Piece Gallery
See all my stained glass art pieces here!
From my very first piece completed in September of 2025 until now!
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Directory of Art Pieces
Dumpster Fire
May 15th, 2026
I decided to make this for someone who has a lot of trials in thier life lately. They have often joked with others about things being a dumpster fire, so I felt this was very applicable. I threw together the design by looking at some images of dumpsters and then added some flames to the top. It was a fairly quick pattern to put together. I like the simplicity of it.
Building it probably took about 4 hours. The glass was all extra pieces that I had on hand already. I would say the difficulty level is easy, with the only small pieces being the little "loops" on each side for when the truck comes to scoop it up.
I wrapped the piece with hobby came to give it extra support, although it was small enough that it seemed pretty stable without it. I also added a couple of supports to the back so that it will be free standing in a windowsill without needing a stand.
Approximately 19 Pieces. 6 inches by 6 inches.
Eastern Bluebirds in Winter
April 24th, 2026
I have seen many of these style of pieces, usually they are with Cardinals. I cannot claim the pattern as my own concept, but I did take an existing free pattern and heavily modify it. I did this piece as I wanted to add something with a winter theme to my glass collection. The changes I made include including Eastern Bluebird and modifying trees and branches, which is quite a few changes considering the simplicity of this piece.
In the western state where I live, we only get Mountain Bluebirds in the summer, and they are hard to spot. The Eastern Bluebird is common in the beautiful deciduous of the eastern states. They often stay year round and can be seen in the winter, long after the leaves have fallen from the birch trees. I think the asthetic is beautiful and makes a great glass design that would look good in any mountain or forest home or cabin.
The clear glass is a texture that allows light through, but does a good job scattering it. I think it gives an illusion of a cold winter type setting. The glass for the trees is an Oceanside white/medium amber. I picked it up at a local shop near Norfolk VIrginia. I though it worked perfectly as a color and texture that fits birch or aspen style trees.
Many of the lines on the trees, resembling the black bark "scars" that these trees have, were created used copper tape and solder. It helps give the added dimesnion of depth.
17.5 x 12 inches, 87 Pieces, ZInc border with decorative hooks for window hanging.
First cuts of the Oceanside glass
Close to finishing the cutting process.
Grinding process completed
Copper foil added & ready to solder
Ruby Guardian
April 22nd, 2026
I decided to take a short break from a larger piece I am building to create a fun little dragon. It was a simple and fun little project, something that took me just a few hours after work for a couple of days. It was actually a great use for some scrap glass that I had leftover from a previous project. The red is a water glass with a very wavy texture and you can see it clearly in the light. (I was happy to use up the rest of the water glass, as it is NOT easy to cut). The wings are made from some glass I got in a pack that was VERY ugly, but made for great wings on a dragon.
The end result is this cute little Suncatcher that looks really neat in the sun. I plan on hanging this guy in my window by my mid-life crisis alien.
42 pieces. 7 inches by 7 inches.
If interested, I am selling the pattern for really cheap on Etsy as a fun and more simple project.
Family Tree
April 4th, 2026
My biggest piece up to this point by far! Took 2 months to complete. That doesn't include the two weeks I worked on this complicated design I decided that I prefer medium size pieces, a bit smaller than this. At least for now.
This was a huge project. Due to its size, I had to use the more sturdy Zinc came for the first time. That was a learning curve. Especially cutting it. And messy!
The colors of the sun changed drastically during the making of it. Originally it was a brighter yellow sun with orange and yellow rays. But, by the time I began foiling the pieces, I decided I need to have a sun that draws less attention. I also had a design that included clouds, but I decided it was too busy
The variety of colors and cuts in the tree itself lends to a really neat texture look. It seems to give it an older, rustic style tree design. I purposely decided to leave the size of the leaf pieces smaller, to give it more depth and character, and still make the colors symmetrical, yet a whole variety of greens.
It is a beautiful, striking piece. 286 pieces. 23 inches by 23 inches.
Used over 3 pounds of lead solder. Approximately 15 hours of copper foiling, 10 hours glass grinding, and 18 hours of soldering/finishing. Along with cutting, layout, design, polish, and cleaning! Whew!
The pattern for this piece is available in my shop in the link above.
First Cuts
Cutting Tree and Sky
Cutting the Leaves
First Layout After Cut
Grinding Pieces
Cleaning and Sorting
Copper Foil Completed
Soldering & Final Steps
Red Rose with Kauri Wood Bowl and Chipped Glass Heart
February 14th, 2026
This was a quick and fun project. I made this for my wife for Valentines Day. The red glass was the absolute worst to work with. It was slightly thicker, with a wavy texture, and more expensive the most of the glass I have used. That red glass fought me, and probably got more red from the cuts it gave me along the way! I ordered some brass rods to use as the stem and figured out how to tin and patina them. In the base, I chipped a lot of extra green shards that I had laying around from other projects.
