Stained Glass Stuff
911 Richmond Road K2A 0G8 Ottawa, ON, Canada

Duncan made up this simple classic lead came panel for a local client's home to give a touch of privacy for a window on their stairs. They picked out Oceanside Glasstile 100W-F Clear Waterglass with a narrow inner band of Wissmach 01 Double Rolled, and OGT 543.2A-F Grape Artique for the diamonds in the middle. They asked for a picture so we sent them this. Their reply was that the purple was a tad dark. Could it be replaced with a lighter colour? Of course! Just a bit of minor surgery. Stay tuned for how this ends!

We want You to follow along while this repair was done to this stained glass panel we had made years ago! One panel of the inner Clear textured background glass was cracked. The glass had been discontinued, and we could not find anyone else who had some. So we had our client pick a new texture. They went with Floreal, a lovely choice! Kevin knocked out all four background pieces, and melted away the excess foil and solder. Most of the foil pulled away in the process so he had to replace it first. Then a rectangle of Floreal was cut, ground and test fitted in the opening. Once it fit perfectly, the beveled centerpiece was aligned, and cut. A little more grinding, foiling and soldering and it was as good as new! Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!

Good morning, Happy Thanksgiving to all the Yanks out there. Kevin got to open up all five of our computer controlled kilns, all full of various projects from four educational sessions conducted over the weekend. Kelsie did her fun Holiday Ornaments on Friday evening, Diane from Out of Ruins did Fused Floral Gardens, Kelsie also did Holiday Waves, and our little Cress kiln made up a bunch of small dots and a couple of test snowflakes.

Heather is busy loading up two half kiln shelves with dozens of snowflakes to fulfill a request. She is using a mix of Oceanside 100ICE Clear and 634.52SF Blackberrry & Cream Opal Art. They will be contour fused together. And then when one of our big bathtub kilns is freed up, she will fire another dozen of her super duper popular Birch Tree Kits!

One of our long time regulars in Heather's Beyond Beginner session made up this lovely landscape stained glass panel. She wanted to send it to her son, living outside of Canada. She asked if we could make a strong sturdy case for it so it would survive the trip. Kevin loves a good challenge that lets him get out saws and drills! He did some math and calculations to come up with measurements and dimensions for foam sheet, styrofoam, plywood and lumber. He did all this late last week while the temperature outside was still above zero, as he does not like cold. He added a small compartment for chain, and screwed it all together tightly.

To give some scale to the very long tall narrow sidelight we are commissioned to fabricate, Heather is standing in front of it, and reaching up as far as she can. She is about 5' 3". Still a long way to go! We should have this ready to install next week. Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion to this stained glass adventure!

We received a lovely shout out from a long distance glass friend on Instagram @glassbybutler, who creates large stained glass works of art, in Italy. She needed some good quality EDCO copper foil to allow her to continue work on her giant Dragonfly Wings! She asked us to mail her some, and some hard to find Morton accessories. No problem, our Shipping Department had become very skilled in 2020, sending out dozens of parcels weekly. Heather even included a short note in Italian to her, as Heather picked up the language while living in Florence. Grazie!

A Canadian "Sorry"! for taking so long, but we now have a limited run of much asked for Fused Birch Tree kits. Heather made up five to start. They are made with @oceansideglasstile glass, so can be used in either stained or fused glass projects. Our Moose on the Loose panel to the right shows how they look. Each kit has ten strips, each is twelve inches long, and the widths vary.

Just in the Nick of time for the upcoming holiday season, Kelsie did a rare Sunday educational session for Holiday Ornaments! Four new friends created fun Christmas themed shapes out of Oceanside Compatible glass that will be fired today in our Evenheat kilns. All of our education events are limited to four humans, a nice safe number that gives plenty of space for everyone to create in. With a cap of four, that is an easier number to get together and we can do a private session in just about any technique for you!

Two creations Heather made up last week. Love is Love was made using a bas relief technique, fusing on top of 1/8" fiber paper. All Oceanside Compatible glass was chosen. With the left over pieces of colourful glass she then made a companion piece in the Tiffany method, copper foil wrapped and soldered together.

