Feist Forest X Flora Jamieson | Contemporary Stained Glass Collaboration

Super excited to reveal some pieces I have been working on in collaboration with illustrator and designer Vicki Turner.

I've been a fan of Vicki's graphic illustrations for some years now, and have been pretty much obsessed with everything else she has done too, from her excellent but sadly now retired blog Plucky, to her massively covetable wooden work tables that she designs and creates with a team of local artisans from her renovated Tin Tabernacle in Devon, under the name Feist Forest.

When she contacted me with the idea of producing a limited edition of contemporary stained glass pieces based on her recent series of paintings, it wasn't a hard decision to make.

We worked on the designs a little to translate them from paper and paint to glass and lead, and the resulting pieces are quite something.  Vicki's colour palette of steely blue, soft peach and dusky bronze suggest those of the coastline at sunrise, while fluid curves and pleasing geometric shapes echo the rhythm of tides and waves.

Making the pieces was enjoyably challenging - to do the designs justice it was essential that my glass cutting and lead lines were meticulous. There's nothing I like more than sharpening up my leadknife and geeking out over a bit of precision leading.

The 4 designs, entitled Loop d' Loops, are available now from her online shop.

Contemporary Stained Glass Wedding Bouquet

A dream project that I finished just before Christmas; a contemporary stained glass panel depicting the bride's wedding bouquet, which was commissioned as a gift by her lovely mum.

The wedding bouquet was made by Pyrus Flowers, which is run by creative duo Natalya Ayers and Fiona Inglis, who seek out unusual, seasonal Scottish blooms, often foraged from the wild. I could while away a good few hours scrolling through their Instagram feed.

In this bouquet, tucked amongst the peachy, creamy delicate dahlias, were sprigs of wild blackberry, hawthorn, hazel and scabious, all tied together with bright, trailing ribbons in bohemian shades of ruby, turquoise, gold and plum. In order to allow the richness of the colours of the flowers and ribbons to really stand out, I used a dark inky-blue glass for the background. For the bouquet itself I included some handmade, recycled glass. The date of the wedding is painted on the central gold ribbon tied around the stems of the bouquet.

The last image is of the beautiful bride Polly, holding her bouquet, alongside her father.

Such a wonderful way to commemorate the day and preserve the bouquet forever.

(If you would be interested in commissioning something similar for yourself or as a gift, drop me a line via the contact page on my website.)

Stained Glass Roundels with Pre-Raphaelite Lovelies

A recent commission for Berdoulat, an architectural design firm with its roots in the Arts & Crafts tradition, and an intention to create authentic products and interiors with quality craftsmanship.  Well, that's a manifesto I love to hear.

The brief was to design and paint a pair of stained glass roundels, featuring a Pre-Raphaelite beauty in each, and including the names of the clients' sons.

This was a great opportunity to revisit the work of William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones (two of my favourite stained glass designers of the era) to look for inspiration.

Sisterhood Camp 2015 / Victorian Stained Glass Roundels - Blue Tit and Goldfinch

This weekend I will be joining 24 inspiring women at the Sisterhood Camp, a weekend spent under the stars at beautiful Loveland Farm.  

Organised by the amazing Lou Archell of Little Green Shed, and sponsored by Toast, the weekend promises creative workshops, feasting, wild flower gathering, dancing, waterfall swimming and camp fires.

The aim is to share skills, dreams and goals.  To encourage, and hopefully develop, a working relationship together and inspire new directions and future collaborations. 

Feeling very lucky and excited to be invited to what will hopefully become an annual event.

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I recently painted this pair of my always-popular British Bird stained glass roundels, for a stained glass studio in London.

I spotted a real goldfinch the other day, and now they might have just taken the lead in my affections from the long-tailed tit.

Reproduction Victorian Hand-Painted Stained Glass Heron Roundels

I fell in love with this original Victorian roundel that I pinned to my bird roundels board on Pinterest a few weeks back: that magnificent heron, the poor deflated frog and his melodramatic friends and the detailed background foliage (kingcups, arum lily leaves, water reeds and yellow flag iris) make for a very unusual and charming centrepiece.

So it was a lovely coincidence to find in my email inbox a commission to paint a pair of them for some stained glass panels going in to a new door being made by bespoke London door company Voysey and Jones.

The client wanted the left hand roundel to be a copy of the original, but the right hand one was to have a happier outcome, with the frogs having escaped their grisly fate.

A couple of close ups to show detail of feathers and frogs...

Etsy Shop Re-Stock - Friday 6th March 11am (GMT)

Spring is nearly here, and finally I'm ready to get my Etsy shop update live.  It's taken me a while as I've been juggling commissions, workshop renovations, big birthdays (not mine) and flaming torches (ok, that last bit is not strictly true).

From Friday 6th March at 11am (GMT) I will be listing lots of your favourite friends (including Egg Men, Singing Birds, Russian Dolls) and some larger panels that are now available for sale following last year's One Square Foot group exhibition.

It will also be your last chance to get hold of some of my designs as I am phasing-out a few and planning on introducing some new work later on in the year.

So catch them while you can....

