Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Drawing your own patterns

I think most of us start out copying the designs out of pattern books and I really don't think there's anything wrong with that. Dover publishes a wide selection of copyright-free designs, many of them from first rate artists, and in the beginning we copied all our patterns from sources like this. Now, of course, there are a wide range sources on the web and software that will guide you through the design process. We would also use these patterns in our commission work. It's just so easy to go to the potential client with ready made patterns from a book, especially if your own portfolio isn't very impressive and you're not very confident of your own ability.

We would also do little craft shows here and there and our work sold pretty well, but we knew at some point we'd have to rely on our own creativity.

It's a scary thought, though, when what you draw doesn't look anywhere near as good as what you see in the pattern books. But it's a real thrill when you sell the first piece you've designed yourself.


Some thoughts on composition

Neither of us have a degree in art but we're not untrained. We have taken many courses and training in various techniques and of course we have been doing this work for 30 years. But what I'm talking about now is not from any text book, just some quick tips for beginners from my own observations and experience.

I think many beginners are thinking that the beauty of the glass is all that matters. And it's true that some glass is so beautiful, it's almost a shame to cut it.

But to me the most important thing is line. If the pattern is good it can make up for some poor glass choices.

Look at your design and ask yourself these 3 questions.
  • Are all your pieces roughly the same size?
  • If it's not a geometric design, is the center of attention in the center of the piece?
  • Do you have a lot of cut lines?

All your pieces are about the same size? This can tend to "confuse" the eye, as if it doesn't know where to look. All the pieces have the same size and therefore the same value, there's nothing to focus your attention on.

The center of attention is in the center of the window? Generally (but not always) this makes for a very ordinary looking piece. Your eye tends to stay in one spot not being compelled to travel over the entire composition.

Too many cut lines? This is one of the hardest things to control in designing for glass. Glass is not a very forgiving medium and if you don't allow for its brittle nature it will make you pay. But that doesn't mean you need to put a break line at the tip of every leaf. Rather than a cut line, the leaf can butt into some other element in the design.

Of course rules were meant to be broken and great art, certainly great modern art, almost requires you to break rules. And these don't really qualify as rules exactly, they're more like shortcuts to good design. Things I've picked up over the years.

Process, not product

Finally, while I don't feel qualified to teach design, I think I can offer some advice that could help those who are trying to make the transition from pattern books to designing on your own.


  1. Redesign. Not just a line here or there but try putting that flower on the left, or in a different position. Instead of straight up why not bending in the wind? or even wilted slightly. Maybe a petal has fallen off and is lying on the ground. Maybe a leaf is folded back across the stem instead of sticking straight out. Try moving away from the typical colors. Maybe you could put a dash of violet in that green leaf or some blue in that rose. Approach your work in a "painterly" manner.
  2. Trust in yourself, but don't get so attached to your drawing that you can't make changes. A friend of mine who did go to art school had a drawing teacher who would come and look at a student's work and sometimes reach out and tear it up and say, "That was very nice, now do another one". When I heard that I couldn't believe the guy could be such a creep. But now I think I know what his point was; Don't get so attached to your work that it becomes a manifestation of your ego instead of an expression of your soul. Art is a process, not a product.

Saturday, April 07, 2012

Women Still Rule

In doing commissions over the years I've learned that there will be times when you'll need to be a mind reader. You will have jobs where a customer will want a Stained Glass window but have not a clue as to what she wants. In that case you've got to tell her. Well, not exactly, you'll have to come up with what she will convince herself later was what she looking for all a long.

You do this by first looking for clues around the house. Obviously your first clue will be what sort of artwork is on the walls - modern, traditional, abstract, representational? What sort of House is it - colonial, ranch etc?

One of my commissions was for a woman with a very nice, very traditional new Colonial Style brick house, the kind you'd expect to be filled with antique furniture from the 18th or 19 century. She wanted two transoms that were just waiting for a couple geometric designs with bevels and antique clear glass - the kind of thing I'd done a hundred times before.
But this woman was an artist and had filled her very traditional home with very nontraditional art and although she couldn't have cared less, it simply did not match lines of the house. She was a free spirit and told me that she wanted me to just let my imagination run free, and we did.

What sort of clothes does she wear? Are they bright and cheery or muted and conservative?

