Introduction to Encore Glass

I've been working with scrap glass for a couple of years now, and it's a really satisfying hobby. Because I was raised by Depression-era parents, one of my favorite activities is taking "junk" and making something decorative and/or useful.

[Click on images to enlarge them.]

Left: #26 Antique picture frame (10"x13"), broken necklace, and blue glass scraps

I was inspired by a decorative window some friends bought from a woman who uses white grout to affix craft glass to old wood-framed windows. The grout adds extra weight to an already-heavy window, so I use a clear-drying glue instead. This also allows more light to come through the window.

My first window was made from the lid of a cold frame in my garden, marbles unearthed in the yard, broken plates and mirror, and a handful of those craft stones that are used to add weight to flower vases. The blue stars are the tops of glass swizzle sticks I'd been carting around with me for 15 years. (You never know when something's going to come in handy!)

#1 "Sorrows of the Moon" 15" x 24"

When this window was finished, it seemed to call for some poetry, so a few lines from Baudelaire's "Sorrows of the Moon" are inscribed on the frame: "On a silken avalanche of clouds, the moon, expiring, falls into a trance, impassive, as the great white visions file past in procession, like unfolding flowers."

Initially, I had a hard time finding wood-framed windows, but when Spring came, several friends and neighbors replaced their old windows with new ones, and I fell heir to the discarded frames. Now, salvaged windows fill my little workroom on the back porch.

Thrift stores are a great source of plates and other flat glassware. Once people know that I value broken glass, it's amazing what they drag out of their basement cupboards. (I don't turn anything down.) I also use salvaged hardware to hang the finished windows. Glue is my only real expense.

I chose the name "Encore Glass" because I like the reference to being called back to the stage, the idea of discarded glass being summoned for a repeat performance.