Purple Iris Stained Glass Window Commission

I recently finished this large purple iris window for a lovely couple who travelled all the way from Hertfordshire to commission.  They were so nice they even bought me a beautiful bouquet of irises when they came to collect it.  

The design was quite challenging, especially in a window of this size (approximately 10 square feet) to make it stable and strong.  Although the panel was to be fitted on the inside of an existing window, which would provide support and stop the panel from bowing over time, it was still important that the design allowed me to handle and manoeuvre it during the making, without being too unwieldy.

The glass used for the iris petals is a machine-made streaky, but it was perfect to recreate the delicate, tissue-paper quality of them.  I also added a little bit of silver stain to suggest the yellow area at the centre.  The background glass is an ultra-pale blue tinted Polish mouth blown glass, which has beautiful meandering striations, tiny air-bubbles and superb clarity, allowing the sunlight to sparkle as it comes through.  You can see on the top picture the reflection cast on the adjacent wall.

Here are some work-in-progress images...

Design:

The panel was so large I had to design it on the floor over 3 days.  In order to make it, I had to get a new workbench built (I needed one anyway, but it was good to have the impetus).  Pictured is the old, scruffy one I've been working on the for the last 10 years.  Working on the new one is like driving around in a Rolls Royce.

Leading:

Often my favourite stage of making a window... seeing it take form in front of your eyes is quite magical.

Ready to solder:
Because of the sword-shaped leaves, a lot of the lead joints were at quite an acute angle, and have to be cut well so that they can be soldered neatly.  I can get quite OCD about my leading...

Cementing:

Never the nicest job, but I had just cleaned out and reorganised my cementing shed, so it was nicer than it had been for a long time in there.

Bear & Rabbit Woodland Stained Glass Panel - Wedding Gift Commission

I loved making this panel, which shipped off to New York just before Christmas.

The client commissioned the panel as a belated wedding gift to friends, whose summer wedding was in a beautiful woodland setting.

I wanted the panel to look like it had perhaps come from a children's picture book, but at the same time capture the romantic nature of the wedding.

For the foliage in the foreground, I looked to William Morris for inspiration, which is always a good place to look.

Victorian Stained Glass Roundel - White Lilies

I've been very remiss at posting completed projects on here lately, mainly because work is coming in back-to-back at the moment and I barely have time to photograph it, let alone edit it and get it online! Luckily I suffered a bout of insomnia the other night (which coincided with the clocks going back - probably the most annoying of all nights to be suffering), so this roundel that I painted to replace the damaged original is one of the few that I have managed to do.

Currently I'm working on stock for a couple of Christmas exhibitions (more on that soon), a large panel with lots of irises, a bear and a rabbit in the woods and some freelance work for a couple of other stained glass studios. It's a little hectic on the workbench right now...

Contemporary Stained Glass Exhibition - One Square Foot

Some details from my contemporary stained glass panels currently on show as part of the One Square Foot exhibition (with Stuart Low and Christian Ryan), running for a couple more weeks until 21st June.

Custom Pet Portrait Illustration in a Stained Glass Roundel

It's strange, and rather nice, when something you have been mulling over for a while, gets the opportunity to become real.

I had been thinking about doing either pet portraits, or coats of arms, or family crests or some such, in an illustrative style as a stained glass piece for a while.

But life gets in the way, and it seemed that the ideas would stay in my sketch book for a while longer.

Then out of the blue, an email requesting a custom piece - a portrait of a loved but long-lost cat.  When I saw the accompanying photo of a handsome black cat, with sharp green eyes, stiff white whiskers and a perfect white moustache, I couldn't help but feel a bit excited at the prospect of painting this dapper character.

And below is one of my coat of arms sketches.  Maybe the opportunity to make one of these will arise in the not too distant future as well.  I like the idea of the family pets holding up the shield (although it could prove tricky if the family pets are stick insects).

Sacred Heart Church, Bournemouth

A couple of pictures of a window I did some painting for back in July, now re-installed at the Sacred Heart Church, Bournemouth.

The head and body of the lamb was badly broken so I painted a replacement.

I can't deny it's quite a thrill seeing my work in a church.  A few years ago I painted a replacement piece for our local church.  Whenever we go in for school services, I always like it when the girls ask "Where's your bit with the chair mummy?".

Last few days left before the end of the school holidays. It's been fun and exhausting all at once. A bit of camping, a lot of visitors, a lot of beaching and a lot of tidying. I want them to go back to school, mainly so they can stop making such a bloody mess!

Stained Glass Bird Roundels - Chaffinch & Long-Tailed Tit.

A Chaffinch and a Long-Tailed Tit, painted for a client in South West London.

Getting the colour right on the plumage was a bit of a battle. But three additional firings later I'm pleased with the results.

Keen nature spotters will notice that the butterfly is a Common Blue.

Art Nouveau Stained Glass Door Panels

I recently finished this pair of Art Nouveau style door panels, which were designed by the client (a historic buildings archaeologist).

I had to make some minor alterations to the design in order to make it fit the dimensions of the openings, but I'm pleased with how they translated from the initial sketch I was given.

Technically quite challenging to lead, but also absolutely engrossing and absorbing - I think I must have gone through about fifty Design Matters podcasts while working on these!