I received a call from 2 ladies who wanted me to design a surprise going-away present for the keyboardist of their church. I happened to know the woman and knew that besides music her other love was birdwatching. I came up with a couple of designs I was very proud of. They were variations on an image of a piano keyboard in perspective and as the keys recede into the distance they become colorful and float up into the air to morph into the wing feathers of a bird in flight. I think she would have loved it. but I wasn't selling it to her, I was selling it to these 2 other
very conservatively dressed women, and they hated it. I hadn't read the clues. They approved a depressingly ordinary Cardinal sitting in a Dogwood tree.

What sort of person is she - quiet and reserved or funny and outgoing?

I was called by a friend who was a sign painter. She's very high energy, very funny, to the point of sometimes being almost manic and she wanted a transom over the door of her shop. She didn't know what she was looking for but she said that being Irish perhaps a Celtic knot. I had not the least bit of interest in doing a Celtic knot and felt that even though this would fit her Irish heritage it would in no way match her personality and had nothing to do with her business. I eventually came up with an image of a splash of paint in a variety of colors that made an arch across the transom and morphed (I'm really into morphing) into a feminine hand holding an artist's paintbrush. She loved it so much that it became the logo of her business card.

Can't get a handle on the personality of the buyer? Sometimes the clue is hidden in plain site.

Our first big commissions was for a man who had just bought a very large very old home in town and each doorway in the home had a transom all of which had glass that had been painted over. He had no idea as to what sort of design we should use so we set about looking for clues. It didn't take long: every room had a fireplace and on each mantle was a scroll-work that made a perfect Stained Glass motif.

Listen to the customer.

One of my biggest mistakes was not listening closely. We did a bathroom insert for a woman and she was quite pleased with it and said that maybe since it was a very generic geometric type pattern that at some point in the future she might want a more personalized piece. It would be a very large commission and I was excited to get it and so I sold her on the idea of getting the ball rolling. She sent me photos of things she wanted in the piece - her cat, a rock bridge - and I added my own ideas to it. I sent her several sketches and worked up color choices and
put in quite a few hours and all the while she seemed very enthusiastic, making suggestions and offering encouragement. All the way up until it was time to get started. That's when she told me she wasn't ready to do it yet. In my eagerness to get the job I had totally ignored the in the future part of her plan.

more later

Sunday, April 01, 2012

Women Rule

Women rule the world and don't let anyone tell you different and you don't need statistics like these: women now constitute the majority of the work force; in many cities single childless women out-earn their male peers, to believe it. Just look around you. Yeah, I'm talking to you married guys. What color are your walls? What TV shows do you watch? Where'd you go on your last vacation? Need more? OK, lets take a look at your own bathroom. Did you have ANYTHING to do with the way it looks? Anything at all? Even one little thing? I walk into the bathrooms of some of my friends and I'm almost too intimidated to take a leak; the shower curtain is ruffles and frills, everything is pink or pastel blue with scented candles and pictures of flowers and birds, or maybe a little girl picking flower and talking to birds, and with soft lighting around the oval mirrors and I mean geez what guy would have the nerve to go in there and desecrate this shrine to femininity with his most disgusting bodily functions. I should just go out into the woods and dig a hole.

And it's only going to get worse - or better depending on your viewpoint. And I'll tell you why: The characteristics that are generally considered masculine - strength, speed, aggressiveness, competitiveness, ability to focus on a particular task to the exclusion of all other inputs and to pursue it in a linear fashion - are simply no longer valuable in a world where machines do most of our work and a lot of our thinking. In the 21st century we are going to need people who have good communication skills, work well in groups, multi-task, are able to listen and not let their egos get in the way. In short: women.

What does this have to do with Stained Glass? Plenty. In over 30 years of designing, building and installing stained glass windows I'd say 90% of my customers were women. 1% were heterosexual men. OK, I never really kept track and that's a complete exaggeration but you get the idea and if you're going to be successful in this business it's absolutely essential that you can communicate well with the feminine gender since they will be the majority of your customers.

I've seen contractors and tradesmen in the home improvement business time and again ignore the instructions of their female customers. I've seen women having to tell their husbands to "talk to" the plumber or carpenter or roofer in order to get a point across; so many of them seem to have this "get out of my way, lady, and let me do my job" attitude.

That attitude won't work in our business. Yes, there are going to be times when you should try to persuade a customer that maybe she doesn't really want to match her sofa or the wall paper or that doing an inverted star with skull inside just creeps you out, but for the most part, it's all about listening. Especially, and this is counter-intuitive, when dealing with someone who doesn't know what she wants.

more later