I have WinZip, I click on it to open then select my folder where I am going to put it. I usually open a new folder. Then I save the file and it is unzipped. If there is a filter there, a brush there, and supplies where is a girl supposed to put them where they all end up in the right place? Charlene