Spring is on the horizon and beginning to challenge winter.  Warmer temps, snow drops popping and the glorious lengthening of the days!  The best part of declining winter? Longer days!!!!! The energy is building.  More light and increasing warmth from the sun. I have been obsessing on all these things the last few weeks. They have been tickling my brain as I was preparing for my interview with Sarah Webber in her Creating Space, Rock Bottom Studio.

The day was full of light and sun. A perfectly timed day to see her stained glass creations on my  visit  to the studio in their home in Mersey Point, just outside of Liverpool.  As long as I have known Sarah Webber she has been an artist.  We first met doing creative things at the Astor Theatre.  We have performed together in  several productions of the Astor and Winds of Change.   I was excited to see her stained glass art!

Sarah met me at the door with her usual warm smile and I knew it would be a fun morning!  Grant, her husband, popped in from his project of tapping maple trees to say hello and visit.  For a few moments we were not interviewing.  We were three friends getting caught up on all the regular stuff, kids, gardening plans, sailing, maple syrup and life in a pandemic.    

I couldn’t help but be drawn to all the art in their home.  Art of all kinds!  Paintings, carvings, drawings, photographs and, of course, stained glass!  Lots of stained glass showing off in the beautiful light of the day.  Each piece has a story.  Many of the pieces are hers but not all. 

Yes.  I have done some of it, but a lot of the art is my mother’s work.  She was a very prolific artist. She carved this horse (above) and is responsible for many other pieces.  I got my love of creating from her when I was very little. 

I was the youngest of four. Mom was always busy. She kept us quiet, and  busy, with art  projects.  On car trips, as the youngest, I sat in the back of the station wagon with the dog. (laughing)  Mom would toss a colouring book or a sketch pad in to me.   

Like my mom, I had to always be doing something, drawing or colouring.  Then I progressed to other things, and now stained glass. 

Those of you who are sailors or, perhaps, nautically minded will notice the flags in the above photos.  Grant and Sarah, they are sailors.  I, on the other hand, am not. But I recognized it as nautical but I mistakenly thought *oh that’s semaphore.*   While fact checking I realized it was not semaphore. I learned the flags are known as Code Signal flags, Nautical , or Marine Flags.

These flags are used to signal other boats about specific actions.  Long before radios and sonar, they were the only way to communicate with other vessels at a distance. The primary colours of red, blue, yellow, black and white are used exclusively.  Mostly as these few colours are easily discernible at sea where their visibility is critical for communication. To ensure international understanding in all waters,  International Code Signals (ICS) was developed. I could write an entire piece on this subject and there is so much more to this than my simplified overview.  Here is some basic information about ICS.

Here is a challenge for you readers.  The photo above shows the alphabet flags.  I encourage you to figure out what words are above the door and in the window.  If you get stumped message Sarah at the Rock Bottom Studio Facebook page.  (I had fun spelling my name.)

Next we headed up to the work studio above their garage.  A bright and cozy place with great lighting.  It was easy to see how it would be a nice place to create! I asked Sarah how she got started doing stained glass.

Our good friend, Chris Greatrex has beautiful stained glass work in his home.  I fell in love with his lamps they are amazing!!! I told Chris that I had always admired his stained glass and my interest in trying it. He took me under his wing and showed me how to make my first piece. It was a little bird with googly eyes. I was hooked!

We talked about the glass colours. The magical variety of colour and textures it intoxicating.  I said it was almost like why I love fabric.  So I can definitely  relate to Sarah’s love of the glass.  Perhaps the main difference with glass is it becomes almost alive when the light passes through it.  Also unlike material, it cant really be folded. 

There are so many colours and kinds of glass. The possibilities are endless.  Glass is expensive and in the last year or it has gone up in price.  Some colours have almost doubled in cost!  So I try not to waste any!  I keep ALL my scraps and try to find ways to use it all up. 

The entire creation process is what I love!!  I am not interested in following a stock pattern.  Drawing my ideas and making them into patterns is my process.   Even when I collaborate with a customer for a commission.  Commissions can be nerve wracking but also very motivating.  I want the work to be what they want so  a lot of time is spent talking and planning before I even cut the first bit of glass.  The biggest commission I have done, so far, was a large fishing boat for a window.  It was 4 ft. by 2 ft.!!!! They loved it and I loved making it!    

I asked Sarah if she would take me through the process of making something.  As it turns out she was ready to do just that. We didn’t make an entire piece.  But, it is so interesting to watch I wouldn’t have minded hanging out to see her do the entire thing, her take on the theme of Nova Scotia Strong. 

