Stained Glass

One day I decided that my pool table needed a fancy pool table light above it, you know, one of those multi-colored ones that you see in the movies. I started shopping around for them and discovered these lights were expensive, about $800.00! I thought that it would be cheaper to have it made, so I went to a stained glass shop with a plan of one that I had drawn up and asked the owner if he could build it for me. He told me he could for about $1,200.00!!! I walked around his shop for a few minutes catching my breath and allowing my heart beat to return to a normal pace. I also noticed some projects that were in various stages of completion around the shop. I studied them for a few moments and thought to myself, I can do this. I asked the glass shop owner the cost if I were to make the lamp myself. He asked if I had ever worked with stained glass before. I had not, and I'll never forget what the store owner said after that, "You probably can't do it." That was the worst thing he could of said to me. I left his shop and went to the local library and checked out three books on the subject of stained glass. I then went by a different stained glass shop and purchased a few samples of glass. I went home and tried a simple project. Success!!! I started making the pool table light right away and a couple of weekends later I had a finished product. The total cost of the project was $187.00. I did find out that the cost for materials was only a small portion of the expense, the majority of the price these people were quoting me was for labor. Working in stained glass is time consuming, but for those of you that like some of the finer things in life - it's well worth the venture. 

I have listed a few links for those that are getting into creating your own stained glass projects.
I have found them very helpful.

ASGLA
The Store Finder
Art Glass World
Stained Glass Magazine
Mike's Stained Glass
Althouse Stained Glass Studio