Cracked with Chevonne Ariss
“Cracked with Chevonne Ariss” is a stained glass podcast that takes a deep dive with today’s biggest names from around the world in modern stained glass. Artists have a frank and honest conversation with Chevonne about their style, legacy, their losses and wins, their journey into becoming a small business owner and how they didn’t lose their minds getting there. Season 5 coming soon!
Cracked with Chevonne Ariss
Kaleidoscope Craze with Lindsey Thacker of Luxey Flux
It's the 56th episode of Cracked!!
Today we're headed to Charlotte NC to dive into the Psychedelic, colorful and wonderful world of Lindsey Thacker, AKA Luxey Flux. Known for her mind-bending designs and kaleidoscopic color palettes, Lindsey has a talent for seemlessly weaving glass of all different textures and tones, opacity levels and iridescence together into a technicolor maximalism delight. Today we discuss her style, the inspiration behind her mesmerizing works, and some important life lessons she’s learned from the craft along the way.
Join me as I crack it all wide open!
To see more of Lindsey’s work, her instagram is @luxeyflux and mine is @runaglassworks. For the Patreon members Lindsey made a gorgeous pattern for all, there’s no drawing it’s just up for all the members. And in addition to the pattern she also included a colored version for color inspo which I think is so cool!
Please please send pics if you go for it😍 In addition to the exclusive pattern, Lindsey also made a Spotify playlist just for the Cracked listeners to jam out to while Cracked isn’t playing!
Link to purchase crating instruction downloads:
runaglassworks.com
Concepts app
concepts.app
Delphi
delphiglass.com
Leslyes Glass Hut
etsy.com/LeslyesGlassHut
Glass Hack magnet:
amazon.com/Magnetic
Paul Veto (light boxes + wood carvings)
@paulvetostudios
Favorite artists
Kelly Keith
@fuckericclapton
Alex Garant
The Professional Trade Association for Architectural Art Glass
Canfield Technologies
Canfield sets the standard for the Stained Glass industry.
Bullseye Glass
~ handcast glass since 1974 ~
Glass Patterns Quarterly
Patterns, inspiration and information since 1985 to glass hobbyists & professional artists.
Ed Hoy's International Glass Supplies
The Single Source for All Your Art Glass Needs
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Hello
SPEAKER_02:to all my friends and glass family and welcome back to Cracked with Siobhan Aris. Before we jump in today, I'd like to thank our sponsors for helping me make Cracked possible. First off, the Stained Glass Association of America. If you know you know and if you don't know, you better get on the SGAA train because they've been around since 1903 and they're not slowing down anytime soon. I've spent a lot of time on this show speaking about what they've done for our industry in the past, but it's important to also remember support for the SGAA is crucial in passing the torch on to the next generation who will be creating and caring for our stained glass treasures. Find out more at stainedglass.org. I'd also like to thank Canfield Technologies, the makers of Sodermate Solaic. Canfield's Solaic Flux is an active, non-hazardous liquid flux that sets the industry standard for excellence for lead joints or restoration projects. Find out more at CanfieldMetals.com. Thank you to Glass Patterns Quarterly. I just discovered Glass Patterns Quarterly last year, and what I didn't know, but I'm so glad that I know now, is that they actually offer so much more than just glass patterns. There's webinars, events, online classes, an industry directory, and so much more. Check all of this out and the best subscription option for you at GlassPatterns.com. I I also want to tell you guys about a company called Kids Art Box, which is creative art projects for kids delivered monthly. Discover and bond through the magic of art without the headache of looking for the right activities and the right supplies. Their kits come with everything you need and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, so you can focus on what matters, learning and making art like an artist, creating and bonding together. There's boxes created for ages 3 all the way to 18, and cracked listeners can use the code GLASS to receive$5 off of your purchase. I did this with my daughter and it was so cool. I was really impressed with the quality of all of the art supplies and all of the artists that we explored together and the directions and all of it was just so well executed. I highly recommend this company. If you have a kid in your life and you don't know what to get them for their next birthday or for Christmas, this is it. This is the unique, cool artist gift that's going to be a hit. Find out more at All right, now let's talk about today's episode. I'd like to welcome you to the psychedelic, colorful, and wonderful world of Lindsay Thacker, a.k.a. Luxie Flux. Lindsay has a talent for seamlessly weaving together glass of all different textures and tones, opacity levels, and iridescence together into a technicolor, maximalist delight. Today, we're going to chat about where she's at in her glass journey, as well as some important life lessons. she's learned from the craft along the way. Let's get into it. Join me as I crack it all wide open. Hello. Hey,
SPEAKER_00:nice to see you.
SPEAKER_02:Nice to see you too. It's always interesting when I interview people and they don't have any photos of them online and then I get to see their face. I'm always like, oh, hi, there you are. That's what you look like.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I have some, a couple of my friends have tagged me in some photos, but those are the only ones on my Instagram. Nobody knows what I look like. It's gonna be kind of weird. Anyway.
SPEAKER_02:Very mysterious. Yes. Well, nobody is still going to know what you look like because nobody's going to see this video, but you and I. Okay, so when I started to dig in on you for today's episode, I found that you have a case of the dreaded no website. Even Google didn't have anything for me. So it's a really good thing your Instagram is such a treasure trove of detailed captions because I actually found a lot in there for us to talk about today. But there's not a lot about you personally. So let's start with that. Where are you from? Where are you joining us from today?
