I recently interviewed *Shuibhne for *ArtisanCraft club’s interview feature. *Shuibhne is really an astounding artist, so I hope you enjoy the interview.

For a great formatted deviation of this interview check here >
[link]

Enjoy! - //*inchworm > co-admin *ArtisanCraft club.

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Your stained glass windows are so beautiful, where did you learn your skills?

Actually, completely by accident. I'd never even though about doing something other than drawing until I ran into a visiting craftsman from Cork, Ireland. We got to talking about Celtic art, the next week I brought up my portfolio from San Antonio...and the rest is history. Really, I am for the most part self-taught, but he's the guy who showed me the basics and told me that I could find a way to do anything I wanted to in this medium.



For those who don’t know, could you give a quick run down on the process of how a simple stained glass window is made?

Sure. I'll usually spend a few days working out the general idea in my sketchbook, as little thumbnail drawings. After that, I'll draw up the linework (called a cartoon) at 1/2 scale of the finished project, ink it with a thin black Sharpie, and scan it into the computer. I can spend anywhere from half an hour to a few days deciding on colors in Photoshop -- it's my best opportunity to try out new color combinations, and sometimes I'll even change the pattern a bit to allow for it. Really, you don't even want to see what I had originally planned for the Salmon...it's hideous. Next is the printing. If the final dimensions are small enough to fit on a few sheets of paper, I'll just print the linework off at home and tape it all together. But if not, I go up to Kinko's and do it on their blueprint machine. One quick secret: the width of a normal Sharpie (not the thin ones, but the normal) is exactly the right size to draw a leaded glass pattern with. After that, it's just cutting the glass (I trace cut directly over the cartoon), then leading it, and finally soldering the joins together. If I think it needs it, or it's an actual window, there's another step called weatherproofing, which consists of filling in all the spaces between the lead and the glass with a waterproof putty and hardening it to concrete. This step is optional on free-hanging things like suncatchers. Hopefully, the last step is getting paid -- but a lot of my glass, like An Bradán Feasa, are done without a buyer in mind.

Hippocamp Chime>> << An Bradan Feasa

I must say that your winning entry to the *ArtisanCraft club mythology contest [link] An Bradán Feasa, is absolutely stunning! How do you make those patterns on the glass panels?

Thank you! All those patterns in the glass were made by sandblasting over a vinyl resist. I had so much of it that it took a full week of cutting out the patterns before I was finally ready to sandblast anything. That actual step only took a couple hours, though. Really, when I was coming up with the pattern, I was approaching it as if it were a manuscript page -- just one that happened to be made out of glass. It gave me much more license for detail.

Is stained glass window making your day job or do you do other work as well?

For the last two years, it was my day job. A couple of months ago, I started working full-time at a local coffee shop in the hopes of saving up enough money to buy better equipment. I've come to realize recently that part-time is a much better idea. I won't save as quickly, but at least I won't have to refuse commissions. Besides that, I occasionally draw tattoos for people, and do book layouts for a few publisher friends.

Transom Shield >> << Mike's Glass

How long would it take you to make a piece like Transom Shield if you could work without distraction, and how long for a smaller piece like Mike's Glass?

That Transom Shield originally took me nine months; but that was because I'd never worked on that scale, put it off a bit, and let life distract me. Uninterrupted, I could probably get it done in less than a month -- provided I had all the materials and equipment I needed. Something like Mike's Glass, though...an hour and a half.

Quite a few of your pieces have a spiral design, is there any significance to this design?

Quite a bit. First off, it's just that I'm stubborn and was told that spirals can't be made in leaded glass. True it's tricky, but I've found a couple different ways to make it work. But second, it's just that they're such an important element of Irish and Celtic art that I couldn't possibly do without them. Essentially, the spiral pattern represents the living energy of the world. If I want to illustrate the magic connecting two things together, I'll use a spiral to try and draw attention to that. But I'll also use spirals if I just want to show the raw natural force and movement of a thing, like in Tine Chnámh or The Ninth Wave -- the first is a great bonfire and the second a mythical storm.

The Ninth Wave >> Tine Chnamh >>
An Crois Snaidhm >>

When people come to you for a commission do they often have the design and colours selected or do you have room for your own creative designs?

I've been given pretty free reign so far. On the Transom Shield, the only thing that was requested was that it fit into the space provided, have the family's last initial at the center, and be Irish. On Tine Chnámh, I was just told what I'd be making it for (a wedding gift). I'm usually just given something vague, like "make it fiery," or "I like the ocean." The most specific commission I've yet to receive was for the windchime, and 95% of that pattern is still my design.

What kind of reaction have you had from customers you have sold your work to?

It's varied. Most of the commissioned work I've done has been as a gift for someone else entirely, so the commissioner themself isn't the person it's being made for. I never see a reaction in that situation. But in the case of Tine Chnámh, I was made to present it myself at the wedding, and the bride started to cry when she realized it was for her.

I love the colour combinations in your designs. For example, An Crois Snaidhm is a beautiful piece, the colours work wonderfully. Do your colour combinations come naturally to you or is it a case of trial and error to some extent?

Oh, it's trial an error. It used to be much more error, before I figured out to scan the pattern into Photoshop and play around with it a bit. That's stopped me from making a few very hideous decisions in the past. Sometimes though -- like in the case of An Bradán Feasa -- it was actually the colors that came to mind first, and then I figured out a story and pattern to best express those colors. So, I guess it's a bit like songwriting...sometimes it's the melody that comes first, and sometimes it the words. Or the record deal. Hehe.