I am blessed to have two studios. One at my home and one at Art Happens on Tarboro.

My home studio is in the largest bedroom. When I moved into my house I wanted a studio to work in so I set up my jewelry and mixed media studio in the bedroom. I thought I was going to convert the garage into my stained glass studio. It has a wood floor, no electricity, no heat or ac- yes all that can be upgraded. I ended up buying the storefront on Tarboro Street in Historic Downtown Wilson- there I have my stained glass and teaching studio as well as a gallery of local artists. Both studios are my happy place! 
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Above are photos of my home studio, just finished cleaning it. It normally looks lived in and worked in!

My workbench at Art Happens on Tarboro and some gallery photos.

I love have places to work, when I am home I can create any time of the day or night and when I am Downtown I have a huge space to work and share art with visitors.

I started out in a 5' x 8' potting shed attached to the back of a garage with no electricity, just an extension cord. Now I am in a 1900 sq ft studio! Came a long way but it took many many years.

What does you work space look like? What do you call it? Studio? Workspace? Tell me about it and share photos if you like.

Happy Creating! And have an artful weekend!

My stained glass art is influenced by the styles of Louis Comfort Tiffany, Frank Lloyd Wright and William Morris. They are not all stained glass artists but I love their style of work. Each different in their own right.

When starting a stained glass piece, mostly the glass "talks" to me and lets me know what is going to happen. Yes I know that sounds a little wacka doodle but it is how I work. I have one piece of glass that I have not cut in 16 years, I have pulled it out for projects but it "tells" it is not the right time or project. I have pieces of glass from stained glass artists that have passed and they had them since the 1940's and 1960's- hard to part with theses pieces of glass making history.

I like to work from nature and from line design. I guess you could say I do not have a set style, it is all an experiement waiting to happen. I do like to look at others' work, to see what their story is. My story? I am all over the road! I have a secret, I use the colors in birds and woodlands a lot in my work.

Each new stained glass class coming in has the hardest time picking the glass. There are so many choices and you can see the angst they go through. Until they start cutting the glass they can change their mind, afterwards they stick with their choices.

I am the same way, I pick more glass then I need and then sit with it and look to see if they will be good neighbors and it meets the design correctly.
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First you cry then you pick yourself up. Let's walk through the process.

When someone calls me or brings in a broken piece of stained glass art, I first take a look at it- just an overall evaluation of the piece. Next I mark each broken piece with a sharpie with a number, this way I know how many broken pieces there are and they are marked so I do not have to look for them again. Then I figure out what kind of glass it is- true antique or present glass (1970's to today). Do I have the glass? Can I get replacement glass? Is it lead work or copperfoil? How hard is it to get to and replace the broken pieces? Does the whole piece need to be taken apart to to repair it?

I know that there were way too many questions in that paragraph. It takes some detective work to figure out the process from start to finish and I just wanted to give you a peek behind the process.

As a base line I charge $50 for the first piece and $25 for each addition piece. The amount of damage also may make the piece not repairable, both glass wise and financially. It is hard when someone comes in with a piece their parent made or that has been in the family forever and they want it repaired and when they hear the cost they are devastated again.

I have had people sign up for a stained glass class so they could learn to do stained glass and try their hand at repairing the piece themselves.

If you do have a stained glass art piece that needs repair please email me at kim@kimsjoy.com or call me at 703-623-0905 for a complimentary estimate of repair. 

HERE’S HOW TO TAKE CARE OF A STAINED GLASS PIECE OF ART. (This is cut and pasted from a handout on stained glass care that will be going home with each piece purchased or commissioned from Art Happens on Tarboro.

HANGING A SUNCATCHER:  I RECOMMEND THAT YOU HANG YOUR PIECE SECURELY FROM A STURDY HOOK THAT HAS BEEN SCREWED INTO A SECURE MATERIAL, LIKE A WALL STUD OR WOODEN WINDOW FRAME – SOMETHING THAT ISN’T GOING TO FALL DOWN. I AM NOT A HUGE FAN OF SUCTION CUP HANGERS ATTACHED TO WINDOWS.
 
CLEANING: THE STAINED GLASS PIECE YOU HAVE PURCHASED HAS BEEN CLEANED, THEN COMPLETELY PROTECTED WITH A WAXY SEALER THAT IS APPLIED IN ITS SPRAY LIQUID FORM, IS LEFT TO DRY, AND IS THEN BUFFED AND POLISHED WITH A SOFT, DRY RAG. ASIDE FROM A GENTLE DUSTING, YOUR PIECE MAY NEVER NEED TO BE CLEANED. I DON’T RECOMMEND USING WINDOW CLEANERS OR OTHER CHEMICAL CLEANERS ON ANY PIECE OF STAINED GLASS, SINCE THEY MAY DAMAGE THE LEAD, SOLDER, GLASS AND INTEGRITY OF THE PIECE. 

WHITENING OF SOLDER LINES: I CLEAN THE PIECE BEFORE IT IS SEALED. HOWEVER, FROM TIME TO TIME, SOLDER OR LEAD WILL OXIDIZE AND LEAVE A WHITISH SUBSTANCE ON ITS SURFACE. GENTLY WIPE WITH A BRUSH OR A NON-ABRASIVE PLASTIC POT SCRUBBER TO REMOVE THE “WHITE”. (NEVER PUT ABRASIVE STUFF ON YOUR GLASS PIECE. IF YOU CAN’T GET THE “WHITE” OFF, CONTACT ME.) 

TWICE A YEAR, I RECOMMEND YOU RE-SEAL THE PIECE SO THAT IT’S PROTECTED FROM “WHITEN”. GLASS SEALER IS AVAILABLE AT ART HAPPENS ON TARBOR. I SPRAY THE SEALER ON A SOFT RAG AND THEN POLISH THE METAL AND GLASS SURFACES FOLLOWED BY A SOFT DRY RAG TO BUFF IT.​

TOUCHING YOUR GLASS PIECE:  STAINED GLASS PIECES ARE PUT TOGETHER WITH SOLDER THAT CONTAINS LEAD. EVEN THOUGH EACH PIECE IS SEALED WHEN IT’S FINISHED, I ALWAYS SUGGEST THAT YOU DO WHAT I DO AND WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP AND WARM WATER AFTER CLEANING/ HANDLING ANY STAINED GLASS PIECE. LEAD IS A HEALTH ISSUE WHEN INHALED OR INGESTED. WASHING YOUR HANDS AFTER HANDLING IT IS CONSIDERED SUFFICIENT PRECAUTIONS TO PREVENT UNWANTED EXPOSURE. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CALL ME 252-650-2530 OR EMAIL ME kim@Arthappensontarboro.com or kim@kimsjoy.com.










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