Stained Glass

Making Good

Stained Glass / By

Using art to help support worthy causes.

Recently I had the idea to make a large stained glass panel in order to teach an online class on how to make your very first large stained glass piece. If you’ve never made one, there are a few extra things you have to take into consideration so that the finished piece ends up being structurally sound and will come out the way you envision it in your head.

While planning this class, I had another emotional nudge to begin using my art to raise money for causes that I am passionate about. Lots of stained glass artists donate pieces to their churches or schools to raise money, I just decided that I’d get more deliberate about it.

I chose first to make a large sea turtle panel and auction it off to benefit one of my favorite organizations, Sea Turtle Inc. This organization is a sea turtle rescue, rehabilitation, and education center on South Padre Island, Texas. It was started back in the ’70s by a woman named Ila Fox Loetscher, and if you’ve never heard of her do yourself a huge favor and Google her because her backstory is freaking brilliant! I have fond memories of visiting SPI as a child and one of the highlights of those visits was seeing the Turtle Lady. She was about a thousand years old at the time, gave demonstrations and classes about turtle rescue and conservation right there in her home, and loved these creatures with a passion that was palpable. Her foundation was formed in 1978, and is still carrying out her vision.

This is me circa 1973 holding a fairly disgruntled turtle named (I think) Jonathan Livingston Seaturtle.

Anyway, the panel is in progress, and will be done by the end of February barring another snowpocalypse or other disaster, and the auction is planned for the second week of March on a site called BetterWorld.org. If you’d like, please follow along on the Facebook or Instagram page. I’ll be posting more information as it progresses.

Here’s the pattern.

Given the weather, Sea Turtle Inc. is working to save hundreds of cold-stunned turtles and that all costs money so I am grateful to be doing my small part to help out. Please email me at MerryGoRoundStainedGlass@gmail.com to learn more about participating in the auction either by donating an item to the auction or to bid on the pieces.

Take care and stay warm! – Stephanie

Starting out in stained glass? The first big money question will be, “Which grinder should I buy?”

Getting Started, Stained Glass / By

Is a grinder really necessary? Well, the answer is yes, and no. But mostly yes.

While it is true that you can work on your glass cutting to hone that skill to razor sharp perfection, and you can dull the sharp edges of your glass with a carborundum stone, the bottom line is that most of us need a grinder to make the kind of art pieces that we want to make in the amount of time that we want to spend making them. My time is valuable, and rather than spending hours filing pieces of glass down with a stone, or re-cutting pieces over and over wasting however many square feet of glass, I firmly believe that purchasing a grinder has saved me a TON of money in the long run. Any skilled tradesperson will tell you that having the right tool for the job is essential. So, save your pennies, ask for early birthday money, scour Craigslist and Marketplace for used ones, but please, make it a point to invest in yourself and your art by buying a grinder.

Here is a link to the grinder that I like best, the one that I recommend to beginners who have a mid-range budget. It’s Inland’s Wizling. It sells for about $130 and is made in the good ole USA. It also has a 5 year warranty. I’ve had mine for nearly 20 years and it’s a little workhorse. I will add a shameless note that this link is to a site called Kit.co, which allows me to put together recommended products through my Amazon affiliate link. And I might get a tiny commission from it but the price to you will be the same. There is also a super budget friendly option in this kit that would be good for people whose studio will be small or need portability for their craft. And if money is no object, check out “The Grinder”. Artists far and wide sing its praise. Happy grinding!

https://kit.co/MGRSG/stained-glass-grinders/inland-craft-wizling