Not a Plug opinions only please. As honest as you can be.

[adruml]

Christine, my better half has taken a class in stained glass. She has made quite a few designs already but she wanted to make one for me of the symbol of my favorite drummer John Bonham. If you don't know every Led Zeppelin member had their own symbol and John Bonham's is the three intermingled circles.
This is her (our, because I cut the circles) first attempt at putting a stained glass peice together with circles. Unfortunately Christine cut the peices for the top half before I cut the circles so we do have a bit of gappage but the concept is there.
Christine wants to make more of these and put them up for sale on line (most likely eBid). They are not for sale now and this is not a plug. I'm trying to get some honest feedback about what folks would be willing to pay for a peice such as this. This one still needs to be framed with the metal edge but other then that this is what it will look like. The opinions I need and please be honest are:
How much would you pay for a peice such as this?
What designs do you think would net a better return?
Overall on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the best how would you rate this peice?
Your responses are most appreciated.

[bykimbo]

I like the concept and she obviously has good design flair, but I think to be ready for putting to market she really needs a bit more practice and a steadier hand - those seams need to be neat and consistent. That's just a matter of practice, but I don't think she's ready for selling just yet. I read a lovely thing about creative people the other day, which I'll never manage to find so will roughly paraphrase... people who are naturally creative tend to have a good idea, and excellent taste. So when they start making something new they have the taste and judgement, but not the skills yet - unfortunately, because they have the taste and judgement they can see their stuff isn't yet as good as they wish, and they get fed up about that and give up. But all successfully creative people went through the initial stage, where their work wasn't as good as it needed to be. You just have to push through that and practice, practice, practice. I tend to have a go at something, think "that's rubbish" and give up - not the best approach! Tell her to keep it up.

[adruml]

I like the concept and she obviously has good design flair, but I think to be ready for putting to market she really needs a bit more practice and a steadier hand - those seams need to be neat and consistent. That's just a matter of practice, but I don't think she's ready for selling just yet. I read a lovely thing about creative people the other day, which I'll never manage to find so will roughly paraphrase... people who are naturally creative tend to have a good idea, and excellent taste. So when they start making something new they have the taste and judgement, but not the skills yet - unfortunately, because they have the taste and judgement they can see their stuff isn't yet as good as they wish, and they get fed up about that and give up. But all successfully creative people went through the initial stage, where their work wasn't as good as it needed to be. You just have to push through that and practice, practice, practice. I tend to have a go at something, think "that's rubbish" and give up - not the best approach! Tell her to keep it up.

Thank you! Christine is in fact a seasoned Artist. Just about every media except Oil she is tremendous with and has sold many paintings.
I was of the same opinion on this peice though. Needs less gappage at the joints to produce a thinner more even solder line.
Hopefully when we do the next one I'll cut the circles first then everything else will be cut to fit the circles. This should eliminate the gappage. It's just difficult to cut circles out of glass.

[HerMajesty]

Almost a Celtic Art Deco look..............would be interesting to see in different types of glass. The white seems a bit 'heavy' for the lighter feeling dark top. I like the style, tho don't know about Led symbols......I just like the design. I expect pricing would be determined by time and material cost involved. Nice go!!

[adruml]

Almost a Celtic Art Deco look..............would be interesting to see in different types of glass. The white seems a bit 'heavy' for the lighter feeling dark top. I like the style, tho don't know about Led symbols......I just like the design. I expect pricing would be determined by time and material cost involved. Nice go!!

I'll agree looks quite celtic.
$70.00 in glass and about 10 hours labor in it.

[Gill]

Hi adruml
I also trained in stained glass 20 years ago so I will give my honest opinion.

Starting with your first sentence. You're saying 'a class' so if Christine has only taken one class I would suggest that she carries on with a few more classes to help with her technique of cutting and soldering - practice makes perfect Looking at the photo some of the pieces are too large and need grinding down to fit the template. Is Christine using a template?

Christine - try practising your foiling/soldering. Use 4 pieces of cheap, plain glass and try soldering - this is good practice to get your soldering technique perfected. You can also use the cheap plain glass for cutting practice too - just use a very simple template, say 8" x 8" - using 4 pieces of 4" x 4".

The design is good but please be aware of any copyright that you might be infringing.

To get perfect circles in glass invest in a circle glass cutter. I haven't checked eBid but I do know they're available in the US.

I would normally label this type of item as a suncatcher but some people like to put them on the outside of a window or for use on a patio area. So please ensure you make the point that they are for inside use only unless they have been weather protected. Don't forget to attach a hanger as well.

Now onto price. Once Christine (and you ) have perfected the art I would suggest starting as little as £5 - £10 (not sure of the USA equivalent) depending on the actual size of the piece, plus postage of course. You may find that the cost of packaging (remember these pieces will need to be well protected) puts the price up too much for some buyers.

Sometimes a design is what a buyer is after at the time so your question on designs/ return is a hard one to answer.

Good Luck for the future Christine and DON'T GIVE UP! It's a wonderful medium to work with and the designs that can be achieved are...... (I can't think of the word I need )

PS - I have to scroll to read this thread so it might be worth making the picture smaller or change whatever is causing the scrolling - I have a 19" screen and need to scroll!

[adruml]

Thank you Gill for the comments and advice. I guess I misworded that should have been Christine took a course not a class. There were 6 classes in the course.Practice and technique are much needed. She has done two other much simpler patterns and both came out very nice. Might be too soon to jump into complicated peices but we both learned a lot on this one.Closing any gaps I beleive is the key to making this look fantastic as solder will only stick to itself and the fluxed foil. Even gap will get a uniform joint then practice to get it smooth.Christine made the template and will keep using it but she has to wait until the circles are cut before cutting the rest.We did invest in a nice circle cutter it works well.

[suesjools]

Not a stained glass artist/expert, but the design is tres cool, very modernist. I also think the glass looks great; if I were looking for stained glass, I'd buy it.

Best wishes for many sales to all,

[burgyeb]

No artist here, but I think it is cool. Tend to like things with a bit of a natural instead of highly perfect appearance.
Comments by those more familiar with stained glass art are informative and interesting. Will give it a 3.75 :-)

[ukcoins]

Hi Adrumi,

Really nice piece lovely design, looks a bit art deco but has a feel of the arts & crafts period as well with the way you have made it, i wouldn't be that bothered about getting everything perfect it would take away some of the appeal, not everybody likes perfect straight lines and finishes i know i don't,

Not sure if you can sell them for a profit if its cost $70 in glass and 10 hours labour, but if you and christine are enjoying making them and having fun thats the main point kick on i wish you all the best,

5 out of 5 from me i appreciate anybody with artistic skills, alas i have none i couldn't even draw a matchstick man,