Faux Stained Glass

                                                                                                                                                
Whenever I do a craft I feel it must have a purpose or is inspired. This window actually channeled a lot of anger. Between my house and my neighbor's house were the most gorgeous lilacs. In the spring, the scent after a rain shower was absolutely wonderful. The lilacs gave privacy. Long story short, the new neighbor hacked those lilacs down. I was literally sick over it. I was angry...extremely angry. I talked to Fr. Brendan my priest, and he said to pray and try to find a way to let it go. And then it came to me. For my privacy, what could I do? Instead of having the shades drawn, I would make a stained glass window.

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My dear friend, Gordon Henderson made me this window. I liked it so much that I decided to use the design for my window.

 I used Gallery Glass and it wasn't difficult to use. It was fun!

Gordon Henderson was a third-generation stained glass artist from a Scottish family whose artistic presence in the United States dates back to 1872.  Much of his career was spent restoring the work of other artists, a practice that afforded him unique opportunities to study and collect the work of important stained glass companies that operated in the New York / New Jersey region.

One of the pieces I watched him work on was the  "Rose" window. He reconstructed it with the help of his son Todd at Drew University. Because there was no original copy of the design, it took six months to piece together the small stained glass parcels. Henderson's great grandfather had restored stained glass windows in the Graduate School Building named after Samuel W. Bowne, back when the University was still a seminary.

I used to go to his shop and have long talks. He liked to talk about the old days. I could listen for hours all the stories he could tell. I knew him for 31 yrs.

I wish I had the time then to learn how to do real stain glass. Sometimes you get so busy...too busy.
I've learned do what you love and slow down.

I started another window but haven't quite finished it yet.

Make it a great day!

                                                                   Workin' At Home!