Restoring a Frame and Creating a View

I recently completed this custom stained glass window for a woman who is an accomplished woodworker. She found the old window frame buried in the dirt in the basement of a church in Old Fort. The first thing she did was clean it up—repairing the loose joints and replacing areas of rotting wood—before bringing it to me.

When she came into the studio, we talked about what she envisioned for the glass. She said she’d love a scene that felt like looking out the window of that church, so I drew a few sketches. We went back and forth a bit, refining the details until we landed on a design that felt just right.

The element I’m most pleased with is the hummingbird. I decided to create some special glass for it in my kiln. I wanted it to shimmer like a real hummingbird, but still feel integrated into the rest of the window rather than overpowering it. To achieve that, I fused glass frit (finely ground glass powder) onto a piece of dichroic glass, which is naturally full of sparkle and shifting color. The fused frit softens and partially obscures the dichroic surface, creating gentler color transitions with subtle flashes of brilliance.

It was also the most time-consuming part of the whole window—those tiny feathers take patience!

When my client saw the finished piece, she said it was even more stunning than the pictures. As a fellow craftsperson, I know she understands and appreciates all those small, intentional details which makes this collaboration especially meaningful.