SPEAKER_00:So I'm in Charlotte, North Carolina. I grew up here. I was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, but I've lived here my whole life. So I call myself local to Charlotte because I've been here since I was three. I don't know a lot of people that were born and raised in Charlotte. So that's kind of like a thing here. But yeah, so I grew up here. I kind of have just bounced around in my life a little bit. I've never had like a ton of ambition or direction. I kind of just wanted to have a good time and some experiences and just see what was out there. So the way that I ended up coming to Glass was kind of odd. And where I'm at in my life is not exactly where I would have ever expected myself to be as a teenager. But I've worked at the animal hospital. I did data entry. I worked in a photography print media studio for a while. And now I find myself in the financial world, which is insane. So when I came to fine glass, I was in this job that was really, really stressful for me. I had some stress in my personal life at home. I had some debt, all this stuff. And I was kind of in this transitory period in my life where I was not quite young as I used to be. And my social life wasn't as full as it used to be. And so I was kind of just in this place of stress and being stuck in the house because I couldn't afford to go out. But I've always been into art When I was younger, I used to paint. I wasn't super great at it. I used to do photography, all that kind of stuff. So anyway, I've been a fanatic forever. And I have Instagram and I use it mostly to look at artists. And my best friend is also really into art as well. And so one day she sent me a post of just like contemporary stained glass artists. And I had never thought about stained glass in any sort of context other than church. And I'm not a religious person and never have been. So that kind of was like, hmm, that's a thing. That's interesting. You know, kind of put a little bug in my brain about it. So I just, you know, I didn't pick anything up then, but I started thinking about it and it seemed kind of like an exotic art form to me, you know, from an outsider perspective, like how do you even begin to cut glass and then how do you get it to be shaped in this way? And then how do you connect like all of these things that should be simple or should be like explainable and simple and easy to find out? I just didn't know that and had never looked into it. So anyway, continued on in that job and continued on on Instagram. And eventually I came across this person. Her name is Twiggy Levy, who kind of just had the life that I wanted. Like, I didn't actually know that she was an artist off hand. Her profile originally kind of drew me just aesthetically. She kind of lives like on the top top of this mountain with like donkeys and goats and just kind of is by herself, which sounds great to me because I'm an introvert and people stress me out and I like being home. I'm a home buddy. So that was really, you know, I kind of was looking at her and I was like, what does she do? How does she manage to be up on the top of this mountain and just by herself? And turns out she's a glass artist. And so that was another light bulb moment for me where if she can do this on the top of a mountain and nowhere in the desert, I Surely I can do it in Charlotte, North Carolina. So that's kind of where my brain opened up and I started researching. And from there, you know, my mom gave me like just a kit for Christmas, just a basic like here's a crappy soldering iron and a cutter and that kind of stuff. And, you know, I also at the same time, like as I was kind of fiddling myself, I was looking at other glass artists online and just going back to the beginning of their profile. And just seeing how quickly they improved. So, like, not only can you get this stuff on the top of a mountain and a desert by yourself, you can make a couple of pieces and there's noticeable market improvement in your skill level. And so that kind of drew me to, I'm the type of kind of a perfectionist and I like to, you know, I don't like to suck at something all the time. A little bit is okay. But something that you can start with and feel good about is good about your first project and then the next one is so much better and so much better it puts so much wind under your wings and and that's kind of you know I went from there um there was a lot more interest in it than I expected um I was surprised how it you know it's the same experience that I had where seeing contemporary stained glass for the first time people that I knew were seeing it for the first time through my art and I think it's just one of those things that's fixating you get a piece of glass in your house and you can't take your eyes off of it And so I'm loving that there's more contemporary glass artists. We're seeing a lot of this coming around and people are doing some really wild stuff.
SPEAKER_02:I agree with everything that you said. I see that too often. I mean, I even saw it in your work. I wrote this down. I'm kind of jumping ahead a little bit. So I'm going to say this and then I'm going to circle back to where we started. But I can see the exact post that you made where I saw your skill level make a huge leap. And it was a piece. Let's see here. I don't know if it was named, but you posted it June 28th, 2020. And it's a very Frank Lloyd Wright style, but not done in traditional Frank Lloyd Wright colors. And then there are frigging spaceships in it. And this is when your skill level totally turned a corner. The handful of pieces you posted before this one, I could see your personal style coming through, like what you wanted to make, but your lines and technique was still very much of a beginner, which is great. That's fine. but yeah I could see it
SPEAKER_00:yeah yeah um actually that it's funny that you bring that piece up that one was really um pivotal for me um and there's a lot of like kind of stuff around that piece but it's the one that like that's how I learned how to do leaded glass I had never done leaded glass before and kind of bit off a little bit more than I could chew with that commission but it sparked like this whole new fire for me I mean glass has hooked me like nothing else in my life life has ever hooked me. But man, once I started messing with lead and just the process of like watching it kind of come together, like I'm super slow with my work. I'll put a piece in and then I spend 20 minutes just admiring it like an idiot before I start working on the next one. But it was that piece. So that was actually commissioned by a woman that's in Charlotte who has owned a really cool little boutique in kind of the cool town of Charlotte. Charlotte's a small little city. city like we're a big city but we're a small town kind of deal um so she I've known of her for a long time just from growing up here and going to that little boutique and stuff so she saw my work and commissioned that piece for her personal house um and it was to be honest it was really stressful just because like the timing of it with COVID especially but I mean not to be a huge my mom passed away right after I started on that so it was hard for me and it was really late getting it to her which I hate I'm a pretty punctual person I don't like being late on stuff but that piece means a lot to me because I don't know if I would still be doing glass if I hadn't had that piece at that time something to keep me working through like a really difficult time in my life and then after that she commissioned me to do her entire storefront so she ended up like she had a store in Plaza Midland in the town of Charlotte for a long time but she ended up moving to kind of a smaller location in a different side of town that's up and coming um so she had a new storefront and it was it's big but it's not super big so she had me do the whole upper half so not only does she have a piece of my house now I have a like a permanent fixture in Charlotte and it's it's really special to me
SPEAKER_02:so wow wow um were your parents um artistic at all
SPEAKER_00:no but my dad's side of the well I take that back my mom um she liked to do some needlepoint she she She didn't really like make her own designs and that kind of stuff, but she liked to do needlepoint. But my dad's side of the family, everyone on that side of the family, at least my grandparents and my cousins for the most part are all artistic. So my grandmother on that side, she kind of fiddled with a lot of stuff, but she made a name for herself in the quilting world and with all kinds of like threaded and sewing crafts. I should have brought them in here. She did a whole bunch of, I don't know if you know what they are, tomorrow balls, which are these, they're beautiful, intricate. I think traditionally they were made as toys, but they're balls that are then wrapped with colored thread and they're done in a certain way so that they have like these very intricate geometric patterns on them, um, that are just Orga. So she did a lot of those, um, and a lot of quilts. And then my grandfather was a photographer. Um, and surprisingly, you know, it's funny, genetics are weird. He actually did some stained glass. And I didn't know that until after he passed away. So I don't know if I get a little bit of that interest from him or what. But my cousins on that side also are pretty artistic as well.
SPEAKER_02:Do you have any of his work? Did any of it pop up when you found out?
SPEAKER_00:Well, you know, it's funny. There's a piece that was in their house my entire childhood, and I just never knew he made it. But it was kind of a simple butterfly, but it had that deep copper, beautiful tree transparent blue that just like sucks your eyes into it. So I grew up seeing that. But I have one of his lamps. So he made like a just a pendant lamp that's amber and kind of simple, but it's special because it's from Papa T.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. Was that butterfly piece? Is that your earliest memory of stained glass?
SPEAKER_00:It probably is, to be honest, of one that I actually paid any attention to. You know, I did go up going to church and the church that we Once you had beautiful stained glass, but that piece in my grandparents' house, you know, we would go sit on that in the sunroom and it would just be bright and shining and catch your eye. So yeah, that's probably my first memory of it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Do you have any siblings?