I do love how it turned out. It was a hit, and it made excellent use of an Kauri Wood dish I had made 29 year earlier, when I was in New Zealand. The Kauri Wood was leftover scrap from a designer shop, and a local with wood working equipment allowed me to experiment and make it for fun. I have had it sitting around in storage ever since, and it has become a great base.
The smaller heart piece, with chipped glass was actually something my wife requested for Valentines, so I was a bit busy for this holiday. She originally requsted something like a heart mosiac, but I am not very experienced with those, so I made my own twist on it.
The heart is cut and soldered into the larger piece of clear/white streaky glass. Then I chipped a variety of scrap glass shard colors and weld bonded them to the heart. I made sure it was several layers deep. Once the weld bond dried, I scraped the excess glass away that hadn't stuck. (reminder to self -- use glass gloves next time. Ouch).
Beginning the Glass Cutting Process
Cut and Ready for the Grinder
Assembly of the Cactus
Assemby of the Mesa
Saloon Reinforcement
Putting it all together
I got the idea for this from a friend who likes western art. I had an image in my head of a rustic old desert saloon with red-rock mesas and a lone saguaro cactus. Instead of doing it as a panel or a suncatcher, I decided to build on my Hummingbird 3D idea, and turn it into a diorama.
The design process was quite tricky. Instead of one design template, I had to create 6 seperate templates. One for each mesa, cactus, and saloon. Then one for the base, and finally one for the overall layout and support system.
When I was building this, it ended up becoming five individually built stained glass sections at first. Then the sections were permanently joined together in a final soldering step. Since I used a multi-section construction, it helped me to focus on structural strength. Each piece has several support trusses added to it, and the saloon has an added glass beam to stop any damage from a hinge joint.
I loved the colors for the glass. The mesa colors ended up being exactly what I was hoping for when it is in directly light. The saloon has two colors of brown, with one duplicating the look of "old barn wood". The saloon windows are a streaky black and clear glass, which allows you to see through them, but gives them the appearance of being old or dirty.
In the end, this became quite a substantial piece and very one of a kind. There is over 97 hand-cut pieces of glass, with each piece individually foiled and soldered. It is free-standing, no stand or easel is required . It will sit securely on a shelf or table and small rubber feet are attached to the underside to help protect surfaces.
This was truly a fun yet challenging build. I love the original design. I don't see a lot out there that is similar. It would make a great addition to anyone who likes to collect western or desert art.
Approximate Dimensions:
• Base width × depth: 14” × 9” • Tallest height (saloon): 9” • Cactus: 5.25” × 7”
• Mesa #1: 5.5” × 7.5” • Mesa #2: 5.5” × 7” • Saloon building: 9.5” × 9”
Copper foil completed
Tail attachment
Finishing the tail
Final touch-ups
Hummingbird 3D
January 16th, 2026
See this in the shop at: bdglassdesigns.etsy.com
An original design, when I sketched it out, I had no idea if it would work. And.....This piece turned out way better than I had imagined! At 11.5 inches long, body depth of 3.25 inches, and an impressive wingspan of 15.5 inches wide. It was mostly an experiment to see if I could do it.
A lot of the challenge was designing and building it in a way that will support the weight of the tail and wings. The copper foil and solder alone are not strong enough to support that weight. Normally I would add a thick copper strip called "Copper Re-Strip" to add support. But the shape of this doesn't allow for that. So.... to solve my problem I used a wire frame of tinned copper wire.
After all the pieces were cut, ground, and foiled, I began the soldering and framing process. I soldered the tail first and included a tinned copper wire between the tail glass that extends 3 inches beyond the glass itself. Then I built and soldered the left wing and included a wire in-between the feathers and wing body that extended for 7 inches out the wing where it attaches to the body. Puzzled yet? I was too on whether this would work.
I soldered the upper portion of the main body and ran the wire through the body where the wing attaches. I had half a bird body and one wing with a wing wire now extended from the body right where the other wing needed to be. So I then built the right wing around the wire attaching it directly to the body. Then it was time to attach the tail, running the tail wire between the finished upper body section and the newly attached lower body. I finished up by attaching the beak. which was fragile enough to need a support wire that runs down the crest of the head, onto the beak itself to provide reinforcement.
Phew. I was pleased it held together and was stronger than I anticipated. I gave it a good cleaning to remove the flux, added some patina, and gave it a good wax and shine. I also attached a wire for easy hanging.
This turned out so much better than I anticipated. I was expected to have a little experiment, and if it failed, add it to the pile of glass scrap. But I learned that I can do 3D art. And with a little problem solving, it can turn out beyond what I expect.
