Tulsa Stained Glass Company

Thanks to Living Social and Groupon, I get to try all kinds of things I never thought possible.  Case in point was my adventure at Tulsa Stained Glass this past Saturday.  I enrolled for the Micro Stained Glass Class through Living Social.  This was a three hour class covering the history and techniques of stained glass and we would be doing a little hands-on crafting.  By the way – I absolutely love hands-on.  I think it’s one of the best ways to learn something new.

Glass Cutters

The class opened with a lesson in how glass is made and the difference between “float” glass and “rolled” glass.  We then had a brief demonstration on how to score and break glass.  This was really interesting and I could have spent a lot more time playing with the different glass cutters.  It was so nifty to score the glass and then “pop” it and see your piece just fall away instead of shattering.



My "feelings"

We then received a lesson on how you can turn any old doodle into a piece of stained glass and this was fairly interesting to me.  The only thing I don’t care for is when someone tells me to “paint how you feel right now”.  No!  I am way too literal minded to be “painting my feelings”.  Tell me to paint something concrete – a flower, a puppy, a teapot – and I’m good to go but to have to “paint my feelings” – it’s an anxiety attack waiting to happen.  But the instructor took a classmates simple doodle (quite honestly I thought it was a little on the not attractive side but that’s just my opinion) and showed how, with a little manipulation, it could be transformed into a glass piece.

Finally we got to the good stuff!  We were given our supplies and turned loose with the lead (surprisingly flexible), the solder, and soldering gun!  We were guided through making an owl but as you can see, Mary took a little liberty with her materials.

My owl and Mary's person

If you’re truly interested in learning about stained glass, I think it’s an informative class and gives you a good groundwork to grow from.  However, if you’re like me and you just want to try it out and get your hands dirty, the class was about two hours too long.  I wanted a brief demonstration and then I wanted to be turned loose.  I expected to cut glass for our craft project and perhaps follow a pattern – maybe creating a trivet or a small window hanging or something like that.  Well, truth be told, for a three hour class I was halfway hoping we would create a big window hanging. 

But, like I said, it was good introductory class and I always think it’s good to expose yourself to new ideas and hobbies.  You just never know when you’ll discover your wheelhouse.  And just so we’re clear – stained glass making is not in my wheelhouse.

For more information, visit http://tulsastainedglass.com or give them a call at 918-664-8604.