SPEAKER_00:I don't. I'm an only child. Little spoiled brat over here.
SPEAKER_02:And your day job, you said you work in finance. What do you do in finance?
SPEAKER_00:I do. I am actually a fraud analyst now. I used to have a more intense job, but my job now is a little bit less intense and a little bit more fulfilling personally because I'm kind of helping actual individual people not get robbed or recover funds when they have been robbed. So it's fine. You know, I'd love to do glass as my job, but I am somewhat protective of it because I'm just turned 39. My birthday was yesterday. So it took me a very long time to find this thing. So I'm kind of... Right.
SPEAKER_02:Do you work remotely? I
SPEAKER_00:do. I'm very lucky in that way. Honestly, if I had had to go back to the office, I probably would already be doing Glass full-time. My company has said that we can stay home forever. So we'll see if that continues. For now, I'm fully remote. So it's great. And that has really helped with that work-life balance. The stress level goes down because I'm doing a lot less just to get to my desk. And there's a lot less just weighing on me from that commute and all that good stuff. So, um, it's fine. It could be a lot worse. I've had a lot worse jobs. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. Oh my gosh. Yes. And where did you learn how to do stained glass?
SPEAKER_00:Um, I taught myself. So I'm, I'm one of the dreaded, you know, just kind of freewheeling over here, but I taught myself. Um, so I, I mentioned my mom gave me that stained glass kit for Christmas and a how to use stained glass book. So I read that a Thank you. Goodness gracious. I thought that I was going to get into stained glass and this was going to solve my problem with that. And my, you know, I'm bored at my house. I'm going to make stained glass and I'm going to sell this and then I'm going to have, my God, it's so expensive, right? Like it's so expensive. So not only, you know, I was, I was really lucky in that I did have the stupid job that I do because I'd mentioned it offhand at work one day that I wanted to learn how to make stained glass. And one of my coworkers was like, you should talk to Shane, his mom has been making stained glass for years. And so she's a sweet, she's the sweetest lady. Um, she apparently bought a old glass artist, entire stock of glass when he retired, like maybe 20 years ago. So she has this huge, enormous stockpile of antique glass and she'd sell it to me for 50 cents on the pound. So I don't think that if I had not met Shane's mom, like I could have afforded to even learn how to get past making like a small craft. You know what I mean? It's so expensive. So I was lucky that I had that resource and I could afford to mess up a lot. But yeah, it was just the stained glass book and then YouTube really. And then just various groups on the internet, Reddit and Facebook and looking and seeing what other people are doing.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. When you first saw that there was contemporary stained glass artists on Instagram, have you become friends with any of those artists? Do you remember who they are? Have they become part of your... friend group glass friend group
SPEAKER_00:I don't talk to anybody super regularly to be honest I kind of hide from my Instagram it stresses me out just like because I can't produce as much as I would like to and so I kind of hide from that but there are a couple artists that like when they followed me was like I texted my best friend like oh my god I've made it this person sees me I've had a couple of interactions you know in comments on some stuff that are really meaningful to me so like House of Pale She was one of the first people that I really got into her work. I think it was my UFO, that one that you were mentioning. She followed me after that one. I just thought I could die. There's a lot of really talented people out there that I'm just... amazed by what people can think of and come up with and do and I just sit here and like admire from afar and I'm kind of a wallflower so I don't talk a lot oh my gosh
SPEAKER_02:you shouldn't be you have a lot to say a lot of good stuff to say um do you draw your own patterns
SPEAKER_00:I do yes um so most of the time I'm working on my iPad because I like having the I have just like concepts app I don't know if the free app. I like the geometry. I like having that grid behind it. I can throw a grid up behind it and I can mirror stuff and duplicate. And a lot of times with my, sometimes I know what I'm going for. I have an idea of something that I want to make, but a lot of times I'm kind of just doodling around. And so the, having the iPad has been helpful in that I can kind of like start something and then make several iterations of the like parts of it that I like instead of having to redraw. So before like the iPad, and the online drawing came along, I would just get frustrated by sketching if it wasn't perfect the first time around. And then I would just kind of give up on it. So it's helpful to have that ability to make a couple of different designs. And sometimes I think I'm done with a pattern and then I do one thing and see something that I had totally missed in it. So yeah, most of that stuff is on there. But yeah, I draw my designs.
SPEAKER_02:So it's called Concepts. It's an app.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. And it's
SPEAKER_02:free.
SPEAKER_00:It's free. It's just free. And it has what I need. I know that a lot of people use, what's the other one? There's, what is it? Procreate or whatever. Yeah. There's a lot of different apps, but this is just the first one that I got when I started doing this and it works for me. It has everything I need. So I haven't branched out and gotten any further than that. I like that it's free.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. And you can put color in and everything.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you can. I don't know if you can like, zoom in on that pattern that I sent you. I will say that I don't, I don't often color in my patterns unless I'm like working on a commission piece for someone and I'm trying to like get specific glass colors that they're after. A lot of times I just let the glass kind of lead me around in my studio. If there's one glass that I want, I'll go from there. But when I do color in, I don't actually know how to like fill a space. So I just scribble it in on that app. Like I'm sure that on Procreate, you can probably like select an area and just fill and not have to scribble in with a marker. So it may not be the most efficient, but yeah, I color on there and it works for me.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And it's a great place for people to start, even if they do want to move on to a different app later on, especially if it's free. It sounds like a great place to at least dip your toes in.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it is. And it's pretty self-explanatory. There's not a lot of learning curve. There's a couple of different, you have a bunch of different tools that you can use. And yeah, it's pretty easy. So I like it.
