Lake District Break & Simon's Birthday Treat ... a Stained Glass Workshop!

Simon and I escaped for a week to the Lake District last month for a change of scenery and celebrate Simon's birthday.

We spent some time with Simon's son, Rory, and on our way back down we dropped into Stoke to visit the Gladstone Pottery Museum (see post HERE). For Simon's birthday treat we'd booked a stained glass workshop with the wonderful Katherine from Number8Glass in Tollerton, near Nottingham.

Having briefly ventured into the world of stained glass while at art school, it was something I've always wanted to have a proper go at, and as Simon also expressed an interest to try out this wonderful heritage craft, we were both in for a treat!

We got to know Katherine when she attended one of our guest tutor stone carving experiences here in the Blended Monkey Studios - so we knew she was lovely and it would be fab to be taught by such an experienced artist.

The day flew by! We learnt so much! And we each came away with a beautiful, unique stained glass panel!

We spent the first part of the session learning how to score and cut the glass for our panels. It takes quite a lot of practice and there is a definite knack to it, but Katherine skilfully tutored us in how to use the tools correctly and gave us plenty of time to feel relatively confident with the process. We were taught how to cut the lead, use nails to keep everything in place within the former, how to use the grinder to refine some of our shapes, and eventually construct our final pieces.

I really enjoyed the soldering part where you join the lead elements.

Unveiling my Stained Glass Panel

Katherine's lovely manner and positive comments made the whole experience a delight. She was on hand to assist but gave us plenty of scope and time to create our pieces and refine edges and shapes so they all fit perfectly.

Our completed stained glass panels

Pinning out the glass in the former

Piecing together the glass

Numbering the glass pieces for the final arrangement

Pinning and piecing the glass

Working out the pattern for the glass panel

Our completed glass panels

We enjoyed the day so much, we've persuaded Katherine to come and teach some stained glass experiences with us here in our Blended Monkey Studios!

The first workshop is a half-day session (AM or PM) on Saturday 25 October where you can make your own beautiful stained glass mirror. Check out the workshop details HERE - numbers are strictly limited to 4 students, so don't miss out!