Kevin went to do a repair in a local home recently. It was supposed to be a simple task, replace two pieces in an old interior lead came panel. However, he discovered that there was a sheet of tempered glass on one side, and a rebar went across the other side. So he had to pry off the heavy wooden trim on three sides, without damaging any of it, to be able to remove the tempered glass sheet. Once it was out of the way, he knocked out the old glass in the larger diamond. Then ...carefully folded the top of the H lead case back so a new piece of Restova glass could be cut out and ground to fit in his impromptu work station. The lead was folded back, the second piece was knocked out and another new piece of glass fit in. Both then had putty applied to fill the gap between the glass and lead, on both sides. The excess putty was removed and glass cleaned. The tempered glass was put back and the wooden trim nailed back. The site supervisor approved the work! Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy. See more

Free this Sunday? We just had two seats suddenly open up with Kelsie, for becoming educated on how to fabricate a three dimensional Christmas Tree! Stained glass experience is required. See you there, then!

Our Install Squad put in this classic 438 transom yesterday. Before is above, After is below image. The homeowners were very pleased with it. We asked for a picture of it backlit in the evening.

A classic design, Desert Sunrise, made up for a client. However they wanted to hang it on the wall, not in a window. So instead of using Handy Hangers, Kevin soldered a length of 14g pre tinned wire to the zinc came frame on the backside. Now it can be hung on the wall without any visible means of support.

Kevin does occasionally get out of the studio for a little fun. Putting for, well, he doesn't keep score when playing. But check out his fabulous putter. A custom made cast glass head made by world famous warm glass artist Michael Dupille of Seattle makes sure he at least putts with style!

More fun new glass that just arrived are Pressed Glass Jewels from Kokomo! Many different shapes and colours, with iridescent and non-iridescent versions. Just score and break off, or grind away the excess glass, so it can be nicely framed with copper foil. Or just enjoy them as a paperweight!

A transom we are making for a friend down the road in Westboro. The middle section in the oval had been discussed and approved, but the side parts had not been fully designed. So we brought it over and placed it on their front porch, and put the wooden frame it was to go into on top. The vertical line as first drawn did not look right, and the diamond shape was too large. We made a couple of new lines with a pencil, and our friend/client approved. Should have it done by noon today!

As we have completed all twenty windows at St. Elias church, we no longer require all of the copies of the drawings. Heather managed to pick all of them up and clear out some much needed floor and air space. More shelving is planned for that area. We are seeing an increase in mailing out parcels full of stained glass stuff now that our site on the World Wide Web has a new ordering feature added.

A herd of eleven and a half Kokomo Mustangs stormed into the studio yesterday afternoon, filling up the front area with over one thousand eight by twelve inch rectangles of fabulous Kokomo art glass. Wild multi colour opaque and streaky mixes, iridescent, funky textures and more! You can inspect the herd until 1630 today, EST, or next week, but patrons of the glass arts are already selecting some of the finest choice stained glass stuff around! To paraphrase Chief Brody, we're gonna need a bigger store!

While cutting down our bigger sheets into 12" x 12" square pieces, Kevin pulled out this gorgeous sheet of @oceansideglasstile System 96 SouthWest Fusers Reserve. So awesome we just had to share it. There is plenty more of it here.

Installing a Church Window! The twentieth and final Dove Cross Chalice window has been installed at St. Elias church. The last window was also mostly inaccessible so our improvised metal framing concept was deployed again. Duncan got a good session of yoga in, stretching and reaching up to drill and screw the metal framing of the leaded glass to the window frame. The next time you are driving along Riverside Drive at the top of the hill at Mooney's Bay, take a look for yourself!

Meet our newest D-BFF! Sadie, a very excited twelve week old cocker spaniel puppy who came in for pets and belly rubs, which luckily we had an infinite supply of! Always enjoy visits from our four legged friends both small and large.

The Lighthouse at Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia.

Frit is Happening! Our Procurement Department found three hundred and fifty two pounds of the last of the discontinued Uroboros System 96 colours of frit, in forty pound buckets. Somebody got a good workout carrying all of it inside! We learned from the last time we procured this size of bucket and had ordered boxes of two sizes of smaller jars and have started pre-filling them. It is one Canadian Loonie per ounce. The smaller jars can hold between eight to ten ounces and the larger jar just over thirty ounces, around two pounds. A full list of colours available is at the end, so keep swiping right! All are available for distribution by CP or USPS.

