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Stained Glass

Started in stained glass when Tim gave me all his old supplies. He'd moved on to more expensive tools.  I made the first of these on a desk I constructed by taking a cardboard box and laying the metal cover of my desktop computer on it so it would stop smoldering.  I fashioned a light board by opening Word on my work laptop and expanding it to all white, then I would lay glass across a sheet of wax paper on it to test designs.  The work area wobbled and burned and was ridiculous, but one thing I've learned, the quality of art rarely has anything to do with the quality of the tools. And if you think it does, then you are looking in the wrong place for your problem with inspiration.

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I like that doing stained glass forces a kind of concentration. Your hands get sliced up, shards of glass get in your eyes, the carpet gets covered in caltrops that leave your feet bleeding for weeks.  Acid splashes and your fingers, lead fumes get sucked into your lungs, soldering irons melt flesh instantly. You got to pay attention, or pay the price. 

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I wish I had better pictures of these, but it's actually really hard to photograph stained glass.  I mean, it's art that is composed of directed light, but photography is made for reflected light. 

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My ultimate goal is to make a book of glass, with a story that shifts as the light shifts.  You can see some of my experiments below.  I don't know if I'll ever manage it though.  I've blown a ton of money on supplies, but you need more than that to create.

© 2023 by Ryan Notch

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