msotherdenartglass's Profile

Bio

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RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME AND MY SORDID PAST:
I started playing with broken glass in college, while in pursuit of my BFA. After graduating, I found a job with a well-known stained glass firm, designing new windows and restoring old windows. I spent a few years there, and then the local economy suffered a decline, so jobs were cut all over the region. One of the jobs that vanished was mine. I saw it as Opportunity knocking, and opened my own studio. My studio has been up and running for a few years now, as I continue to build a reputation for quality work, fair prices, one-of-a-kind gifts, stained glass windows, and glass art.

On a related note, my ideas fall under the auspices of intellectual property law, so copying my items, using text or photos without written permission from the studio is a copyright infringement. Want to use them for a publication? Easy enough. Just ask.

All of my items are made in a smoke free studio. (Typically we smoke only when on fire around here, which is a state we try to avoid... As far as pet-free, well, the puppy only stands about 7" from the floor, we vacuum often and dog hair doesn't typically accumulate on glass, but hey, honesty is the best policy, right?...)

On a more serious note, one of my professional goals is to educate people about glass, because truly, an educated consumer is a better buyer. To that end, if you have questions about glass in general please drop me a line. And now...

A QUICK EDUCATION ABOUT BUYING STAINED GLASS: There are a lot of people who dabble in stained glass, and the majority of buyers do not know what to look for. Having worked on many historic church windows of note in my time I would recommend the following things to look for to ensure that you are purchasing a quality stained glass piece:

1) a smooth solder line. Solder lines should have minimal lumps, and no evidence of "popped bubbles" in them.

2) If the edges are not framed with wood or milled lead or zinc (if they used lead or zinc the edges will look perfectly even...) then the solder should be put on nice and thick. Copper foil tape (the stuff used to edge the glass) has a very low shear strength, and studios not willing or not knowledgeable enough to coat their edges with a good bead of solder will only result in the piece having a short hanging life... and as we all know, glass doesn't do too well when it falls to the floor.

3) Avoid pieces made in the last 70 years with sharp interior angles where the angle has not been bisected with a solder line. Glass tends to break on a straight plane, and if the designer forces it to have an interior unbroken angle, they've cut it 99% of the time with a glass bandsaw (which is cheating in my book. If you can't cut it by hand, that says something about your skill level. But I digress.) Modern glass is much harder than Tiffany era glass, and so the liquidity of the medium in his day allowed for much more severe curves and angles, as compared to today. Glass USED to contain lead and uranium and all sorts of stuff that made it more forgiving.

Okay, so what gives me the right to dictate how stained glass "ought" to be made? Well, I used to work on all sorts of windows, including Tiffany windows (yes, THOSE Tiffany windows), Heaton Butler and Bayne windows, Rudy brothers windows, and many other famous names in the old window "brat pack" of the stained glass community. I'm now happier working for myself... :) I've had the privilege to learn about stained glass from several different guys who were in the apprenticeship programs in the 1950's. Which means they learned from the guys who were pioneering techniques here in the States. I aspire to be able to design like Harry Clarke. If you don't know who he is, but are interested in finding out, google "Harry Clarke Irish Stained Glass" and you'll pull up some links.

And if you'd like a better idea of what sort of windows I currently build, please head by my website http://MSotherdenArtGlass.com

NO WOMAN IS AN ISLAND! Thank you Dave, Ian, Dan, Dani, Amy, Mom, Dad, Emily, Kim, and last but not least, to all my wonderful customers whose purchases have allowed me to do what I love.

Namaste, and please hug someone today. Nobody gets the RDA of hugs anymore.

Favorite Materials

uh, glass