SPEAKER_02:You have, you use a ton of different textures and tones and opacity levels. And also you use a lot of gems and it is so hard to mix and match like that and make it look effortless. And like it all just is meant to be together. It is so hard. I would venture to say in my humble opinion Do you find yourself as... a maximalist in other areas of your life as well?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, probably. If you could see the rest of my house behind me, it's just plants. But yes, I have a lot going on everywhere. But I will say that that part of the process probably takes me the longest. I get really stuck on color selection sometimes and the opacity specifically because I want it to look pretty when it's frontlit and when it's backlit. And sometimes those don't always work well. when you have different opacities happening. So I do get hung up on that a lot. And sometimes I waste a lot of glass because I'll cut something and then decide that, oh, well, this would look better this way. But for me, this is kind of just like my outlet. So I feel like it's worth wasting the glass sometimes to, you know, get something I'm going to be happy with in the end of it. And I'll say that, you know, I'm sure, you know, most artists, most glass artists experience the where you sometimes have an idea of what something is going to look like. And then when it's done, it doesn't look that way. So that's, you know, those are disappointing days, but I take those mental notes on what I did with that and like why I thought something would work and why it didn't work so that I can just move forward and keep going. And sometimes, I don't know if you experienced this with your work or like other glass artists do, there's sometimes when I will finish a piece and I hate it for like a whole day. Like I put it in my window And I just hate it. I just hate it. And then I'll sleep and I'll come back and look at it with fresh eyes and it's good again. So that's the beauty of glass, man. There's no way to like make the same piece twice and just a small tweak of even just a tiny little triangle and a piece will change the entire mood of it. So I
SPEAKER_02:love it. a lot too like the glass selection and the color selection and that that truly is like the longest part of the process often for me and so i'm just so impressed that you're like these two and then it just it just works it's awesome
SPEAKER_00:thanks i love your work too with the the natural stones that you use i've wondered about that like do you um do you have a hard time like picking glass to go with the stone because i feel like just from my perspective i would be matching my glass to to that stone. So do you kind of get stuck on like different bands of, of color and the agent of the girls that I would, I just get in my head. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Sometimes, but I think that I just like pull out like the primary colors of it and work with those. And I feel like I use a little bit more of like the color theory that I learned honestly in beauty school when I was learning how to do hair, like the way that different colors compliment each other. That's a whole other conversation, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So many different lives to live beauty school to stained glass, the podcaster. I know. I
SPEAKER_02:know. It's so true. I actually just recently went back to doing hair again. I'm doing hair part-time here in Portland. And so I've officially become like the most annoying person to ask at a party. Not that I go to many parties, but in any situation, like, what do you do for a living? I'm like, Oh God, sit down, get a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. You're going to be here for a minute.
SPEAKER_00:I love it.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. So I know you got a lot of glass from Shane's mom.
SPEAKER_00:Where
SPEAKER_02:are you buying your glass?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So that was a whole other thing. You know, when I was first getting into this, Charlotte just does not have a lot in the way of glass options. I know that there's like a place in town that I have not visited because I am just a shut in, just stay in my house all the time. But when I first started making glass, there was a store that was relatively close to me in town um but they kind of just took a hit during covid and didn't recover so um even when they were around i was kind of sourcing most of my stuff online i was doing a mix and match um with shane's mom and then stuff that i would get at the store that is in gastonia but i get a lot of stuff from leslie's glass hut on etsy so like i like her especially when i was new and i have a stupid hoard of glass now i'm just gonna die under my board of glass one day. But when I was new and I didn't have a lot of glass, her site has been fantastic because she gets a lot of like weird, just random fancy bits of glass in and you can buy small pieces and she does flat rate shipping. So like, especially for sun catchers, if you have little things that you're making, you want some little fancies, she's good. And it's a good way to like get into seeing like, you know, learning about the different textures and the different makers and all all that good stuff. So I get a lot from her, especially if I'm working on a commission and I want something just unique. Um, I order a lot from Delphi just because it's comfortable for me. There's, I know that like anything in stained glass, that's a really good website and a good source. I just like Delphi's website better. I don't think their prices are any better, but their website works for me. So, um, I get most of my stuff from them now.
SPEAKER_01:And
SPEAKER_00:really I need to quit buying glass. I have no business buying any glass. I have a shipment coming. I'm I gotta quit it. I gotta quit seeing.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, you and everybody else. This is like, this is the one universal like issue is that I have so much glass. What am I doing? Why did I buy all this? I
SPEAKER_00:know. It's one of the other aspects of glass that I love that like hooked me as well. Cause I, I also like antiques and picking and going to the thrift store. So like, it's kind of like treasure hunting with glass. You know, if you see a unique glass, you may literally never see another sheet like that again. And so I just cannot help myself.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. It's
SPEAKER_00:toxic. It's bad, but I love it.
SPEAKER_02:No, it's not toxic. When you're sort of making your color decisions, do you use like a light pad or like a light table? I
SPEAKER_00:do. Oh, my gosh. So I actually just broke– I have this really sweet– old like vintage architecture glass uh I guess drafting table for architecture that I bought off of Craigslist for$50 and it's massive and I freaking broke the top on it like two weeks ago so right now I don't but I will be fixing that top because it is essential when I'm working on my large pieces um I actually have a smaller uh light table that my mom gave to me um so I've got that to work on for my for my little pieces but um yeah I do use a light table I do you I set my glass up in the front windows a lot. Where I'm sitting right now is where I work during the day. I have three windows off to my left. If I'm working on a piece, I'll set my glass up in the window to see what it does throughout the day. Glass is moody. It changes. It's never the same. I'll look at stuff on the light table, but then I also make my final decision based on what it looks like after looking at it for a day or so in my window. It's just perfect. with natural light, I think.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I agree. You had, you made one piece. It was a two headed snake that I really loved and you found this like snake skin glass. And I was going to ask you where it was from, but then I like, I looked to the next post and you actually say that it's a radium texture. And somebody else had commented and asked where you got it because they had been trying to get their hands on it with no luck. So where did you find that?
SPEAKER_00:That was actually Leslie's glass cut. That was on Etsy salad. And I'm like, yeah, she, I think she only had a couple of sheets and I may have bought both of the sheets that she had. It was, yeah, it was, it was perfect for that project, man. It was not fun to work with though. It, that glass breaks with these like little sticky out shards on the bottom and the bubbles on top kind of hide it. So even like if you don't hit it with a grinder immediately, you just, my fingers were shredded by the end of that project, but it worked well. for the for the piece but it really it's not fun to work with
SPEAKER_02:it was gorgeous and I I feel like you know everybody I'm going to link Leslie's glass hut in the show notes but I'm my heart's a little broken for you because I'm like what if somebody else now she's gonna get totally like you're not gonna get some of the glass because someone else is gonna scoop it up before you
SPEAKER_00:my secrets I don't think I think the secret is out I I'm on a Facebook glass group and I see other people commenting about her so I think my my little secret is out but good for her that just means she's gonna to keep doing it and having more glass come in so
SPEAKER_02:yeah definitely do you know anything else about her like she's just like an online stained glass like sheet glass seller
SPEAKER_00:yeah I don't know if she makes glass or not I would assume she does just because she knows an awful lot about it but um no I don't know her personally but I've you know I've had a couple interactions with her just buying stuff and she's been really great she's she's very communicative and um like I there was a piece that I was working on I needed some more of a specific glass so I asked her you know are you gonna get any more of And she said, yeah. Yeah, she's been good. And I love that flat rate shipping. And she's had all of those German iridescent jewels for a long time that I use a lot. So that's where I was sourcing those. But I will say I looked this past time and she's out currently. So, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Well, hopefully by the time this episode airs, she'll have a fresh new restock.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I hope so.
