The start of our year has been dominated by the freezing conditions and large snow falls across the country. We have had 9” of snow on our second day back which made travelling to the stained glass studio an adventure. Carl, one of our craftsmen, who lives about 5 miles away could not get his car out of the snow so walked it in to work through the drifts. Now that is what I call dedication above and beyond! Several of our jobs have been delayed. We were due to start work on site in Leeds to remove and repair some domestic stained glass before encapsulating them into argon filled double or triple glazed units. Our planned route across the Pennines was blocked by the snow, so we hope to start next week instead.

We have been able to complete work in the studio to restore a beautiful Victorian Stained glass window to fit into a door and have made a good start on a deep carved sandblasted commission with a Traditional Japanese style design. As a stained glass designer, the enforced time away from site work has also given me chance the think about some new stained glass designs and church stained glass window protection projects for this year. We have large projects coming up in Wales, Nottingham and Manchester as well as schools art projects to look forward to.

We are NOT planning to cancel to basic stained glass making courses planned for this month, which are almost full. I just hope we don’t get more snow the day before the courses that will prevent the students travelling.  So, keeping going despite the ice. Happy New Year!

The weather has played a major part in our plans recently. It seams like every time we plan work onsite that either a hurricane or tornado comes over the horizon. I have made several visits to Hillside Methodist Church, Brinscall near Chorley in Lancashire recently to make patterns for toughened glass protective glazing over the stained glass windows only to be faced by the worst the elements can throw at me. When you are 30ft up a scaffold making paper patterns to transfer onto hard board the last thing you need are strong winds and rain. The paper just blew around my hands and then turned into soggy mush, not very productive.

I had more success with a trip to Dovers Green School in Surrey, to fit the new stained glass window I had designed with help from the year 2 children. We worked together to come up with ideas and stained glass designs to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the school. The result is a stunningly beautiful and colourful design with a bold rainbow, flowers, sun and even a helicopter. The head teacher, class teacher and children were all delighted with the window which I encapsulated into triple glazed unit made from toughened glass and fitted into the space above the main door to the large dining hall in the school. This type of school project is a real joy for me. To help the children to use their great ideas to come up with the design for their own window is just fantastic. I also showed the children how to make a small stained glass window of their own by using plexiglass, coloured film and strip lead to make up their design. The school put the finished windows on display in the windows of the hall along with a display of the art project. The Head Teacher, Sue Hillman, was very complimentary about the window and the whole project saying that she would recommend me to anyone who asked. Very kind, thank you all at Dovers Green School!

Have you ever been out in a gale force wind so strong you have to lean into it at 45 degrees? That was me, on a church roof in Fleetwood surveying the vandalism of a beautiful Victorian painted stained glass window. I moved a piece of perspex that was banging against the window and nearly had my arm ripped of as it tried to launched itself into the air. The caretaker, who was on the roof with me seemed to take it in his stride. “We get a lot of wind in Fleetwood” he informed me, “Well known for it!”

What a busy four weeks we have had! Travelling the length and breadth of the country several times: I have spent a day with the   Year 2 children at Dovers Green School in Surrey making stained glass in the classroom and developing ideas for a new window to celebrate 50 years since the establishment of the school. The children worked very hard to draw their ideas for the new window which I will use as inspiration for the new design.

Also spent time at a local historic house, Smithills Hall  where I gave a demonstration of stained glass making at the August Bank Holiday Garden Party then returned last week to run a course to make a stained glass suncatcher. The Bolton Museums Service commissioned me to put on the craft course in the beautiful surroundings of the Hall using the ‘Dome Room’ as a temporary classroom.

I had a lovely day out in Criccieth, Gwynedd, Wales to discuss the restoration of an imposing grade 2 listed hotel. The front elevation boasts some wonderful leaded lights in the arts and crafts style which are in urgent need of attention. I took time to sit in the brilliant sunshine on the beach an gaze across the bay at the ruins of Criccieth Castle which stands on the rocky headland. Then returned home via the mountain roads around the foot of Snowdon, what a sight. Stunning views across the lakes and valleys up to the highest peak in the country.

T hen just this week we have been to on the road again working at churches in Shropshire, Bradford, Leeds and a fabulous historic church of St Mary & St Nicholas, Compton, Berkshire to protect the valuable stained glass windows with traditional woven mesh wire guards. Then today Stephen and Carl are over in Liverpool to remove some domestic stained glass windows for restoration and encapsulation into double and triple glazed units.

No time to sit still, must get ready for our stained glass course tomorrow for our intermediate students who will be finishing their creations during the day.

Have you ever watched a fabulous musician or sports person and wished you could do what they are doing? Usain Bolt was absolutely awe inspiring setting new 100m and 200m records in the Berlin Games last week which set me thinking about what makes some people so good in their chosen field. After much research I can now reveal the secret! Natural ability plays a big part but the most important thing is practice and training. Even the most naturally gifted athletes and sportspeople train for hours every day. Snooker players practise for 6 to 8 hours each day to prepare for a tournament.

When we are looking for a new apprentice to learn the art of designing, making and repairing stained glass windows we look for person who has natural ability but then they embark on our training programme that takes their natural ability and puts it to a new use. The training involves many hours of practising the skills of glass cutting, leading, painting, soldering and cementing to make and restore traditional leaded lights and stained glass windows.  This is why I started the Stained Glass Window making Courses and Classes to give tuition to people in this beautiful art.

The protection of Church stained glass windows is a real speciality of ours and also involves much practise and training to get just right.

Do you know I am constantly amazed by the people who come on our stained glass courses! On a recent one day beginners course we had two generations represented from two families. In fact nearly 3 generations. We had a mother and son and also a mother and daughter who was 35weeks pregnant. Even though I have had first aid training I am so glad I was not called upon to help with an early birth. The young lady managed so well to make a stained glass window in the day even though her bump was in the way and she had to sit for a lot of the class. Another member of the group was waiting for her degree results before taking up a place at the York Glazers Trust to study stained glass conservation, lucky girl!

  Our other work is still steady despite the deep recession. Triple glazing of old leaded lights and stained glass continues to be very popular as is church stained glass protection and restoration and repair. It is good to know that the up keep of our historic buildings is still happening in these hard times.

T Shirts and photo mugs & Bags have been on the agenda recently as we have been setting up a  new part of our business : Sunshine Personalised T Shirts and Gifts. We are now producing beautiful full colour mugs, money boxes, bags, purses and wallets with our unique stained glass designs and can also print your photos as well. Check out our new web site www.sunshinetshirtsandgifts.co.uk