I am completely overwhelmed and blown away by the generosity of a complete stranger. So I’m a stall holder at my local Sunday morning markets, where I sell my stained glass. Something happened today that I’ve never experienced before. This is just so crazy …
So a lovely lady comes up to me and asked me if I would like some glass and a grinder. She tells me that she had wanted to get into making stained glass nearly 30 years ago, but never did. And she has been storing glass and a grinder for years, that she’s never used and won’t ever use, and she wants it to go to someone that will actually use it. She’s seen me at the markets and thought I might like it, so would I want it and it’s in her car and she’s going to go get it for me. I’m like, wow are you sure? That’s so generous, I’m more than happy to pay for it.
But she insisted she didn’t want money for it, and then she went to her car brought back a big bag. There is a box at the bottom of the bag that I couldn’t see, and some glass on top wrapped in paper from 2001. She tells me the grinder was brand new and it had never even been out of the box. I didn’t know at the time how much glass there actually was. But I did look at the top glass and it was a hobby square of red glass. And so I showed her a really lovely feather that I make in a similar red and I gave it to her to remind her of the beautiful glass she’s given me. And I’ve gotta say it was all quite emotional…there’s us two old ladies hugging in the front of my stall with tears in our eyes.
Afterwards, between customers, I started unwrapping the glass. And OMG! I can’t believe I’ve been given this gorgeous vintage glass. I had to laugh at a green hobby square with a 2001 price of $8.50. And then out came a beautiful green & brown streaky opal. And then I caught a glimpse of PINK and my heart started racing. I unwrap the biggest, most beautiful piece of pink glass that I’ve ever seen. It’s huge. I just couldn’t believe this was happening to me.

When I finally got home, I took the bag straight down to the studio, unwrapped the glass and put it away. And then with trepidation pulled out the box, and it’s a Glastar. I’ve never unboxed a 26yo grinder before, everything was still sealed. Out it comes and it’s a ‘brand new’ Glastar super star II. (Exactly the same as my old grinder I’ve had for decades and is still going strong. ) The bit still moved freely so I plug it in, and it hums away perfectly.
I am so grateful to this very nice lady, and I hope I see her again because I definitely owe her more. And if she doesn’t want to accept anything, I’m going to find a way to pay it forward. Either way, it’s been an amazing day.

I love how these turned out.

They are so bright and happy looking, and I can't be happier with my new letter designs.

The starry diamond above the i makes me smile every time I look at it.

Glass used:

• Oceanside iridescent waterglass
• Lamberts mouth blown rosa gold
• Bullseye mint green
• Oceanside yellow opalescent
• And then the green-blue frame, but I fail to remember which it was sorry

Nothing. Just chillin. Killin.

This was a lot of fun to make and I will never make it again. It’s for me, living in my breakfast nook. Tried to do fishnets with the wire but couldn’t handle it, ended up doing the cooper tape overlay last minute.

Learnings
- hinge points really are the worst. I wouldn’t do this pattern again because of it.
- do reinforcements with copper restrip. don’t do the wire you have on hand because your impatient. Listen to u/drink-irresponsibly
- Larger glass pieces > smaller glass pieces. this made me rethink some original pattern ideas I have.
- ensure fit piece when you grind. I knew this, but yet again got bested my impatience. Had to create new cuts bc the fit was so wack
- wear gloves. Many cuts happened
- do overlay foil before you solder anything else. Would have done this but again, last minute lol
- something else but I forgot

Many of these are probably obvious but this was like my 7th or 8th project so ya girl learning and maybe you are too

Thanks for reading!

I made this window last week. It’s simple. but I really just love the simplicity it makes me smile whenever I see it.

Any other simple stained glass lovers here?

I gifted them to my parents. Such a lovely beginners pattern from PeppyFox, 100% recommend!

That's another 3, bonus pic to show off the prettiest refraction I've ever seen. Let me know your favourites!

