(meditative music) - I'm the owner, creator of Better Day Glass Company, and I make stained glass.

I don't know if I know my style yet, I've only been doing this for about two years.

The pieces I create, I create 'cause they make me happy.

Each piece I make tends to be different from the others, because I'm still finding who I am as a glass artist.

I got into stained glass seeing it as a child, being around it, churches, old houses, it's always been interesting, however, it was unobtainable, it was big, it was expensive.

I was fortunate to be able to take a class with an artist down in the Catskills.

I took the class, broke glass, this made sense to me.

And things have never been the same, in a good way.

(laughs) Teaching's important to me, because as one of my students said a few weeks ago, it's helping to demystify the whole stained glass process.

Part of why I started selling and teaching was, I want people to be around glass, I want people to enjoy it in their homes, regardless if they have a studio apartment or a massive mansion, you can live with glass, and the fact that it changes in the different colors, the lights, you don't have to hang it in a window.

I want people to be more around it.

I'm going to teach you how to break glass, yes.

(laughs) - Controlled, right?

- Yeah, yeah, of course.

We're not smashing anything, this isn't like an anger management room.

So controlled breaking glass, and then we'll go through the those steps of the process, cutting, grinding, foiling, soldering.

- [Crew Person] Rolling.

Let's do a clap.

(Amanda and Matt clap) (idle music) - Beautiful.

- The first step of the stained glass process is to actually break the glass, but first, safety, so you need gloves and an apron, 'cause we wanna protect your clothes, and there will be glass shards.

The stained glass process does have chemicals to it and hot metal.

- Oh my god, hold on.

This is the hardest part.

(Amanda chuckles) - Teaching stained glass has been interesting, because I realize, we all want to be perfect at everything as soon as we walk in the door.

So that's the first thing is like, just learn the basics, I'm gonna teach you how to do it safely.

- We'll be ready to go as soon as Matt gets his gloves on.

(chuckles) - Okay.

- All right.

- Are you ready?

- I'm ready.

- Okay.

(laughs) - I'm pretty scared.

- So I'm gonna demonstrate the first one.

Once again, the important point is, this wheel is at a 90-degree angle to the glass, you also want to go from one side of the glass to the other.

The cool part about this is the sound, if you're doing it well, it sounds like a zipper.

(glass ripples) - Okay.

- [Amanda] Okay?

A little bit further in.

Now push.

Yep.

Yes.

Keep going, keep going, keep going.

Yes.

How'd that feel?

- Good, I was a little wobbly.

(chuckles) - That's fine, this is practice.

All right, go ahead and put the cutter down.

Our next step is the breakers.

- [Matt] Oh my goodness.

Okay.

- [Amanda] Perfect.

Now line them up.

Okay, perfect, now move your hand back on the breakers.

Yep, now squeeze.

(claps hands and laughs) Now you have broken glass.

- That is pretty fun.

- Isn't it?

It's not as scary as you think.

So the stained glass process, you actually choose the glass, and the glass, I explain to people, is kind of like construction paper, it comes in different colors, textures, a variety of options.

So then you put the pattern on the glass.

We're gonna start working with this pattern to create a sun catcher, what most people call a sun catcher, but it's a smaller piece of stained glass that a lot of people tend to hang in windows, a lot of people are hanging on their walls now, wherever makes you happy.

(playful music) - So I'm tracing what I'm about to cut.

- Mm-hmm.

- (chuckles) And numbering it.

Then you would cut it.

Essentially, cutting it starts with a score, you're cracking it on purpose.

Hopefully on purpose.

(chuckles) (glass squeaks) Perfect.

Sometimes the glass gods are not in your favor and they break as they want to.

But the temperature of the glass, the coloration of the glass, the texture makes an impact on how that crack's actually gonna work.

- Oh, oh my god, okay.

- Yeah.

(chuckles) And then take the glass, you grind it down essentially to create a rougher edge to adhere the copper foil.

So it's gonna wrap each piece in a copper foil, that's gonna prepare it so we can then solder it all together.

This is the copper foil.

I like a nice wide copper foil, it creates nice lines when you're making the piece.

- It's a sticker.

- It is.

It is adhesive.

I like to take the glass, and look down the foil, and the glass, and put it in the middle.

- Okay.

(playful music continues) - Yeah, so this is the method that Tiffany & Co. came up with for stained glass, they wrapped every piece in copper foil.

- [Matt] Oh wow.

- The copper foil is what holds the glass pieces together.

So you have the copper foil, and then you solder over that, so that creates the structure of the whole piece.

Are you ready?

- I think so.

- Okay.

(chuckles) - I hope so.

(energetic music) - So on this side, I'm gonna teach you how to start tinning the outside, which you're melting the solder up here, and you're moving the solder on the outside.

- [Matt] Wow, that was very well done.

- You're gonna be able to do that.

(Matt sighs) Yep.

Yes.

- Is it?

- Yep, you're good.

- Oh (beep).

- No, you're good.

Yes, yes, keep going, keep going, keep going.

Keep going.

- Oh shoot.

(Amanda chuckles) There you go.

That wasn't too bad, right?

You started off strong, and then I think you lost where your contact was- - I got excited and- - Feeding the solder.

- You're like, "I'm doing good, oh man, I'm not doing good."

(chuckles) So we're gonna let that, see?

- Hey, it doesn't look bad.

- And this is the back.

(crew person laughs) This is the back.

- Oh, okay.

Wow, the back doesn't even look bad.

(Amanda laughs) - Leave it in, yes, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going.

There you go.

This is your first time you've ever soldered stain glass?

- Yeah.

- Look at those nice pleats.

I know that's not what your brain is telling you.

(both laugh) But yeah, look at the nice pleats.

So we're gonna clean up the piece, get the chemicals off of it, we'll put a hanger on it.

And then my tradition with everyone is to take a picture of their piece in this space, and we'll have to do that.

(triumphal orchestral music) I'm going right now, since I'm so new to it, relatively new to it, I've been doing it for a few years.

I'm going into it with, what can I continue to learn?

What can I continue to learn from myself?

What can I continue to learn from others?

Still taking stained glass classes with other stained glass artists, because life is about learning.

In five years, I hope to still be here, actually, I hope to still be in this space for a very long time, and I just wanna spread more joy and art into the world, is essentially the fundamental goal of why I'm doing what I'm doing.

(triumphal orchestral music continues) Do you guys want a copy of this?

- Yeah.

- Okay, yeah.