SPEAKER_02:I wrote down a couple of quotes from you. One is, I just love the anticipation inherent with building leaded pieces. It keeps me invested watching it slowly take shape. Sometimes it's a fun puzzle figuring out the best place to start so that your handmade jigsaw comes together as planned. Which piece to put in next so that you're able to fit the next piece in and the piece after that and so on. I've built myself into a corner more than once. Glass is full of riddles. Now, I think it's so interesting because a lot of people think about artists as being very like loosey-goosey, free spirited, like whatever happens, happens. And so with stained glass specifically, it's very regimented. There's a lot of rules. There's not a lot of room to fudge. And so I think that this cross section of artists that are drawn to this kind of art specifically and not like watercolors instead, I'm so intrigued by that. Do you, anything that I just said, do you see yourself in, like, do you feel like you're very like free spirited and loosey goosey in other ways, but is there like an itch that stained glass scratches for you of that structure?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's a, that's an interesting perspective. Yeah, it absolutely does. I think I by nature, I'm kind of just a messy all over the place person just in every facet, but I have this part of me that really desires like, you know, A after A, B, C, D, stuff in order, stuff done correctly, stuff on time. So I have both of these facets of my personality. I like the design because you can be all messy. But then once you have that, it's just process. And it helps me kind of shut off the messy part of my brain, having that process and focusing. And it is like there's a very obvious stop and start to it. So I like that part of it. And it's one of the only things that I have found that really has just shut off my brain for me so that I can just be at peace and work on something. So I think balancing those two in one little nice package of glass has been a huge thing for me. But yeah, and I agree with you that there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. And I have a little bit of a chip because I am self-taught. So I have made mistakes in these pieces that I've had to go back and fix. because like with leaded glass, like I was saying in that particular post, you like... Some shapes with lead, you can't just do as easily as you can with a foiled piece. So like think about a crescent moon with a circle in the center of that with foil, you could drop that circle in, but with cane you can't because that opening isn't big enough. So looking at a piece and trying to determine where I'm going to start is the first step for me and then having to think beyond that first piece. And I may be doing that wrong. I think, you know, it's possible that a lot of glass artists start in one corner, work left to right, and that's just how they work. But I don't. I kind of look at what I'm trying to get out of the piece. And a lot of times I'll kind of start in the center with these leaded pieces because I do a lot of curves and a lot of circles and that kind of stuff that won't necessarily fit together if I start in a corner. So I like the challenge. I like that mental kind of challenge to it as well. And then once I've figured it out, I can just zoom out and I'll listen to a podcast or I'll listen to music and it's just my hands being and work is gone and any other stress from the day is gone. And what could be more cathartic than just like breaking glass and playing with molten metal? Like it's just cool.
SPEAKER_02:It is. It is. It's super cool. You do have a lot of curves and circles in your work. Are you using a circle cutter? I
SPEAKER_00:don't. You know what? I have one and I genuinely have not figured out how to make it work. Like I can't understand how to get the blade going the right way and I just get frustrated it and I can cut and grind and so I just I do that with cane I think there's a little bit more wiggle room as far as like perfect geometry where you can like especially with a circle if you do a really good job of getting it round if you're using leaded piece and everything fits together well even if there's like maybe a small flat side in the circle it's covered with the cane if you if you mold your lead right so yeah
SPEAKER_02:yeah
SPEAKER_00:okay
SPEAKER_02:Another quote I wrote down, unexpected life lessons learned through glass. Sometimes beautiful things hurt you. Sometimes strong things break. Sometimes things don't work out as planned. Cutting corners doesn't help. Some things are unforgiving. Sometimes you have to cut six things to fix one broken thing. Sometimes you have to be more flexible than your medium. You don't have to do it all at once. And sometimes you just have to do what makes you happy and stop people-pleasing. I don't even know what to say about, except for, I just wanted to say that out loud because those are all like really great lessons. And I, and I think it's so beautiful that you like you tied them all into what's on your work table.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I'm not trying to be like a huge bummer, but you know, my mom meant a lot to me and she was a social worker. So I grew up, you know, trying like being trained to kind of take meaning from a lot of places and kind of look at happier things. And yeah, her death was really unexpected for me. So a lot of this glass in the past few years has been me kind of processing that. And a lot of that was that and lessons that she's taught me and just how many ways you can apply them to so many things. And I think there are lessons everywhere. So, you know, find your meaning and think about that and apply it elsewhere in your life, I guess.
SPEAKER_02:Good reminder. And then there was another one that, And this is not really a super meaningful quote, but it said, that eye on the left will be available soon. I'm taking it to the mall for glamour shots today. And then I was like, that's actually like a really cool, I don't know if you meant that for real, but I was like, that's such a great way. It would be like a really interesting way to photograph your glasses to take it to the glamour shots spot in the mall. I
SPEAKER_00:always wanted to get a glamour shot when I was a kid. My mom wouldn't let me. She wouldn't let me. I wanted to have the big 90s, like 80s hair with all the hairspray. She just wouldn't let me. But yeah, I'm not great at my photography. I'm kind of lazy with that. And I should be better because most of my work is put on Instagram. But it's hard to photograph glass. It's really hard to get a good shot of glass. And because it's so moody and it changes constantly, I'm just never happy with my photos. And I am like, okay, I'm done. It's not what my eyeballs see, but hopefully it translates okay. But yeah, I wish there was like a little studio that I could just take my glass in for a professional photographer to take care of that for me. it
SPEAKER_02:I know I bet there is somebody out there who can help you that has like a little studio not just in your town but in every town I'm sure that there's somebody that could do that but then you think about like oh god it that's just another expense to pay somebody else to photograph your work I think it's easier with smaller pieces because they're like mobile so you can take them out into the world to photograph them but especially with the larger pieces right like it's it's cumbersome if you don't have anybody to hold it for you and then if you don't want to like and even And then like, do you want somebody in the photo holding it? It's not you or yeah. My larger pieces, I built like a, like a little area where I could like pull down like a white screen and it was lit kind of like a, yeah. So you could like hang the piece. Like I had like, you know, hooks in the ceiling at different, you know, yes, exactly. But then those photos are just like, they're great for your website, but they're not that interesting. Like they're not, they're just, just white back Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. But I mean, that's a good way to actually show off some features. I do a lot of my photography with like just the sun and my trees in the background. If I had that nice white backdrop, you would get the better, just a more even shot. That's a really smart idea. I need to have something like that, that you can just fold it up and it's gone, but it's permanent. So I don't even have to think about it. I like that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I've done it a couple different ways since I've lived in a hundred different houses in the last five years. But one way that I've done it is just hanging up a white sheet. And especially if you're like focused on the glass, then if there are any, I mean, I ironed it, but if there were any like shadows, you could kind of like, that's an easier thing to hide. Yeah. You know?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. I've been meaning to hang like a plant rack in front of these big windows and that would be a good spot. Like if I put up a big rack because then I could just toss a sheet right over that and it's backlit with the windows and I could throw light on the front of it. Very smart. I've got some things to work on after this.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. Okay. So then I was trying to figure out which one of your pieces were my favorite and I wrote down three. The first one is I think probably everybody's go-to favorite when they look at your page look if they really dig in and I don't know if it has a name but it's the one with the girl with the space buns and then like all the planets can you tell me more about that piece it's huge first of
SPEAKER_00:all it is it is yeah I call that one cosmic creature it's inspired by my best friend actually who is just the smartest brightest girl I know she's bright like the sun and she sees absolutely everything so there's a bunch of eyeballs in there because she sees it all and just you know containing multiple dudes so that's kind of an ode to her and I wanted to do some big I wanted to kind of test my skill with some portraiture um so that was like you know I did a couple of portraits but that's the one that one I'm proud of you know um but she was fun it was fun sourcing that glass I actually went to Michigan um to like we did a big road trip but that was the first time I got to go to Delphi so I actually got to go in there and select the glass with my hands with my own fingers and eyeballs. I got to look at the she's the glass and pick the one I wanted. It was so exciting to do it there. It's so much, I got a lot of discounts and they're shipping. So, um, but yeah, that piece took me a long time. Um, it took a long time, but I I'm happy with it now that it's done. And I actually got to see it the other day and it's final resting place. It's in Charlotte too. So I got to see it the other day. She just looks beautiful. She's shining.
