First, a very sincere thank you... To those of you who have kept me here, and all of you to come... I am very grateful.
I'm Katie. I've been making stained glass suncatchers for 30+ years. I prefer the copper foil & solder method (Tiffany-Style) and work with that method exclusively.
I do all the design selection, layout and glass cutting. My husband, Frank, does the edge grinding of the glass. I complete the piece with copper foil, solder, wax, polishing and finishing.
My husband and I are retired from the "real world." I just turned 70 years young and still love making suncatchers. My stained glass workshop is in the back yard of our home in Keller, Texas.
With art glass becoming more and more beautiful, the possibilities are endless for exciting stained glass items that in reality are one of a kind, as no two sheets of stained glass are ever quite the same, and some are very uniquely different.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Many of my stained glass designs are original designs by me...Katherine Gasser, Stained Glass by Katie. These designs are owned by Katherine Gasser and are not to be copied without the express written consent of the owner. Each original design item will state in the listing that it is an original stained glass design by Katie.
Glass!!
I primarily use art glass from Spectrum Glass. They make a wide variety of types and colors of glass, and their glass is consistently reliable. I also love their web-site as a place to learn about all types of glass, and see their products. You may also find from time to time that I'm offering stained glass suncatchers made from other glass manufacturers.
Photos
With stained glass, pictures are not necessarily worth a thousand words. Stained glass has a thousand faces...some you see in daylight, others at night, some are seen in the brightest of sunlight. There are times when certain colors will not take a good picture at all. I make every effort to get a photograph of my stained glass item that truly depicts its color and design. Seldom, in my estimation, do I ever completely succeed...however, I hope that when you see the photo you can see at least part of the reality of the piece.
Suction Cups
I am not a suction cup fan. Maybe someday someone somewhere will invent something better. In the meantime I furnish with my suncatchers the best suction cup I have found in my many years of making stained glass. But, they are still scary. They can jump out of your windows unexpectedly, for example when the weather changes, or a helicopter flies over and rattles them. They need to be checked from time to time to be sure they are still secure. And, they need to be replaced over time.
If you can do it, suspend your suncatchers from hooks above your windows. Secure line, such as Tigertail bead wire with crimping beads, makes a great line for hanging. It can be "tweaked" a bit so your suncatcher will hang in a certain position, and it won't twirl like filament line. I have several hanging from Tigertail over my kitchen sink...they never move and have never fallen.
METHODS OF MAKING STAINED GLASS
There are two generally favored but different techniques for making stained glass. Stained glass teachers teach both techniques...I don’t know a single teacher who doesn’t. Each of us who continued making stained glass had a choice of the technique we would use. I learned both methods and chose the “Tiffany Style” technique, making suncatchers with glass, adhesive-backed copper foil around the edges coated with solder, and rounded solder seams for strength and durability securely holding the glass pieces together (that’s an over-simplification...there’s more to it than that). I chose the Tiffany Style technique because I liked the look of the finished piece.
The other technique is using a U-channel lead to wrap the pieces of glass to be soldered together. This technique is absolutely required when making large stained glass panels or windows, and is often used for making suncatchers. Now there are U-channel leads that are thin and light. Those thin, light leads were not available 30 years ago when I first started making suncatchers.
Both techniques are perfectly acceptable and make lovely stained glass pieces. Whatever technique a stained glass crafts person uses, the quality of the piece remains in the hands of the maker.
***
To protect bidder privacy, when the price or highest bid on an item reaches or exceeds a certain level, User IDs will be displayed as anonymous names. For auction items, a bold price means at least one bid has been received.
Note: Anonymous names may appear more than once and may represent different bidders.
) 