Stained glass creations… right livelihood!

Barbara is one of the lucky ones, those who can get lost in the moment as they produce something amazing. We see each other all the time, but it was a special pleasure to be able to play with dangerous adult toys… breaking glass and melting metal 😉 No kids today! woot!

Red/dichroic glass and seedy glass feather
Red/dichroic glass and seedy glass feather

She has been working with glass and mixed media for several years now and has more recently turned it into her livelihood. Since glass is infinitely recyclable and a home studio allows her to keep fairly close to her family and garden… in my book this is a ‘right livelihood’ 🙂

We often find that our lives move in strange parallels with our growing boys (who love playing together most of all). And of course, we both have an interest in the environmental and permaculture… one of us has a smaller footprint than the other <cough!>. I console myself that only a very few manage to tread as lightly as Barb.

On a whim, we got stuck into filming an introduction to stained glass, which I’ll post up on my Youtube Channel soon. We started with coffee and chocolate with almonds… then migrated out to the well lit and very pleasant shed… filled with the scent of salvaged marri and other natives, caving ropes, a globe of planet Earth and small pieces of art.

She begins with finding the best section of glass, drawing an outline, tracing then cutting the glass…

…grinding to make a nicely matching shape to the other pieces of glass.

Barbara Susac in her studio
Barbara Susac in her studio

Copper adhesive is applied, beginning on the inner edges and joined with dabs of molten solder (tucked).

To finish, the edges are all given a silver finish.

I come away with the impression that anyone could do this work. This is her quiet encouragement working away to bolster my confidence to try it next time. Of course, it might help to beg a one on one course off Barb 😉

To see some of her art you can visit her Facebook page Harsh Reality Studio.

Feathered glass by Barb
Feathered glass by Barbara Susac