Another fun creative successful Glass On Glass session wrapped up yesterday, with an assist from the sun and all of its ultraviolet rays! We set up a table outside to take advantage of the natural UV light being provided to help set the adhesives. Their panels are stunning! Well done all!

A stained glass terrarium we had made up recently got an upgrade with some cute little succulents and rocks, courtesy of Maggie's Flowers in our plaza. Hopefully this project will be incorporated back into our educational system in the near future.

Before & After! We were again asked to transform eighteen Rose wine bottles into six tumblers and twelve highball glasses. With our wonderful Husqvarna wet tile saw and Covington lap wheel and resin diamond cone from HIS Glassworks, this was calmly and efficiently completed. What glass objects can we transform for you?

We got a visit from The Largest Doggo, Apollo! He is a Great Dane. Just a big ole lovable small horse of a dog. Friendly and curious, you just need to steer clear of his massive tail when he is excited, it could chop down a tree!

We have been slowly playing with some of the many new Colour de Verre molds we now have displayed in our Fusing Room. One thing we wanted to try was combining them. So we made the Rectangular Box with one of the Small Dragonflies landed on top. It is held in place with a dab of our favourite epoxy adhesive. Now what else can we combine??

Need a cast glass sink for a bathroom renovation? We have just the thing for you! A beautiful deep green thick glass sink would add so much, kicking your powder room up to 11! Contact us if you are interested in this. One of a kind. Unique. Bespoke.

We were asked to cut fifteen 1.5" diameter circles out of a sheet of Oceanside 132SF Light Blue sheet glass. With our Silberschnitt Small Circle cutter, Breda mosaic cutter, and Toyo TAP TC-21V Wide Head, this request was completed promptly and efficiently. We are expecting to have Bredas here soon. Just not today. We are going golfing today. Come see us tomorrow for lots of stained glass stuff!

One of a pair of simple Clear glass and bevel panels we fabricated for a client. 4mm Chinchilla glass is the border, with 1.5" by 1.5" square bevels across the bottom. Three 6" x 6" square bevels are in the middle. This off set design goes with existing stained glass they have in their home. The big bevels in the middle proved to be an impediment, as they are not commonly available anymore. Luckily we know a guy and he cut down some 6" x 9" bevels, shown here recently with our Silberschnitt running pliers, and beveled one side of them on our 24 inch Covington lap wheel. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!

The Landscape panel has been completed. A quintessential Canadian red canoe was added, pulled up onto the beach, while a loon calmly paddled by. The loon was a copper foil overlay, carved out from a square foot sheet and soldered in place. Very pleased with how it all came together in the end. And of course now our Off Cut and Scrap bind are full of lots of the colourful art glass used in this panel!

The second last Dove panel was installed yesterday morning at St. Elias church, on Riverside Drive in Ottawa. It was a challenge as we could not install it in sections as we had done in the past for the other eighteen Dove panels. So we had our friendly neighborhood metal man drill holes in five foot lengths of steel, and weld them to matching lengths of rebar. Duncan soldered our rebar part to the leaded glass panel, making one larger solid panel. Our Install Team went up a pair of ladders and somehow got it up and into the narrow vertical window well. A dozen screws now hold it in place so it is not going anywhere. Now only one more Dove window to finish!

This panel came to us extremely damaged. Only six pieces were not broken. To copy the design we got a sheet of paper the correct size, placed it on top of the damaged original panel, and began to rub it gently with a section of the local newspaper, the Ottawa Citizen, with a section that had a dark full colour photograph on it. Lots of ink! He went back after with a pencil to smooth out the lines as some were misaligned because of all the damage.

Van Gogh Glass is now here at Stained Glass Stuff! Almost six hundred square feet, over forty different colours and colour combinations, just waiting to be added to your stained or mosaic glass art project. (Not for fusing however.) The majority of it is based on Glu-Chip glass, but we did get in a couple of architectural glass textures. Very exciting! All are available to be sent out of town via Canada Post in twelve by twelve inch square. PM us for more details.

