Building a better suncatcher
I love the look of stained glass, but I don't have the patience or tools to make the real thing. However, I was disappointed with the options for suncatcher kits that mimic the look of stained glass - so I made my own! This shop is the result of months of product design and testing to create a suncatcher that looks like stained glass, but is much easier (and cheaper!) to assemble for yourself.
I've spent many months perfecting my designs and products, trying them out on friends (and their kids!), and re-designing them so that they are easy and fun to complete, include clear instructions, are accessible for younger children, and result in a beautiful, vividly-colored stained-glass style sun catcher anyone would be happy to hang up and look at over and over again.
I also wanted to make the kits easy to gift - so I made sure they pack flat and can slide into a standard-size greeting card as a mailable gift that doesn't need wrapping or additional packaging. Many people want a easy gift-able option and resort to store gift cards, but those can be impersonal and expensive. They'll remember you whenever they look at the sun catcher! Keep an eye out for other flat-packed craft kits coming soon!
The bereavement line is something I've been thinking about for years. Finding a way to tell a friend or family member that you're sorry for their loss can be a very difficult thing to do. Sending them a way to make their own memorial (or making itself and mailing the finished product if they're not the crafty type) seemed like a meaningful and long-lasting way to gently remember those ones who brought light into our lives, however briefly.
I believe in my products and put a lot of work into making them as good as possible. If you have any issues with the kits, please contact me! All feedback is appreciated and taken into consideration, and replacements can be sent out as necessary. I want you to enjoy putting together these kits as much as I did producing them!
I create all my own design files, use custom-made physical and digital cutting tools to create the products out of high-quality materials, then do the packaging and mailing from my home in Somerset, Massachusetts. I've experimented with many types and weights of card stock, many varieties of plastic for the base, and many brands of vinyl to find the right combination for my kits to make them look, hang, and shine like real stained glass without the weight or necessary tools and know-how. It takes about two full days of work to go from an idea to a finished, perfected new design (but fortunately doesn't take nearly as long for me to replicate once that work is done).
I'd love to see my products in (more) retail stores (I think they'd do very well right next to the greeting cards!), so if you're interested, contact me for wholesale pricing and retail packing.
This is my second Etsy shop! My first (adriasuniverse.etsy.com) features minerals, jewelry, and educational materials related to the science of fluorescence. But in addition to teaching people about the wonders of science, I also enjoy crafting - and frankly anything shiny (it's why I went into astrophysics, after all!). At a craft show in early 2026, I watched someone selling sun catchers and someone else selling sticker art, and wondered - why not put those two things together? And this shop was born!
Adria Updike
Somerset, Massachusetts