Pirate Moon
January 2nd, 2026
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This was custom original design, 13.25 x 13 inch round stained glass panel. My first design was for a wooden ship cutting through the waters under a stormy skies and lightning, however, after breaking the glass from it being so thin, I changed the design and this was what was born.
This piece was extremely tricky to keep together. The cut glass pattern had some gaps that just didn't work. After I had ground and foiled all the pieces, there were some big enough gaps to see light through. In the end, I found the remedy to be the change in the glass between the ports on the side of the ship. Just before I soldered the piece, I had it all layed out and tacked into place. I went back and recut the piece between the ports and extended it by about .5 cm. This elimated a second seam and solder joint between each window port and helped the pieces to fit together more closely.
I really did enjoy the challenge of making this piece. And I think it turned out really well.
Cutting Glass
After patterns are designed on an Ipad, they are printed on vinyl. The vinyl is attached to sheets of colored glass, which is then cut in the shape of the vinyl with a glass scoring tool. Then, round or grozing pliers seperate the glass on the scores.
Glass Grinder Fitting
The glass is then ran through a diamond bit grinder to create smooth edges and ensure the pieces fit together correctly. The grinding process will remove sharp edges and can also fix small errors in the cutting process. (It makes quite a mess!)
Copper Foil
Each glass piece is meticulously wrapped in copper foil. Solder will not stick to stained glass. Copper foil allows the solder to hold the glass together. After the foil is added, each piece is burnished to remove any wrinkles or bumps in the foil.
Solder and Finishing
The glass is soldered using a Tin/Lead solder at 410° C. After both sides get soldered, and the outer edge gets either tinned and beaded or metal came is added. The piece is then cleaned of flux, patina is added, and it is waxed and polished.
Twin Falls Temple & Idaho Falls Temple
December 30th, 2025 & January 24th, 2026
The Twin Falls Temple was a commission piece by my sister for her daughter. I based the design entirely on photos that I had seen that my sister had sent me, and later on, when I finally had the chance to see this beautiful building in person, I was pleased to see the design matched reality better than I imagined. I was careful to use copper re-strip and lead came on the borders, as there are some serious hinge joints in the steeple. After reinforcement, it is more sturdy than I expected and it looks amazing hanging in a window.
The Idaho Falls Temple was a commission piece by my wife for her mother's birthday. I based it on multiple pictures of the side facing the river, which is actually not the main entrance. The main entrance side is more complex and slightly less pleasing to the eye (in my opinion). The river side is the entrance to the baptistry and is well known from the many pictures taken that include the famous Snake River.
Moulton Barn and the Tetons
December 14th, 2025
Custom Design by BD Glass Designs. 13.5 inches X 9.5 inches.
I made this for my wife’s parents for their 50th wedding anniversary. My father in law is a descendent of the family that once owned this barn which now is part of Mormon Row in Teton National Park. This is considered one of the most photographed barns in the world. It was a fun and challenging build, with countless hours put into the pattern itself. I found it tricky to get the pattern looking correct while still making the glass cuts possible. I think it turned out really beautiful.
Christmas Stars
December 6th, 2025
I think one like this has been done by just about everyone, but I thought I would try it as well. It actually is pretty tough getting the triangles at the right angles to make a truly equal piece. Very abstract, and was supposed to be a snowflake, but I think it is more of a star or a symbol for a car company......
Monarch
November 30th, 2025
Just like the Pirate Ship, pictures don’t do this justice. This is an all original piece, custom design. It was a fun work to create. I loved the ripples in the orange glass. It gives it amazing texture. Some super tough cuts in this. The glass grinder was a life saver. It helped to shape some of the harder cuts and smooth out some seriosly rough edges.
Mid-Spawn Crisis
November 28th, 2025
This is a piece for me. It’s symbolic of my relationship with glass at this point, now that I have developed a new hobby/interest in the middle of my life. Idea came to me at 3:00 in the morning when I couldn’t sleep before a long driving trip. A delirious message I scrawled onto my phone describing an alien having his mid-life crisis, driving a pink convertible wearing a cowboy hat. Just doing what he wants and trying to feel confident doing so. (But really completely lost)
This one was a learning challenge as well. I was learning how to cut vinyl in a different way and ended up with large gaps in the glass that wasn't anticipated. It took extra solder to fill it in, but turned out okay. Lots of mistakes and lots of learning with this one. (I love his little alien head.)
Christmas Pine
November 16th & 28th, 2025
This was my first attempt at a 3D type glass art. (My real significant first was my hummingbird). This was mostly made as a use for my scrap glass. I loved how it turned out and I plan on making a larger version someday, maybe as part of a larger 3 dimensional piece.
I learned really quickly that solder does not work the same was as glue when putting things like this together! After creating this I decide that I really need to buy a small clamp to hold the glass flat while I am working on it.
