Help!

Vintage orange phone from here

I just had one of those "steam coming out of my ears" moments.  I was listening to my answering machine messages, and Isla was doing the whole "MUM!  MUM!  ITS VERY IMPORTANT.  MUM! LISTEN TO ME!" thing, and I'm doing the whole "SHH, SHH, MUMMY'S ON THE PHONE" thing.  And one of the messages was from someone who was phoning about some stained glass they wanted.  And instead of pressing #1 so I could listen to it again, in my fluster I pressed #3 and deleted the message.  

ARRRRGGGH.  

So if you're reading and you phoned on Thursday and you might be called Kay or Kate (hard to tell with a 4 year old shouting in your ear)  and you wanted to ask me about some stained glass, I'm sorry I haven't returned your call and please try again or email me. 

Thanks!

A Spring in My Step

I've been faffing around for ages trying to make this treasury "clickable" but it's just not happening - that clever Lou seems to know how, perhaps she could enlighten me? ;)

Hope you've all been enjoying this gorgeous weather we've been having in the UK.  

School finishes for Easter Holidays for us today - I should be at the church service right now, but had to finish a few bits and pieces off in the workshop before I'm on full-time mum duty for the next 2 weeks.

Wishing you all a smashing weekend, whatever you're up to!

Q&A

This short and sweet tag is currently doing the rounds - thanks to Caroline for passing it on to me.  

Ed Emberley fabric for Cloud 9

Animal:  

A big hairy lion.

Colour: 

I used to get asked this about 20 times a day by my daughters a few months back.  I decided the best policy was to keep answering the same colour and eventually they'd get bored.  It worked, but it did take about 3 months for them to tire of it.   The answer was, and still is RED.

Non-Alcoholic drink:  

Tea.

Facebook or Twitter:  

Twitter.  Mainly because there are some very funny people on it.  And because I have the attention span of an amoeba.

Getting or giving presents:  

Giving.  I think.  But getting is good too.

Flower:  

Nasturtium.  Great colours, great leaves, lovely in a salad.

Pattern:  

Changes all the time.  I like blocky geometric patterns but I also like spindly hand-drawn patterns.

Passion:  

Stained glass, of course.  Both contemporary and traditional.  

Number:  

Erm... nope, it's no good, I'm finding it hard to muster an emotional response about a number, sorry.

I'll pass this on to anyone who wants to do it.

Attention Monsieur!

This design very nearly made the cutting room floor in my recent re-assessment of things.  But I'm just too fond of the driver.... a bit Monsieur Hulot meets Mr Magoo.  

The main problem with it is that it usually requires two firings in the kiln -  the black of the tyres often has lighter patches with only one firing, so needs to be touched-up and fired again.  I guess I should investigate the possibility of using kiln-firable glass transfers for certain designs, but then it begs the question, why not use them for all the designs?  Hmm, but where would be the fun in that...?

Contemporary Stained Glass Egg Men Decorations

These are the finished Egg Men, which are now available to buy at The Stained Glass Museum Shop, along with lots of my other designs.

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I'm having a bit of a re-think about my "business".  While I've been bringing up small children it has been a great way to maintain my skills, keep my mind occupied and learn how to use social media.

But frankly, it's a hobby that pays for itself, and not what you could call a business.

Don't get me wrong, I am very proud of what I have created so far.  It has grown out of tinkering in the workshop late into the night and doodles on the back of till receipts in cafes while Isla napped in her pushchair, and the kindness and support of all the other amazing creative people I have met through blogging and selling online.

But now my children are both at school I need to find a way to make a living from it again.

So I'm planning a few changes here and there: phasing out some designs that aren't profitable, making new ones that are and, unfortunately, increasing some prices slightly (this is largely down to the recent increase in price on the Polish mouthblown glass I use).

This will be happening over the next few months, but not immediately and there are several "in stock" items in my shops that will remain at the same price.

I'm excited about coming up with more designs and nudging things in new direction, and turning my hobby back into a business.

Thank you to everyone who has supported Through The Round Window so far, I feel like a new chapter is ahead...

Contemporary Stained Glass Himalayan Poppy Window

A recent commission for the door of an artist's garden studio.

The glass used for the poppies is some beautiful English mouthblown 

with a slight 'milky' quality which I was given by a friend 

who had inherited it from her father (also a stained glass artist).

It was perfect for the tissue-paper quality of poppy petals.

1950's Mid-Century Stained Glass

This window had my heart a-flutter on the Stained Glass Museum's website.

The painted, etched and stained glass panel was made in the 1950s,
probably by one of Moira Forsyth's assistants.

Stock for the Stained Glass Museum at Ely Cathedral

Sorry, that's a bit of a dry title.  

I'm trying to make my blog more "search engine friendly" 

I get a lot of visitors looking for peg dolls or paper chains,

very few for contemporary stained glass....

I just realised that although I tweeted my exciting news, I have yet to blog it.

I'm currently working my way through a large order for The Stained Glass Museum

who recently emailed me to say "Can we have 4 of each of your designs for our shop?"

Which works out to be quite a lot in total.

Last week was spent painting painting painting.

A few in-progress shots of the glass cut, and then painted.

(sorry... late nights + Instagram = grainy pictures)

It's been fun making a new batch of these guys too.

I've chosen some pretty, pale sugared-almond shades for them.

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The weather has been rather lovely recently.

These criss-crossed vapour trails late one afternoon were quite a sight.

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I notice there has been a flurry of new subscribers lately - thank you!

I must be coming up to my 3 year blog anniversary about now,

which I find extraordinary - I'm normally so faddy!

Thanks for sticking with me and reading and commenting.

It is always appreciated and treasured.