Sage House Glass

Category: Inspirations

  • Collection Drop: Garden Medallions out now!

    Collection Drop: Garden Medallions out now!

    It’s drop day!

    I’m so intensely proud of these Edwardian stained glass florals, if you haven’t seen them on my socials–check them out. I’ve got process videos and a lot of reels pairing the different colorways to specific Disney princesses, pictured below.

    Pocahontas Poppies
    Aurora’s Tulips
    Belle’s Rose
    Tiana’s Rose

    I wasn’t actively imagining color combinations for princesses when I was making this first collection, but it was a happy accident. When I completed the rose medallion I was struck by how “Belle” it looked–evoking the narrative scene at the beginning of Beauty and the Beast, when the story is being told in stained glass. It gave me a very fairytale feeling, so I started to imagine all the different princesses who would have hung these glass pieces from the castle windows or towers or Grandmother Willow branches.

    This drop is small! And the pieces themselves are small, only 6 x 4 ovals. They’re being used as an interest gathering mission, if you will. What floral medallions are most popular, what colorways are a favorite?

    It’s also my first time really attempting a drop on my new website, so I hope this goes smoothly! Please bear with me as I work out the kinks, if there are any. If certain medallions are already spoken for, I’ll be taking backorders with a 2-4 week creation window for certain colorways. Some glass is limited edition! Please e-mail me through the contact page if you have any issues with that.

    Thanks for all the support and love as I start figuring out these online spaces and move further away from Etsy. More in-person markets to come, but I’m so excited to grow this space. Cheers!

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Nostalgia and Beauty: Birds of Paradise

    Nostalgia and Beauty: Birds of Paradise

    Birds of Paradise plants in California
    Birds of paradise growing outside my mother’s old house in California

    If you’re seeing a lot of tropical floral themes in my art this spring, there’s a good reason–I’m yearning for a sense of “home”, a slice of comfort and nostalgia. For that, I turn to the bird of paradise.

    I replicate the shape of the bird of paradise in my art quite a bit because the plants remind me of where I grew up. My mother’s old house has a beautiful array of birds of paradise. Growing like wild stalks, birds of paradise are prolific in California. They grow in yards without fuss, blossom like an after thought along median strips on highways. They’re everywhere in Cali, like wild cacti, red rocks and the Santa Ana winds. It’s something I took for granted in the landscape when I lived there. Now that I’m in North Carolina, the scenery I’d ignored for so long has become my special interest. Funny how time and distance can make you yearn for the things you took for granted.

    The flower itself is a little alien against the backdrop of a desert landscape; the blooms unfurl with such pronouncement, bright orange and deep violet, in stark contrast to the dark green foliage. The orange petals look like a bird in flight, hence the name. They’re a subtropical coastal plant from South Africa, displaced in the 1700’s, now thriving confidently along the California coast.

    I’m fairly obsessed with birds of paradise. I have a few plants that live on the deck during warmer months and I bring inside for the winter. They blossom in January, almost like it’s a gift for my birthday. I take endless pictures of the birds, celebrating them like they’re a part of the family. My husband and I bought an MCM Letterman oil painting of birds of paradise at the vintage store Red Collection in Greensboro (pictured below.) It lives in our den, in spite of my husband’s objections (it’s huge.) He knew he would lose any fight that stood between me and birds.

    Our Birds of Paradise midcentury modern vintage painting & my own birds of paradise arch design

    Bringing tropical flowers into my home in North Carolina is a small tribute to my west coast roots, but I would never give up the lush green of the mountains here. The fact that I can have both in one place? Priceless. Or at least just the cost of exotic plants at the local farmers market.

    Do you have any beloved plants, flowers or scenic features that remind you of home? Shoot me a message in the contacts if you’d like me to recreate a naturescape to catch the light in your window this summer.