GroepperGlass

Suncatchers / Panels

Materials

• Glass (see below for more information on different glass types)

• Copper foil (wrapped around each individual piece of glass)

• Solder (60/40 lead composite)

• Zinc / Lead composite border

• Patina and polish on the metals

Putting it together

• Watch a short video of me making a pawprint suncatcher/ornament on YouTube!

Candle Holders

Materials

• Glass (see below for more information on different glass types)

• Copper foil (wrapped around each individual piece of glass)

• Solder (60/40 lead composite)

Mosaic Trays

Materials

• Glass (scrap from other projects!)

• Glue

• Paint (water resistant)

• Cement grout (in white or black)

• Polyeurathane (to protect and seal the wood)

• Clear gloss paint (to protect the wood and paint)

• Resin (food-safe)

Before putting any glass up for sale or taking it to an art fair, I thoroughly clean each piece.  Here’s what you need to know to keep it sparkling for the rest of its life with you:

Glass

• Keep your glass pieces clean by regularly dusting them.

• If necessary, you can wash the piece using cool water and a soft soap, like a foaming hand soap or a dish soap.  Use a gentle sponge (no scrubbies!) to get into the tight corners.  Dry the glass with a soft towel and place it somewhere so that both sides can easily air dry as the zinc borders will collect a little extra water and need to dry.

Metal work

• Your piece has been treated with a patina and then polished with a long-lasting polish already.  Every year or so, you might consider re-polishing the metals with a basic wax polish.  The wax polish protects the metals from oxidation and crumbling.

• Before polishing, be sure to clean the glass thoroughly.  Apply the polish according to container instructions.  Then clean the glass surfaces again using a soft sponge, cold water, and a soft soap, like a foaming hand soap or dish soap.

What glass do you use?

See “How It’s Made” for more details.

See also the Oceanside Catalog as all of the glass I use can be found in it with more specific information.

• Cathedral and Rolled Cathedral Glass - this is the transparent glass that appears in most of my work.  Cathedral glass is a flat, mostly texture-less sheet.  Rolled Cathedral has no consistent pattern but may have creases and small bubbles.

• Artique Glass - this is the transparent glass that appears in most of my work.  Artique glass is mean to look aged, so it has lines set into it as if the glass has slumped over time.  It most closely resembles  veins in a leaf or the natural curves and wrinkles of a fingerprint (wide, not as tight as our actual fingerprints).  It is a very subtle texture.

• Water Glass - this is the transparent glass that appears in most of my work.  Water glass has soft waves  in the glass such that the glass varies slightly in thickness from one spot to the next.

• Semi-transparant Glass - this glass is less transparent than the previously listed glass types.  It typically has a wispy white swirl pattern to it.

Imperfections in the glass occur as a natural part of the glass-making process.  This may include small scratches, bubbles, or creases.  If it were something that would negatively affect the structural integrity of the glass/piece, I would not have included it!

I buy most (as much as I can) of my glass from small businesses.  These include Archon Glass in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Glass House in Decatur, Illinois.  Support materials such as copper foil, solder, grinder bits, etc. are purchased from Hobby Lobby.

Lead or no lead?

I use the copper foil technique (also known as the Tiffany Method), in which each individual piece of stained glass is wrapped in a thin piece of adhesive-backed copper foil.  The foil of adjoining pieces is then soldered using a 60/40 composite solder.  (Solder does not stick directly to glass, thus a metal intermediary is required.)

I rarely use lead came to join glass pieces.  I find it more difficult to work with, so it is more of a preference than a choice to be lead-free.  With smaller pieces like the pawprint or pumpkin, there is a lead composite came wrapped around the pieces.

Large panels with straight edges have zinc borders, not lead.

My least favorite part of being an artist and owning a small business is marketing.  I hate writing product descriptions to hype it up and make the sale.  I struggle to use social media effectively and drive potential customers to my online shop.  I love the work that I do, and I really believe that it is gorgeous and worth doing, but making a sales pitch is not something I enjoy.

Part of that process includes the “About Me” page.  My story is not unique, and to me, it hardly seems worth telling, but I will admit that I like to hear other artists’ stories and learn about their process.  I like to know about the inspiration for their work, so maybe, just maybe, you want to know that about me too.

The beginning...

In 2009, I wandered down the aisle where they keep the sheets of glass in a Hobby Lobby in Germantown, Tennessee.  I was in search of inspiration, wanting to make my mom something for Christmas.  While I was staring at the glass wondering “how hard could this really be,” a lady came into the aisle and asked me if I did stained glass too.  I said no but was thinking about learning, and she immediately invited me back to the classroom where a class was happening at that very moment.  A generous older man named Bob held a weekly studio there.  Over the course of the next two years, I learned how to work with glass and improved under Bob’s and the other artists’ tutelage.

For years, I kept in touch with the ladies and Bob who would send me notes about conferences he went to and 4x6” photos of his latest creations.

After leaving Tennessee...

I continued to create unique glass pieces in whatever spaces I could find, including working in a small closet on a $10 Ikea end table!  Most of my work was silly and fun, made only for family and friends.

Since then my studio has grown!

GroepperGlass participated in weekly farmers’ markets in Springfield, Illinois along with Christmas fairs and festivals.  I even taught my own glass classes at the local Hobby Lobby there.  Now, I am located in the Twin Cities and participate yearly in the festivals hosted by the Eagan Art House.

Now, my studio is a 10x15’ room in the unfinished portion of my basement, which also houses the water heater and furnace.

In the meantime...

I earned my PhD in Medieval German Literature at the University of Minnesota, and I work for the U full-time as the First-Year German Language Coordinator.  My research focuses on a fourteenth-century manuscript full of short stories and second language acquisition.  I love to talk about glass work and my academic research - so if you see us at a fair, make sure to stop and say hello!