Peg and I took a class in making stained glass. This is what happens when you're retired and so have too much time on your hands. We have this courtyard around the pool at our house. We often eat dinner out there, and entertain as well as use the pool and the outdoor kitchen. We have lights under the eaves but we were looking for something a little more subtle. We put candles on the tables and that led us to the idea of making some lanterns to put the candles in, which led us to the stained glass class. Or at least that's the way I remember it.
Neither Peg nor I go in much for tchotchke, and after looking through the pattern books that seems to be stained glass' stock-in-trade. Thus, I think the lanterns will be our final projects for the moment. I'm glad I now know the techniques, however, so if some huge money-making opportunity opens up in the stained glass arena, I'm ready to take it on.
Here are some pictures of the ones that we made.
Peg made these using a combination of stained glass and fused glass techniques. Fused glass involves partially melting glass in a kiln to soften the edges and (as the name implies) fuse the pieces together.