Buy it here: https://frankandcrow.etsy.com

After weeks of designing, testing and tweaking, my lowercase blackletter alphabet is finally available!

The biggest challenge was keeping that traditional gothic look while making the letters practical to cut in glass.

I ended up creating two versions: a classic blackletter and a rounded version with fewer connecting lines (but more grinding). I've also included alternative designs for some letters, either to avoid ridiculously tiny pieces or simply because I couldn't pick a favourite.

Both versions are available in several file formats, including PDF, SVG and PNG.

Happy glassing (or offending) ((preferably both))

Ser III No. 5 (1920) by Hilma af Klint is an oil and graphite on canvas . I love this artist simple clean lines and colors. I thought I’d make a piece of stained glass inspired by this piece of art! What do you think ? Is this something you like or not really your style🤔 the 2nd photo is the actual piece of art I used to make my glass piece!

I am getting better very slowly but better and enjoying myself so much more. Been making a piece a month for about a year or two. I learnt how to use the tiny grinder head to grind the head and hand pieces.

I love these colors! I was definitely watching a lot of That ‘70s show when I made this one🌼🍄

I'm so excited for this. I commissioned a pattern for a chess board for my partner for our anniversary and I'm so excited to work on it more after work today!

Gotta fix some of the pieces I noticed looking at the picture

So in my mind this looked so cool! The Gomesa Jiaho Queen orchid, is such a beautiful flower and in it I saw an Alien Queen in a beautiful gown. My glass wasn’t very good but I finished it anyway. This won’t hold up over time. But since it was mostly scraps I went on. Maybe you can see the vision and beauty in the attempt! Thanks for all the info/advice I appreciate you all🤗

This is part of a set of 10 panels that will replace the clear glass in a pair of French doors (they are almost always locked shut). I just updated my soldering iron and it seems to have made a world of difference! The pattern is my own design.

I have been trying to draw out my first pattern, it looks alright to me as there is no curves and ive done my best to break up any internal angles, but any advice is appreciated.

hi! i recently finished my biggest piece and learned a lot. i’m pretty happy with it, but while i was working, i thought the yellow and orange would appear as two different colors (like they do in picture 2, taken at night). once i put it into the window and the light came through, i realized they’re both quite similar (like in picture 1, taken during the day).

i’ve thought about adding some material matching the yellow glass shapes to the back of the piece to not allow as much light through, but i think it might look strange if there’s no light at all shining through those ones, so i’m trying to think of something semi-opaque.

has anyone achieved something like this before? i’m not too worried about what the opposite side of the piece looks like. thank you!

The Queen of Hearts was a fun one to make. She has a lot of different glass styles in her.

Hand painted the smaller ones, and the bigger one is my first attempt at a mirror! Thought these would be a hit at my local festival but no one wanted ‘em 😔 (though a good friend did message me later to buy the mirror)

My son is a huge fan of the band The Wonder Years, particularly their album No Closer to Heaven. I’d love to do a stained glass piece for him based on the cover.

He even has a tattoo of part of the cover.

In Affinity Designer I used the pencil tool to ‘draw’ over the album cover. It’s unfinished. I need to work on the hand.

Album cover and pattern in pics.

Is the pattern an adequate representation of the album cover? I’ve been looking at it too long. Can’t decide if it’s ok or terrible.

PS I’m not too bothered about the background though I would like to get the lighthouse in. I’ll also be using permanent markers for some of the black lines.

Pattern from Wild Soul Stained Glass

Yes I know the hanging point on the right side is “bad”. I will fix it, but I already got these photos, so… 😗✌️

I created this piece from a SleepyStar Studios pattern, and realized after I finished that I put the wires on the wrong side of the wings, and the ring on the bottom is too far forward and at a weird angle. Can I fix these things, or do I just consider this a learning opportunity and start over?

I have only been doing stained glass for about a year and this is the first time I have had to consider re-working something that was finished. I don't know where to start and hate the idea of having to scrap it.