Almost done! Just need to make and add a canoe, a good true Canadian mode of transportation. We scribbled down with a silver marker where the canoe should go. And a loon. Somewhere nearby. So close to being done!

We needed a customized bevel size so Kevin got out a new tool we are now carrying to see just what it can do. The Silberschnitt Running Pliers are high end running pliers, designed to break thick glass, like this 5mm bevel. It broke the glass cleanly and neatly, barely any flare. Very impressive! Stay tuned for what the custom bevel was needed for.

Our next commission to land on our workbench is a vertical landscape panel for a new cottage. Some trees, mountains, and a sky slowly darkening as the sun dipped below the distant ridges. We had to use up an entire sheet of Wissmach 238NLLG Wisteria Granite to achieve that effect, carefully selecting narrow strips and placing the lightest at the bottom, each band darker than the previous. A slow exact process, but worth it.

"Higher Ground" This Scottish family crest was picked up yesterday by a pleased patron of the Arts. We were also pleased with how it came from a crude black and white image to a full sized stained glass panel. The letters were painted on. Made entirely with Spectrum & Oceanside stained and Compatible glass. The full literal translation of the expression is "Anakin, I have the higher ground" but that was a mouthful and wouldn't fit thank goodness.

More Before & Afters! Three kilns loaded up with projects from various sessions, and a load of chopped up Murrini. If we made more of the murrini dots, would that be something you would be interested in? The last picture is the fused flowers about to be slumped. Don't let the sun set on a cool kiln!

Yet another Frit Happens sighting! One of our regulars sent us this picture of her wearing our (in)famous(?) Frit Happens shirt at a beach in Halifax, Nova Scotia, gazing at the cold North Atlantic ocean, while standing on a beach, which is really just unprocessed glass frit.

Before & After! These three cast fused frit Poppy flowers made with Creative Paradise molds in a recent session here led by Tamara. Then we shipped them off to our friends at Coatings by Sandberg in California. There they placed these glass flowers into one of their large vacuum chambers and zapped them with a Cyan / Dark Red coating. (Sorry for all the techno talk, we had to describe it in such a way that we dont reveal any trade secrets) Then they were shipped back. We slumped them and now two ladies have very special fused flowers!

Work continues on the family crest panel. Here Kevin is painting on the letters with Reusche Best Tracing Black. The two pieces of Spectrum 123RR Medium Green RoughRolled were very smooth and took the paint easily. A bit of cleaning up the crisp lines was needed, then fired quickly to 1200F in our Skutt Firebox14 kiln. Almost done!

This lovely sixteen inch diameter Baroque stained glass lampshade was made for a very special client of ours. Sadly they had to downsize their residence so reluctantly returned it to us in the hope it could find a new forever home. If it could fit in your residence please contact us for more information about it.

Our Install Squad got two more windows in place at St. Elias church over off Riverside Drive, by Mooney's Bay, in Ottawa. Duncan and Kevin had to do their best Cirque du Soleil moves, placing the five different panels in front of the windows. The challenge at this location was the windows were in stairways, with only narrow openings of about seven inches wide to work in. Much improvising was done while working single handedly. And these were the easy two to do. If you look closely at the exterior pictures, you can see there is another matching window to be filled with stained glass, with even less access. Don't worry, we have a plan!

Work continues on this family crest commission. All of the smaller circles have been incorporated into the lower border details. So many little pieces! Painting the lettering comes next.

Our second collection of lovely Colour de Verre molds has arrived. Tamara spend the afternoon finding space on our Fusing Room wall for the more than seventy molds. All are available to ship of course. We have fun plans for future educational sessions using them in new ways. Also shown is the brand new Wings mold is shown out of its box, the extremely popular Slab Server, and an oldie but goodie, the nine inch Sunflower and Serpentine Formers, versatile molds for slumping lengths of glass into wavy shapes. So much fused glass fun!

Two stained glass picture frames came in recently for some repairs. The support legs were falling apart. So Kevin removed them, stripped off the copper foil, cleaned the residue off, ground them again, and put on new 7/32" black backed EDCO copper foil with the over lap seam at the back where it would be buried against the picture frame. Then he soldered them back in place, and added a piece of clear float glass between the support legs to tie them together for added structural stability and strength. A little black patina and they are ready to have treasured family photos placed back in them!