The pattern is fairly simple and each piece is separate.  The petal is first cut from the glass by oiling the cutter and making the cut.  Each one is from my pattern and because it is freehand each is a bit different.  Then it has to be grinded off to smooth it in preparation for the copper.  That grinder is very noisy! 

You have to press the copper all around the edges, just so, very smoothly.  When each petal is done you then solder the lead.  (This step was not shown)

You really can’t rush through. Each step is important to the success and beauty of the finished piece. When it is all assembled then comes the part that is my least favourite. Well I guess it is a bit of a love/hate.  The cleaning and polishing!  It takes a very long time to wash and rub off all of the by-products. Oil and solder, all the stuff.  No one likes cleaning, right?  But it is very rewarding when it is done.

For each piece of stained glass art the basic process is the same.  But there are many factors that determine the degree of difficulty and skill level required.  The complexity of the pattern,  number of individual pieces, the size, and the shape, just to name a few.  Each factor increases and/or decreases the work accordingly.  I asked Sarah to explain how she manages making larger sizes and what about mistakes?

Big pieces need lots of care.  Remember, it is glass, and glass is heavy. Think about it, the larger the work the more stabilizing required.    Larger pieces need stabilizing built in as you go or it will buckle and crack!  When they are completed, they have to be transported upright.  Not on blankets laying down in the back of the car.  (laughing) Gravity works to press down.  They are made to be vertical and must be moved that way. Not horizontal. But you can make horizontal pieces.

Also if it is a piece that will be hung you have to consider how it will be hung and where to place the wire or chain for best results.  

I have made mistakes.  The abstract horses (below) was a commission piece that was going to be a window, built in.  When I finished it and it was being installed, it was about a 1/4 inch too small!!!  That was a really disappointing moment.  But I was able to make another that worked out beautifully.  The client was very happy.  I am always learning. 

When Sarah is in her studio she gets lost in time.  During this past year especially, it has been a refuge.  We spent a while talking about the pandemic, her business and that sometimes it is hard for artists to be completely confident in what they do.

This pandemic has been a strange time and I am grateful to have this space to work. I think about all the people in this pandemic who have had extra time to work on their hobbies or art.  Or even make bread. A lot of people are doing really neat stuff because they have time.

I work at this a lot because I love it and being mediocre is not enough.  Since I do this as a business it adds another layer.  But there will always be people who are better than I am. I think all artists think about that. 

I try focus on doing what I do. From the beginning I have made pieces that I like.  In the event that someone doesn’t want to buy it, I’m happy to add  it to my collection. 

I have had a lot of support and tips from friends that helped me be able to be where I am with this today.   When I come up to this studio to work I am surrounded by lots of pictures of family and memories.  Then I get into the flow of creating and pop on a podcast.  Its easy to lift my head up and realize that hours have gone by!  It is very meditative and I can’t get enough of it!

I can’t not do art! I am a doodler and have always filled up notebooks with sketches.  When I was in school it was my way of taking notes.  I have made a sketch or doodle in class and it helped me remember what I was being taught at the time.  That’s just how I am made.

As is usually the case, when I speak with an artist about what they do I get off track.  One topic leads to the next and the next. That is part of my process and it always yields fascinating information.  But I do have a check list and often have to circle back around for a forgotten question.   I wanted to know what advice she would give to anyone who wants to give this art form a try.  Then if she had any more art forms she wanted to try.

Advice.  Hmmmm that’s not an easy question.  I don’t know from whom or where you could take lessons in the pandemic but that would be my advice.  Take a lesson or find a friend that does it and get them to show you.

It is something you need to learn to do right.  The element of danger?  I have had Lots of cuts and scrapes but no stitches. knock wood.    Sometimes I don’t even realize I am cut until I see blood…. lets just say there is a little bit of DNA in every piece. 

Stained glass work is fun but not something that is easy to just try.  There is equipment required and it is not inexpensive.  So my advice is definitely find a way to experiment with it before you buy lots of stuff.  Make sure you like it!

I keep up with all my skills.  If I didn’t I would lose them.  Drawing, painting, photography,  reductions prints.  All of it.  But stained glass is my thing now…… but I haven’t tried pottery yet.

Sarah sent me home with a lovely little treat!  A Nova Scotia Strong flower that I immediately hung in my living room.  It is so pretty and reflects the light beautifully!  

Every time I look at it I can reflect on Sarah’s art, our conversation and hanging out at Rock Bottom Studio on that sunny Saturday morning.  

Want to see more of Sarah’s incredible work, or maybe you are thinking of a commissioned piece, follow her at Rock Bottom Studio on Facebook. 

Thanks for joining me in my Creating Space, and my visit with Sarah Webber.