SPEAKER_02:Did somebody buy it?
SPEAKER_00:It was a commission. Yeah, my friend. So it's in town. I'm kind of scared to ship my bigger pieces. I'm kind of part of my issue with my website. Besides Etsy, I just need a different website. But part of the reason I haven't done a lot of work towards making my own website is I'm scared to ship stuff. So those bigger pieces that I've made are all in town for now.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. Well, I do have on my website some from TEDx. Ellison, actually, he put together some illustrations and some directions for shipping larger pieces. So that's something you can check out.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. There's a lot of facets to it that you don't think about until you actually have to go do the thing. And yeah, like the logistics behind securing something like that is terrifying. So that's good to know that there's some sort of at least a starting place. That's good. It is.
SPEAKER_02:And we also did an episode together that is how to take on a larger commission. And we talk about insurance in that episode and some other details that kind of come with having to get larger pieces from point A to point B. Do
SPEAKER_00:you teach classes?
SPEAKER_02:I do. I did. I will. I need to put my studio back together again. I haven't quite gotten to that yet, but I did teach beginner classes, copper foil for a while. And I, Loved it. Loved it.
SPEAKER_00:Well, you mentioned insurance for the shipping. That's something I thought about, you know, like maybe eventually doing some classes, but do you have insurance when you're teaching classes? Like what if somebody cuts their wrist or something and insane happens in your studio?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I have them all signed waivers before the class starts.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Yeah. And I had a lawyer put together the waiver for me. I think I started with like a generic waiver online and then like I took it to a lawyer and we did like, you know, some edits to it to make it specific to us. It basically says like, this is you coming into my space, understanding that these are all the things that could happen. These are dangerous things. There's sharp things, there's hot thing, things, et cetera, et cetera. And, um, if you hurt yourself, you're not going to sue me.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. That's easy as pie. I, for some reason I was making it like a big old thing in my head, but that's smart. Yeah. Well, do you like TV? Do
SPEAKER_02:you like it? I do. I do. I think that the only time I have not enjoyed it is when... there is a student who is not enjoying themselves like I've had a couple people who were like I've had a couple like dates where like the guy was like not into it and wasn't really having a very good time and then I feel like I had tried to like ramp up like my energy like trying to like get him excited about it and that becomes that that I did not enjoy and I've taught a couple classes where I took on too many students and didn't have like help and so that was not that was really stressful too but those are the only two times I can really think of that I didn't like love it and it's that same feeling like we've all made our first piece and you're like oh my god I like made this like this is like I can touch it and it's hard and it's fragile but it's also like really sturdy at the same time and it's like I never thought I'd make something like this and to get to see that at the end of every single class is like so cool like it's I bet. It's worth just as much as like the payment that they give you to take it. Yeah. You know?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. It's like reliving that feeling for yourself. It is. It's such like, I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it because it just means so much to me, this glass work. And I'm so in love with it. I think it would be really cool to like foster that in other people. That's neat.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And there's a lot of things about staying glass when you're learning that are very tactile. Like I know that you learned from like watching some YouTube videos and some books, but like there's certain things that would have probably been a lot easier for you if somebody like like cutting glass like there's a certain pressure and there's a sound and there's such a feel to it and if you don't have somebody showing you the first time it's just a little bit more of an uphill battle I think you know
SPEAKER_00:absolutely it is and you know like I was saying in the beginning it's just such the materials are so expensive it would be great to have somebody there to begin with so you're not wasting like really expensive glass and for me the first time I cut on actual glass it wasn't clear was difficult to cut glass that nobody had been like this you're gonna have a real bad time if you try to cut this um so that having somebody to kind of guide you towards the right kind of glass to start with to get your feet wet would have been helpful for me as well so
SPEAKER_02:that's neat for sure for sure there's a receptionist that works um at the salon that i'm working at here in portland and she found out that i do stained glass and she's just getting into stained glass and she made me so she was my for christmas we did like a um i guess it's It's like a secret Santa, not a white elephant. It was secret Santa. And so she made me stained glass earrings. They were really sweet, but I was like, oh, how did you, they were like different. Each earring was different than, you know, the second one. She said she can make two pairs. And I was like, oh, how did you like this? I was like asking her all these questions. Like I was like interviewing her and she was like, oh, I just like cut them. I don't know. I'm like kind of self-taught. I'm trying to figure it out. And I was like, oh, well, you know, you can, I could tell one of them was like a little cut, like it wasn't ground. And she was like, what's a grinder? Yeah. And I was like, I have so much to teach you. I need you. I need to get, it was like, I need to get my stuff situated so I can have you over to my house. I'm going to blow your mind. If you don't know what a grinder is, you're going to freak out because it's going to make everything so much easier.
