New hobby ideas?

[shootingstar]

I'd like to learn how to do stained glass someday.

I did take a course that ran several months --a long time ago. It was not about making little wee stained glass suncatchers with small copperfoil-- that's cheating abit and taking short-cuts. It's like doing hand calligraphy with a fountain pen but not learning the real art style of hand calligraphy by painting your steel stip with ink and using human hand for controlling pressure and ink release onto paper.

We learned the classic real way of stained glass making. I did do a major heavy piece-- mine was 3 ft. x 2 ft. at least with heavy real lead channels, soldering and grout to hold stained glass pattern together. It was real lead, because we were required to wear face mask due to lead dust, when we were applying grout in between the lead channels and coloured glass. I loved dealing with different colours, patterns, and cuts of glass.

Unfortunately, I thought my piece was a bit warped in some places because of my beginner's touch in bending and the clamping in the pieces together. I never hung it 'cause so heavy that it would require customized supports...I actually discarded it before I moved to Vancouver. Yup.

But still have photos of the piece, named "Spring Thaw", a lily pad flower in a blue cave pool grotto like setting of water. (Yea, well I was into purple prose at the time. )

That was the good thing about the class..access to so much range of coloured glass..that otherwise would be very expensive to buy individually. Cutting out curved pieces of glass..requires practice, means accidental breakage and glass waste.

Yes, I now can go into churches and truly appreciate stained glass art. My admiration is great for those masters now. It's very noticeable how churches tend to be locked up these days due to vandalism. Can't see the gorgeous stuff up close at times whenever we go on bike trips