Repurposing broken stained glass into custom art

I’m a bit of a broken record on the subject of stained glass repairs: I don’t like them. I can do them—I just usually choose not to. They’re labor intensive, dirty, frustrating, and the old glass you need is challenging to match. And if you do an amazing job, no one even notices you were there. UGH. I get so much more satisfaction from designing and creating something new. However… I do love a good repurpose project.

Sometimes people bring me windows that have been in their family for generations—pieces that are broken or simply no longer fit their space. Maybe they’ve moved, or the original owner has passed it down and they want to honor the window’s history but make it feel more like their own.

In this case, my client had a stained glass window that was originally part of the front door of a mountain property they owned but didn’t live in. Over the years—because the home was a rental—the panel had gotten pretty beat up. When they decided to move into their home, they replaced the door and asked me to salvage the stained glass and transform it into a hanging piece for a new spot in their home.

When she brought it to me, it was in rough shape. I couldn’t even see all the beautiful colors in the hummingbird until I took it apart and cleaned everything. Before I could even start designing the new panel, I had to carefully free the original elements and start rearranging them into a new design.

I’m just about ready to start putting it back together now. Some of the old lead still needs to be removed and replaced, and I’m working with my client to choose a new background glass. We’re leaning toward something simple that lets the original elements shine. Even though repurposing an old window still involves a ton of labor, it’s incredibly rewarding to save the best parts of its story and turn them into something new and meaningful.