SPEAKER_00:Were they like, so they were earrings. Did she solder them to you or were they like just shards? Like what did they look like?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So she copper foiled them and then she like soldered. She just like did like a, like flooded the copper foil.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And then probably bought like, but I was like, um, before I wore them, I, I didn't see her for like a week. And when I finally saw her, I was like, did you, what kind of solder did you use on these? Did you use a lead free solder? And she was like, yeah, but I still don't know. Like, I'm still unsure whether or not she knew what I was talking about and if they have lead in them or not.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. Yep. Yep. I've never worked with lead free solder. Um, I have a bunch of shirts and I've thought about making jewelry, but I hear that lead free solder is kind of difficult to get like a good flow going. So I just haven't taken any forays into that direction.
SPEAKER_02:I haven't either.
SPEAKER_00:Same.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Okay. So another one of my favorites is, I think it's called the Moody Monster. Is
SPEAKER_00:that the faces piece? Yes. I don't name myself because it feels pretentious for whatever reason to me. I struggle with this. Like, am I being ridiculous? And I don't know why, because I should just name my pieces and then it makes it easier to talk about. But yeah, that one, Moody Monster, faces, whatever. Yeah. I love that piece. I made that for myself. And and it sat in my window for a long time. And eventually I just kind of started bumming me out. So I sold it. My friend Marianne has it now. But yeah, that's one of my favorite pieces too. I like, I like that repetitive. I like the geometry. I like symmetry. And so that kind of has all of that. It's a little psychedelic, which I love. And that Robin's egg blue is my favorite glass. I love that bullseye. That specific bullseye glass is just gorgeous to me. And the way like changes in the day it's very moody so yeah I love that piece
SPEAKER_02:I love that one so much too are you doing like local markets
SPEAKER_00:I'm really not and actually I did a little show with another artist in town over the summer and it took me a long time to like get all the pieces ready for that because I am just kind of working a couple hours here and there after work I get tired and I have other things that I'm doing so after I finish that show I I kind of just took a little break for the rest of the summer and I haven't made a lot of stuff since then because I wanted to go have fun summer in the summertime in the, in the sunshine and enjoy my summer for the first time in a couple of years. And then my dog needed a really serious surgery that takes a very long time to recover from. So it's like one thing after another. Now I've got a remodel that I have to do in my house, but I'm working on a little sun catcher at the moment. I have a couple of bigger pieces that I have designed and are ready to go. I just haven't started on them. at the moment but they're on deck so I'm trying to be better about my design work I get kind of lazy with that aspect of it where I'll have like a bunch of patterns ready and then I run through them and realize I haven't gone back and like made anything new so I'm trying to be better about my designing and my downtime you know I can only do a couple hours in the actual studio after work I just get worn out but I then go and lay in my bed and watch tv so I should be drawing while I'm doing that so I'm doing more of that so I have some more stuff on deck I'm really trying to come up with some designs that I can sell as sun catchers so I can have some more stuff to actually put out when I do actually get a website Etsy has just deactivated me I gave them my banking information multiple times and they still said that I haven't verified it and so I'm just done with them I need to take that link off of my my page because they're annoying but my problem is I have a hard time making patterns that aren't 2,000 pieces or just need to be enormous in order to actually be done so I'm really trying to focus more on designing sign catchers and stuff that's accessible and can be sold and I would love to go to a market just because I am a bit of a wallflower but I like to people watch and that's a good way to do it or I can just sit behind a table and look at people all day and interact in that way so eventually
SPEAKER_02:yeah and then if you do want to do a website and sell your work through a website or even just through Instagram honestly I think you have you know enough followers and enough interest in your work to where you could be like you know you could do one of the drops be like on sunday at 11 you know pacific time i'm gonna be releasing all these sun catchers and then you don't have to deal with the website and they're small enough to ship
SPEAKER_00:how does that work though do you just like sell it like somebody dms you and then it's sold how does okay because i kind of do that on my facebook now because the instagram is connected to my etsy but facebook people know me in town so it's been easier i I've just been secretly doing that on the side. So maybe that's what I should do. You know what? That's smart. I think that's what House of Hail does a lot too, because I actually have seen her stories where she's got something. So maybe that is what I should be doing.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And then you can just say like, I accept like Venmo, PayPal or whatever, you know, or if you want to mail me a check, I'll hold on to the piece until it comes.
SPEAKER_00:Also very smart. We see a lot of checks a lot of my job. That's what I see a lot of.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah. You know. Yeah. Um, You do have a lot of your pieces in light boxes and you have a friend. I want to give him a shout out. He's making your light boxes. His Instagram is Paul Vito studios. I will link him also in the show notes. And I went to, I just, honestly, his work, he makes these like crumpled wood carvings.
SPEAKER_00:Incredible. Oh my
SPEAKER_02:God.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. That guy is super talented. I actually went to high school with him and we were just kind of like different circles, but I knew him. I And when this show was coming up, I needed somebody to frame my pieces. And because it was going to be inside and not with backlighting, I wanted them to be lit up for that. So I kind of put a bolo or just like a please help me out on Facebook and a mutual friend of the two of us was connected us again. So he's local to Charlotte. But yeah, he does all kinds of crazy stuff. So he's an artist in his own right, obviously, with those insane wood carvings that just look like a giant piece of crumpled paper. But he does all kinds of crazy stuff. kinds of different mediums. And he has shown his work in New York and like all over the place. He also does like stage sets for the big productions in town. So he makes like all kinds of wild stuff. So if I need anything that's crazy, Paul Vito is the guy. He's your dude in Charlotte. And he's like fast and he's nice and he's easy to work with. So yeah, I can't say enough good stuff about him. He was great for this project.
SPEAKER_02:That's amazing. Well, even if you don't need a light box, please just look at his Instagram because those would cover I loved, loved those.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. His metal work is really cool too. And actually I don't even know if he's got it on there. I like a lot of like mid-century kind of stylings. When I went to his studio for my boxes, which was really cool going to his studio, by the way, because he just has like this back room full of these, like the massive pieces of all different, like there's glass in there too. There's metal works and there's big woodworks, but he had like, It was essentially like three old style TVs, like the bubble front glass TVs that you'd see in a house, like a mid-century house with the legs, like the wood box, but they were combined together. So it was like a one long one with three screens. I don't know if that like makes sense, but he made the entire thing. So it was like, it looked exactly like a single one would, except there were three put together in this long box. That's like the length of an ottoman maybe. And they all work. So you can like play stuff on them it lights up if it turns on and it has sound um so if that's on his page i suggest everybody to look at it it's really
SPEAKER_02:neat so cool yeah um i asked you earlier before we got on today if you had a glass hack to share and i loved your glass hack so please tell us what it is
SPEAKER_00:yes so my glass hack what saves me all the time is i use a magnet to pick up just any kind of brick and bracket on my table that's metal so um What I use is like a round. It's essentially like what people use to collect sewing pens, like needles and stuff so that you can just grab them. It actually came from my grandmother that did all the sewing stuff. When she died, I took a bunch of her materials. I use it to clean my pieces. So if I'm working on a lead piece, once I'm done soldering and I have cleaned it, I also a lot of times will patina my work. So I try to get the lead really clean before I put the patina on. And that requires me to hit it with some steel wool. So the magnet with steel wool it gets all up under the leaves of the the cane and it's a pain to get out and if you put any sort of liquid on that then it starts to rust in your glass and that's a whole other nightmare so the magnet gets all those little shaving bits out that have like fallen up underneath and even on the other side of the glass you can see it's collecting them all for you so that makes it really easy to clean I'll go over my pieces a couple times just with that flat it's like just a circular flat wide magnet and I also use it to pick up pens and nails and stuff I just make a huge mess when I'm working on something like everything in my life stops and it's just I'm focused on that and so all of my messes kind of pile up around so when it's time to clean I don't want to throw all my nails away like if I'm sweeping up just whatever is on my table so I use that to separate it out and it's been very helpful and I also use a heating pad occasionally I don't think that one's too much of a mystery for anybody heating pad and sometimes glass is difficult when it's cold so if I have something that's just giving me a hard time I'll use a heating pad, stick it under there for a little bit. And then it's a little bit easier to work with.
