Stained Glass Courses

Be inspired; gain confidence; discover your hidden abilities.

Learn the traditional skills of stained glass and make a stained glass panel in a friendly atmosphere with professional tuition by Tricia Christian, MA Glass.

Relax and enjoy the fun of learning a new skill or developing your techniques in stained glass. The three day course is designed to take you through the stages of making a stained glass panel which you will take home and admire for ever. On the first day you will learn to cut glass and Tricia will work with you to agree a design for your panel. This may be based on your own idea or taken from the wide range of design ideas that Tricia can provide. You can choose to work with leaded stained glass, the technique of which dates from the 12th century, and produce a panel suitable for fixing into a window, or you may prefer to work with copperfoil. This technique dates from the 19th century and it was Louis Comfort Tiffany who first devised this use of copper to attain finer designs than lead would allow. With the copperfoil technique you can produce panels for internal siting and can progress in future to make three-dimensional objects like boxes, lanterns, lampshades and terrariums.

Having finalized your design you will learn about 'cartoons' and 'cut lines' and choose the coloured glass you wish to work with from the wide range of glass provided. You will then start to cut glass for your stained glass panel. On the second day you will continue to cut and trim glass for your stained glass panel and learn about working with lead or copperfoil and soldering.

Excitement builds on the third day when you progress to the final stages of making your stained glass panel and are able to polish and admire your finished piece.

It is recommended that your first stained glass panel is approximately 0.09 square metres (for example 300mm x 300mm or 450mm x 200mm or 400mm x 225mm etc) with no more than about 25-30 pieces to allow you to complete the work in the three days. However, your final design choice will depend on what you want to get from the course.

You will be able to relax in a friendly atmosphere and have a lot of one to one tuition from Tricia as there are never more than six people per group. The stained glass courses are held in a converted dairy at Lower Boquio Farm - lunch is enjoyed in the farmhouse. If you are travelling a distance to the course and wish to stay locally we can supply a list of local bed and breakfast establishments and local hotels.

Stained Glass Course Fees

Fees for the course include personal tuition, all the glass and other materials you need to design, practice and make your stained glass panel (based on 0.09 square metres *), loan of all tools and equipment you will need, lunch and refreshments. All you need is to wear old clothes and stout shoes in the workshop (no open toe shoes please) and to bring an apron and rubber gloves. Safety glasses will be provided for your use.

* If you wish to make a larger stained glass panel for a specific aperture a pro rata charge will be made ~ please ask for an estimate.

Course booking information is available on the booking page.

Stained Glass Course Dates

The courses run from 09:30 to 16:30 each day.

Stained Glass Course Testimonials

'It was the best course I have ever been on' Barbara from Newquay, Cornwall   'I like the balance of demonstrations and teaching - it made it very clear to understand.' William, Eastbourne, Sussex   'Thank you for your professional, unruffled approach. I felt very relaxed and really enjoyed it.' Thelma, Tyneside   'Wow! I never thought I would be able to make a stained glass panel as good as it is. You are a good teacher, thank you.' Janice, Cardiff, South Wales