Sage House Glass

Author: Samantha M.

  • Audiobook Suggestions from a Full-Time Librarian, Part-Time Artist

    Audiobook Suggestions from a Full-Time Librarian, Part-Time Artist

    I’ve seen a lot of artists compile their favorite playlists for the workshop, so I wanted to take a crack at it. This is where my librarian roots really kick in though, because I love to listen to audiobooks! There are so many different steps to stained glass art and each one requires a certain amount of concentration, but grinding and taping is where I clock the most audiobook minutes.

    Grinding glass might be my least favorite part of the stained glass process, and any glass artist that tells you otherwise is a freakin’ liar. Anything that’ll keep me entertained while I’m making pass after pass against a grinding bit is a godsend. So for any patrons or artists who may be interested, below is a list of my absolute favorite thrillers I’ve listened to while making glass art.

    All of these were checked out on the Libby app through my local library system. If you’re paying for audiobooks..why? Borrow them from the library for free and support your community in the process!

    1. Freida McFadden, “The Coworker” – Such a quirky neurodivergent main character, and I LOVED the twist!
    2. Alice Feeney, “Beautiful Ugly” – l loved the narrator’s voice on this one and it kept me guessing. I remember washing plant stakes in the sink and my jaw dropping, I kept scrubbing just to finish the chapter. Those patinas came out great!
    3. Marisa Kashino, “Best Offer Wins” – Women justifying bad choices is probably my favorite modern literary trope.
    4. Virginia Feito, “Victorian Psycho” – Bret Easton Ellis’ Psycho but Victorian, just as the title suggests. Love an extremely unhinged revenge story.
    5. Lucy Foley, “The Guest List” – A big mix of interesting characters and multiple narrators, it was a very fun murder mystery.
    6. Alex Michaelides, “The Fury” – The unreliable narrator on this audiobook was so good, I’ll forever think about his voice! I must’ve cut a hundred more glass leaves than I needed, getting lost in the book.

    I hope this little list is satisfying, and if you ever need a book suggestion from your resident glass artist/librarian, I’m here for you! Just shoot me an e-mail through the contact form and I’ll make you a custom book recommendation list for any hobby.

    Made this pink plant arch while listening to “Hungerstone” by Kat Dunn!

  • Embracing Experimentation in Stained Glass Art

    Embracing Experimentation in Stained Glass Art

    I’ve been fully immersing myself into artistic content for a while now, hoping to surround myself on social media with mosaic and stained glass artists. Being inundated with the art I love helps the creativity flow; it stokes the obsession, and it’s a great way to spread positivity. If I haven’t left at least ten positive comments on other artists’ reels in a day, I’m not awake.

    And I’m learning so much as I’m observing and participating in the community. Something that artists generally tend to do that’s a really great life philosophy is to experiment with subject, process and style. I don’t think there’s any type of art out there that can be done only one way to achieve only one type of end goal. Everyone seems to do it a little uniquely, and glass art is no different. There’s no one way to make stained glass art, and there seems to always be something new to learn. “But that’s not how it’s done” isn’t typically a refrain you read in comments for glass art, at least not on the reels I see. The predominant comments are always “I’ve never tried that before!” or “I’ve tried it this other way and it worked, too!”

    Experimenting can be difficult to do when you get into a little stubborn groove in life. If I stumble into what works and get comfortable there, I may never have TIME to try something new. Who has the stamina to experiment with different techniques when we already have one that kinda works okay? Usually, most of the time? And that’s why it’s awesome to be part of a community of artists who live to experiment and try new things.

    One of my favorite experimenters on Instagram & YouTube is Grizzly Glass Art. He makes step by step tutorial videos about every part of the stained glass process, which I know beginners and even seasoned veterans are appreciating so much. It takes so much time (and sometimes so much money, when it comes to expensive hobbies like stained glass) to experiment and possibly fail. So Grizzly Glass does it for us. Thinking about experimenting with different brands of patina? He’s done side by side demonstrations. Worrying about how to incorporate hobby came or zinc came to your borders? He’s gathering advice from other artists and demonstrating multiple techniques. It’s really freeing to watch someone film themselves TRY, without fading to black and a perfect finished product. There are a lot of artists out there filming their process, including their experiments, to help the larger stained glass community. Not only do I (and the wider community) appreciate the effort, but it’s an ongoing reminder that we should never stop trying.

    Sometimes the experiments fail, and that’s when we learn the most–another unfortunate but powerful life lesson. Observing other artists continue to try, continue to make changes and alter their methods, seeking not just to improve but to share that knowledge, it’s truly humbling.

    In that spirit, I’m going to try a new method of patina application I’ve seen a few artists do on Instagram lately. Applying Kwik flux cleaner and patina together at the same time? Seems like a horrifying prospect, but I’ll never know until I try something new. So cheers to all the makers who are experimenting and sharing the journey! I hope to start adding to the community in my own way–maybe not with step by step videos, but perhaps with very intentional reinforcement and encouragement. How about a stained glass cheerleader, shouting to the sky about how cool y’all are? I can do that.