I love the glass type. The ripple glass is very challenging to cut, but definitely looks like tree branches.
Guided Home
November 14th, 2025
Original custom design. I was so proud of this piece. I loved the coast and lighthouses, and this simple project turned out to have both of my favorites. I wanted to create a mood in a way, so that the boat is lost in the dark and the light is helping it find its way back.
I love when a piece comes together so nicely. I wonder why I waited so long to try out stained glass making. I really like the light keepers house on the side.
My wife called dibs on this work as soon as it started to come together. She loves to display nautical and beach things and this fits nicely along with her other pieces.
Chromatic Reaction
November 17th, 2025
This was an original design by me. I found some old clip art images and seamed them together, then traced out the lines I wanted to use for my glass. The color ideas were simple, something that stood out. The original one of this I used copper backed copper foil and you could see the foil through the clear glass. Unfortunately and luckily, I accidently dropped the pieces when I was showing it and I had to rebuild it. It gave me a chance to fix several problems I spotted with the first one. The biggest was the change to black backed copper foil. Now the clear glass doesn’t show the copper color underneath the solder lines. Original design for my daughter who is an amazing chemist!
Familiar Shadow
November 7th, 2025
This is a cat similar to a different one I made earlier for a Christmas present. I was asked to make this particular one for someone who lost their longtime favorite cat. I hoped it would give them something to remember their lost friend.
Sunrise at the Temple
October 26th, 2025 -- My first large piece.
This was a completely custom, original design. I set out to create this as a gift for my mom for Christmas. Even before I started making stained glass, I wanted to make something like this for my mom, and was inspired by some of the neat artistry creations that my older sister always makes.
I drew and redesigned it at least 4 times on my iPad before I got a design that I liked and would not include impossible cuts. (You cannot cut a interior 90 degree angle into glass). I learned the pattern design is critical to making the art beautiful AND able to be created.
This piece took a lot of planning, and careful selection of the glass. I decided on a sunrise color sky glass, with wavy lines to create a good texture. The clouds were white and clear mix, and honestly included to make the design work.
It probably took me close to 100 hours between the design, redesign, cutting, re-cutting, and building of the piece. I was so pleased at how this turned out. When I completed it, I was honestly suprised that I could actually make something like this. I knew from that point that I can push myself and really not hesitate to try things.
Orange Cat
October 10th, 2025
I really wanted to make this as a gift for a family member who loves cats. I had seen a design similar to this on google images, and decided to draw up a pattern of my own. I won't claim it is original, but my pattern is my own creation.
It was a fun piece to make and I love how it turned out. I was so excited to give it as a gift, and it sat in bubble wrap for two months waiting for that opportunity.
I have since rebuilt my pattern that I have created, making even more significant changes and altering it.
Mini-Beach Sunset
October 9th, 2025
I made this as a smaller version of my original sunset. I changed the pattern a bit, making some of the layers wider and removing other ones that I didn't think fit well. I made this as a special request for a family member. It was fun and I thought it turned out really well. I felt like my skills were improving and I was learning to improve my designs as well.
Mushrooms
October 4th, 2025
Along with the sunset, I really wanted to make some stained glass mushrooms. I had seen them in a video I had seen on Instagram. I cannot say its an original design, as they are very similar to some that I had seen, although I did create the pattern on my iPad.
I loved the choices of glass colors that I picked for these. They were really fun to make.
Beach Sunset
October 4th, 2025
I love going to the coast. And one year I took a picture of the sunset over the ocean that quickly became one of my favorite photos. I quickly decided to turn it into a glass project.
It was a very basic piece, and there are a lot of errors that I learned a lot from. It really was a foundation piece that I learned what works with cutting, grinding, and soldering.
It still sits in my display cabinet. I consider it my first original design, since the Triforce is a well-known icon from a famous game. It is a rough piece, but I am still proud of what it taught me.
Zelda Triforce
My first piece. The big experiment. September 20, 2025
I bit the bullet and purchased all the supplies I needed to start making stained glass. It was quite an initial investment. Would I even like making art?
I started with something very simple. I sketched out three triangles on my iPad and printed it off on vinyl. I didn't know much about design creation and it shows. My triangles were not even the same size and the lines were not perfectly straight. I found it quite fun to score and cut the glass. It all seemed well, until I tried to place the pieces together. And none of them were the same size or correct shape.
I broke out my glass grinder for the first time and used a black sharpie to draw better lines and shapes. I learned really quick how messy the grinder is!
The final step was soldering. I have never soldered anything before. What a learning curve that was. Lots of videos on YouTube and Instagram gave me the basics.
It turned out okay. Definitely a beginner piece. I was so proud of it. I had actually created something. Did it have a TON of flaws? Yes. Did I learn a ton from it? Yes.
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