One day, while on our way to a friend's wedding, we were ahead of schedule and going to be passing by the Light Haus and decided "what the hey" lets stop in and see what it would take to get started. We got some tools and some scrap glass for about $60 ($100 today). You have to understand how silly this was, (we had put some mirror tiles in the bathroom and it took a lot of tries to get a two inch wide strip cut off) but we were on our way! When we got home we drew up a 'simple'(yea sure) pattern and went to work making it.
After a month or two we had this small 5"X9" piece of stained glass. OK - it was not exactly great, but none of the glass fell out and the lines were kind of straight. It look like a work of Tiffany about as much as a typical third grader's drawing matches a work of one of the Old Masters. But we were not discouraged, no one gets a masterpiece the first time. So we did another, and another, and another and ...... After a while they started to look like something you would actually show to a friend. By the way that first one still exists and if you come to the studio and plead you can even get to see it.
That window for the addition was still a dream. As we got better we started to give stained glass as gifts to our friends(?) and family. Some of them may have actually been appreciated. This whole thing was starting to get expensive. The supplies were not exactly cheap. By this time our abilities were up to the lower end of what you would find at an arts and crafts sale. So we got a state sales tax number and started to sell some items.
After a while we decided that if we were going to sell stained glass we should have a name for the business so that we would have something to put on the business cards, etc. We thought about it for a while and could not come up with a single good idea. We did, however, come up with the ORIGINAL idea of having a contest to pick a name. The first (and only) prize was to be a stained glass panel - what else? Most of the entrants were from Dave's office, and there were several good names to pick from. After working with the names we kind of fell in love with our current name and awarded the prize.
With the new name in hand, we went off to get a sales tax permit using the new name. Reality bit us again - apparently it is a felony ( consumer fraud ) to use co., company, incorporated, inc. OR Ltd. in a business name, unless your are a registered corporation. We liked the name so well, we went ahead and incorporated and paid all of the fees, etc. associated with it. Bobbie didn't want the title of president ( that person has to do all of the paper work and sign all of the documents) so Dave is now the CEO of a 'major' company.
Since then the events have been a little less interesting to anyone but ourselves. We have done several hundred stained glass items. The majority of them have been inserts for kitchen cabinets (5 of our 11 are done, and the rest will be). Every year we donate an item for the WHA Arts and Antiques auction (BID HIGH - BID OFTEN) and every year but one it was an OVERBID.
It has not all been dull. One year we won a full page ad in 'In Business'. It was great fun preparing the ad, and would have been great if it brought us any business. We were the commemorative artist for the WHA Arts and Antiques auction one year. Quite an honor and a lot of work - we had to make 40 identical stained glass panels. The Ronald McDonald house in Madison , Wisconsin has stained glass that we donated. WISC - channel 3 also did a feature on us on their Traveler segment. A bit scary for us to be in front of the cameras, but by the time they were through editing, it looked just fine.
Yes - we did finally did do that window that started this whole thing off. While driving about, looking at stained glass, we found a window in Galena Illinois that we liked. We took the concept, ran with it for a while, and finally build it. Its in red, yellow, and clear and looks great over my left shoulder as I write up this history.
In early 1999 David decided that 33 years of working was enough. So he retired and took up a part time job at "The Vinery" a local stained glass retail store/studio..
At the end of 1999 David thought that it would be a good idea if Bobbie took up a hobby. The store he worked at offered classes in lampworking or glass bead making. Bobbie sort of enjoyed it and started to do a few beads at home. One day Dave thought that he would give it a try. Well that was the end of the bead making for Bobbie. She found that Dave did a better job and liked it better. Also she found that she really really enjoyed taking the beads that Dave made ( plus lots of commercial beads) and making earrings, bracelets and necklaces. Dave sells his beads through e-bay and word of mouth. Bobbie sells her work at a local gallery and at "The Vinery". Both of us are also going to try and sell some of the beads and finished work through this web site.
Born on the north side of Chicago in 1942. Attended the University of Illinois and wound up getting a masters in civil engineering in 1966. Went to work for the State of Wisconsin, Department of Transportation, Highway District 1(Madison). In the field in the summer(supervising construction) and in the office in the winter (designing highways). This lasted for 1-1/2 years, then he transferred to the data processing department to program highway applications on a large mainframe system (an IBM 360 running MFT. This was a great system - for only $5,000,000 you could run UP TO 15 programs each having a partition of 128K -- think of it - who could write a program that big!!). Dave stayed in data processing until he retired in April, 1999 after 33 years with the state.. He ended is first career as a programmer for the departments CADDS (Computer Aided Design and Drafting) system. Currently in addition to 'running' this stained glass business he also works part time for another stained glass studio in Madison. The weeks are long - 3 days a week, seven and a half hours per day. When he is not surfing the Internet, you may find him busy doing stained glass, making glass beads, or reading a real book.
Born on the south side of Chicago in 1946. Attended Chicago Teachers College in art history and studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago. Would have gotten her degree, but got married instead. Worked for 10 years at Manchesters at West Towne until it went out of business (not her fault). Currently heavily into gardening. She has completed the Master Gardener specialized program thru the University of Wisconsin-Extension, Cooperative Extension. She does volunteer work at Olbrich Botanical Gardens and the Rosemary Garfoot library in Cross Plains. After an attempt at bead making she is now very into making jewelry.
The Family Photo Album