  • Southwest Summer Vibes

    Southwest Summer Vibes

    My California roots are probably showing, but I love Southwest style. If everything in my house could be terracotta, cacti, and Aztec pattern rugs, it would be. Unfortunately my husband’s style differs quite a bit from my own, so we’re meeting in the middle with a very classic Millennial green and minimalist boho furniture. Every once in a while I sneak in a blanket or two with black and white diamonds made of rough woven cotton. That satisfies the itch for a while.

    But now that I’m expanding my glass art designs, I get to go wild. I’m working on Southwest Summer vibes right now. In every window, shades of warm earth, wheat, turquoise and sunburnt orange. I’m thinking big sandy desert scenes, epic dunes, sunscapes, maybe even an a geometric boho southwest pattern as a panel. It’s super ambitious, but I’m really into it.

    I’ve been getting a lot of love online for the orange swirl dune-scape I made, pictured below. The piece of glass that represents the sky is truly one of a kind. I feel like the really simple, clean pattern lends itself to a night and day scene, so the glass choice for the sky allows you to hang it either way.

    Should I make more of this design? Or maybe post the design on my website for other glass artists? I’ll work on that for Southwest Summer. More to come!

    Blue Sky – Front
    Orange Sky – Back
  • May Commissions

    May Commissions

    I had the honor of making some birthday and mother’s day gifts for May Commissions. Of course, my mom got a Monstera leaf for mother’s day because she’s my #1 fan.

    One of my mom’s besties growing up commissioned a sunflower for her niece’s birthday. I love hearing a little bit about the person I’m designing and crafting a piece for–it really informs the creativity and helps me design with more intention when I know a little backstory. This commission is going to a busy mother with a house full of love, who doesn’t have a lot of counter space in the kitchen, but loves to cook. She has a beautiful window above her sink and a sun catcher would add some light into her life. She’s especially fond of sunflowers, so I got to design my first sunflower sun-catcher.

    There are plenty of sunflower patterns online but I wanted to draw something that was a little imperfect, slightly askew. Just like all the flowers I design, I prefer to keep the petals off-balance. Flowers in nature are always slightly imperfect and so gorgeously varied. Patterns that are too precise feel more like wallpaper to me. So I started by gathering inspiration online and dove into drawing on my iPad in Procreate. Once I had a design I liked, I picked a color scheme and approved the mock-up with my customer.

    Picking glass is alternately the best and worst part of any design. I’m still learning to listen to my gut reaction when it comes to picking out glass, instead of waffling for hours over what shade of yellow is the perfect sunflower yellow. I selected a pale yellow Florentine glass sourced from Carolina Stained Glass, shout out to Suzie! Great shop with extremely helpful people and reasonable costs.

    Once my customer approved, it was onto cutting, grinding, washing, wrapping, soldering, washing, buffing, washing, patina, washing, buffing, and polishing! I’m extremely pleased with how the copper patina lends to the yellow glass and the kokomo glass center.

    It’s headed to California and I’ll be making a few TikToks and Instagram Reels from the soldering and patina process. Stay tuned!

  • Lofi & Stained Glass

    Lofi & Stained Glass

    I know, I know. It’s incredibly predictable. Lofi music, or as my mother calls it “elevator music,” and millennials go hand in hand. I read somewhere the theory is that millennials are the last generation to wait with hold music on the landline phone, held hostage to the kitchen wall by a spiral cord with nowhere to go. Permanently damaged.

    I’m not sure I buy that particular explanation, but I do truly love lofi music. It’s so easy to work with; it gets me into a flow state for stained glass, writing and designing. Maybe my brain can’t really turn off until there’s a soft drum kit and ambient reverb.

    It’s why I love to put on a lofi girl or chill hop compilation on YouTube and read, wrap stained glass pieces or bake bread in the kitchen–whatever hobby is calling to me at the moment. Lofi, especially dreamy compilations, help me romanticize my life and every little chore I’m doing throughout the day because a part of the story.

    So that’s why I’m starting to record some long-form stained glass videos so I can set them to Lofi music for YouTube. Watch stained glass art come together like a neat little foil-wrapped puzzle while the dulcet tones of independent Lofi artists play through the speakers!

    Fair warning here: I am not a musician or audio creator of any kind. I’m hunting for sounds I really like, Lofi beats I would personally listen to over and over. I’m currently using whatever I’m legally allowed to use on CapCut, while crediting the artists. I would LOVE to feature lesser known or beginning Lofi creators in upcoming videos, so if you or anyone you know is interested in Lofi or ambient music design, please contact me through the contact form here and we can start up a conversation!

    I hope to add tutorial videos to my YouTube in the future as I learn more about what I can provide the stained glass community. We’re a really generous bunch of artists who love to share tips, tricks, and helpful hints for making stained glass. The stained glass community is so welcoming and genuinely supportive, in person and online–I hope to give back whatever I can, even if it’s just chill music compilations to listen to while crafting!

    Follow along on my new YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SageHouseGlass.