My Stained Glass work

At the start of 2006 I decided to try my hand at making stained glass pieces - something I'd wanted to do for a long time. After some lessons from an experienced stained glass artist, I tried some projects ... the results are shown below.

Winnie-the-Pooh Suncatcher (35cm x 15cm)

This was my first project, started under the guidance of my teacher, Jenny Yardeni. It was my own design, although based on a picture found in a children's colouring book.

Somewhat overly ambitious for a first piece, it ran into all sorts of problems. Initially, there was only the blue balloon, and the green "string" was just way too fragile.

So I redesigned it, and got the extra strength by having two strings and some plain glass between them. But I wasn't happy, because the two strings above his paw ended up as one string below it.

Then I managed to crack the glass on his head by overheating whilst soldering, so I decided to dismantle the head and paws, re-cut the head and add the second string, and put it back together.

... and then I cracked the red jacket. So the whole thing was dismantled, some improvements made to the design, and finally I ended up with what is shown on the left.

It was intended as a present for Amanda, my cousin's 2-year-old grand-daughter, and my God-daughter.

Please note that, while I own the copyright in the basic design, it is covered by Disney's own character copyright and so is produced purely for my own benefit.

Aries Suncatcher (17cm x 17cm)

My cousin, Ginia, is an Aries, and I decided to make this sun catcher for her birthday.

The design was based on a free design I found.

The first attempt was a disaster. It was much too big (25cm diameter), and anything but "round"! So I started again, and cut a round hole in a piece of foam card which acted as a "mould".

The only thing I don't like about it is that it looks a bit like the diagram of the female organs we used to be shown in biology. But her name is Virginia, so it's a "V" as well as a symbolic ram's head.

Christening Cross (28cm x 15cm)

When I was asked by my cousin and his wife to be their daughter's God-father, I wanted to get her something special. In the end, I decided that I would like to make a christening cross.

I looked all over the Web and found numerous designs, but I couldn't find one that I liked. So I decided to design my own from scratch.

I wanted it to be simple, but symbolic ... and I like the Celtic design of the circle holding everything together.

There are really two crosses. A clear cross representing innocence superimposed on the red cross, symbolising the family and its blood heritage. And I wanted the clear cross to bear her name and dates.

Curiously, the whole design is very slightly lopsided. The two clear horizontal bars should be exactly the same length ... but they're not. When trying out the design in CorelDraw, the whole cross looked unbalanced with them the same length and by lengthening all the right-hand pieces by 10mm, the balance was restored.

I wasn't sure how best to achieve the inscription on the vertical clear bar. I originally thought that I'd get two pieces of thin glass, and between them sandwich some transparent film onto which had been printed the details. But the right thickness of glass proved impossible to obtain easily, and I was never convinced that the sandwich would work. So, in the end, I just used ordinary plain 3mm float glass and had it engraved by a local engraver (I just gave him the piece of glass, and it proved very difficult for him because of its small dimensions).

The blue Celtic circle was very difficult to cut accurately, but after two attempts it worked out fine, and strength is given by filling in the gaps with more clear glass.

I've since made a number of these crosses in different colours, and have several people ask permission to use the design - one was to use it for a tattoo!! I also used the design to create the logo for Armstrong Hall in Thropton.

I'm told that the overall result is reminiscent of Cameron Rennie Mackintosh.

If you like this design and want to use it, please contact me firstt.

Football (9 inches diameter)

A few years ago I moved to the heart of rural Northumberland, in the North-East of England, and my next-door neighbour's son is very keen on football.

So I designed and made him this blue football to hang in his window.

I was very pleased with the way the design worked out and I'm sure I'll be making more of these in due course.

Northumberland Flag (6 inches across)

Northberland is only one of two English counties to have its own flag, and the design dates back many centuries.

Although the flag is normally, well, flag-shaped, many cars have an oval bumper sticker of the flag and this design continues the theme.

So far I've made three, and have one more in the making.

Many people have seen it and suggested selling them, but the cost of materials and the time involved just wouldn't make it worthwhile.