Creating commissions always involves some back and forth with my clients. I like to begin with a design and develop that in black and white until it looks exactly how the client wants it. At that point, I help them select the glass that I will use to make the window. In this case, my client has a similar window in her home that she asked me to match in terms of design. The colored glass in that window is primarily blue with small bits of yellow and red. My client asked me to use two shades of red in places where her existing window has two shades of blues. Initially she selected purple glass for one of the borders. As the window was coming together, I decided to send her the first picture above. I always feel like my client’s opinion about how something looks is most important. I wanted her to see how it was coming together to decide if she felt the purple border was still what she wanted. She said she no longer wanted to have the purple border and she said she really didn’t like the yellow either. So I backtracked and switched out the yellow for a lighter blue. Doing this gave me the opportunity to photograph each version and take a look at how the color combinations create a very different feeling. In the first one, the vibrancy of the yellow grabs your eye. In the second one, the colors appear more balanced. Neither way is right or wrong; it depends on personal taste. Sometimes it takes a bit more effort to create a custom piece that is pleasing to the client but the extra work is what makes the window something they are happy to see in their home each day.