SPEAKER_02:That's a good one too. It's, it's, it's more well-known you're right. But I think that it's a good reminder to do that because you know, we have listeners of all levels and what is the magnet called? It's, it's from sewing. So hopefully we can link it in the show notes also, but do you know what it's called or can between the two of us, can we track it down?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I don't know what it's called, but I will definitely find something similar and send it to you afterwards that you can link it. And you should just be able to get anything on Amazon, I would think, or just at a local craft store. But I'll find something similar and shoot it to you. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Perfect. Are you ready for your final three questions? I
SPEAKER_00:sure am.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you. Who is your favorite not glass artist?
SPEAKER_00:I have to go local. So my favorite not glass artist is Kelly Keith out of Charlotte, North Carolina. She was the co-artist with me in the show over the summer, but I've been a huge fan for her art for years, like over a decade. She's incredibly talented. She makes these massive, just psychedelic, huge, wild paintings. And every single one of them are gorgeous. I'm looking at one right now that's just off screen. I have a couple of her pieces in my house that are my friends, but she's also, she's done a lot of album covers and stuff like that. So I love her and I just love her as a person too. She's great. Is
SPEAKER_02:that at fuck Eric Clapton?
SPEAKER_00:It sure is. That's her Instagram. You can also just search Kelly Keith on Google. And I think she's got like a Shutterfly or maybe a website that's just Kelly Keith and not curse words. But yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Now, what does she have against Eric Clapton?
SPEAKER_00:You know, I've never asked her. I'm going to have to ask. I haven't. I'll have to ask. I'll follow up with the show notes on that one too.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, who else? The other artist that I like is Alex Garant. She's a relatively big name, I guess, now at this point. She sells her art for a lot, but I have a lot of her prints. She does a lot of like multiple eye kind of, like they're watercolors, but she has, it just looks like you're drunk kind of when you're looking at it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I don't really know how to explain it other than that, but they're beautiful portraits and they're just kind of, I don't know. They're fascinating to me. I love them. So I have a couple of hers.
SPEAKER_02:Cool. Very cool. And who is your favorite stained glass artist?
SPEAKER_00:Okay. I have a giant art crush on Ben Hauptkamp from Ben's website. I love him. So awesome. I love his style. I love his color palette. I love all the bullseye glass. I love leaded glass. I just think it's the best. So he's my favorite. Blob Blobber. I love him for just not necessarily stained glass, but I'm wearing some of his earrings right now. I love his earrings. And then other local artist is Lauren Puckett with Glass Air Her work is incredible. Yes.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So Lauren and Ben how camp have both been on crack. So I will also make sure I link their episodes.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Yes.
SPEAKER_02:And what are your five to 10 year goals?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Well, first, like get a way to sell my work and be a little more consistent. So maybe the, what we talked about with my Instagram and just doing it like one off on that, but I'd like to, ultimately I do want to have a website and maybe set up Instead of doing... commission work as much commissions honestly kind of stress me out because I am a people pleaser and I can't climb inside somebody's brain to see exactly what they're seeing. And I also feel like my work is a little bit stronger when I'm just making what I want to make in the colors that I want to make. So I think ultimately I'd like to have a website where I have a couple of things that can be just made to order. So I'll have the designs that are made to order and then a commission system for, and just take a few a year instead of having like a bunch of commissions to worry about do a couple of year and then have that on the back end with the one off made to order items and I think I would ultimately like to maybe do some classes and really what I want to do is make large pieces so I have the most fun making these large pieces so I'm kind of just marketing myself now to like people that do remodels and that kind of stuff like the guy that's coming to remodel hey do you have any clients that want custom stained glass for their fancy remodels so that kind of work. I want to do bigger stuff, but I want to also have a system that makes it so that people can actually contact me and get some of my work if they really want some, because I don't have a good system for that at the moment.
SPEAKER_02:It's all going to come your way. It's all the information is out there. I feel like I, you know, I've said this before too, but that the, the bridge has been built. You just have to find it, you know, you don't have to build a bridge.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. Yep. It's been wild. I just never expected like anybody to know who I was and glass has just been, amazing I just am so in love with that and I'm glad that other people are into it too and appreciate it as much as I do it's so transformative you know like I don't know of any other type of art besides maybe music that is as transformative to a space as glass is because when the sun hits like a piece of glass and you're sitting in that like ray of color like you feel like you're in a different dimension and I just am fascinated with that it's a palpable light you know like you can feel it I just I love it I think it's magic I love every piece of it
SPEAKER_02:well you are not alone I'm so glad that you are part of this glass community and I'm so glad that you got to chat with me today or I'm so glad I got to chat with you rather yes
SPEAKER_00:thank you for having
SPEAKER_02:me have a wonderful and productive day in your studio today Lindsay and I'll talk to you soon thank you you do the same to see more of Lindsay's work her Instagram is at Luxy Flux L-U-X-E-Y F-L-U-X and mine is at Runa Glassworks for the Patreon page Lindsay made a custom pattern for us there's two downloadable images one that's the normal pattern but also one that's colored which I love because it's fun to follow her suggestion of bold color choices she also made us a studio playlist to listen to and these are for all the paying Patreon members and again you can join that Patreon page for only$5 a month there's different tiers but that's the entry level And the link to that is always in the show notes. Next week, Australian artist Jordan Benson. I can't wait for you to hear it. Until then, have a wonderful week. Thank you so much for listening. And I'll talk to you then. Bye.