General

My new collection of stained glass Christmas tree decorations is now ready!

This year all my pieces have been hand-painted and fired in the kiln, made either with streaky stained glass or ‘Tatra’ glass which allows plenty of coloured light through from your Christmas tree lights.

My favourite pieces are a collection of eight British woodland animals including a hare, badger, barn owl, fox, harvest mouse, fallow deer, red squirrel and hedgehog. I think they’re rather cute (!) and evoke feelings of cosiness (many of the designs feature the animals curled up asleep) and celebrate the start of the winter season in the Devon countryside.

Other Christmas tree decorations include a set of candles, holly, stars and Christmas trees with a geometric abstract pattern, all hand painted on brightly coloured stained glass.

For an exotic, alternative Christmas I’ve also designed some red and green chilli pepper Christmas tree decorations for those chilli lovers out there!

I hope you enjoy browsing through this year’s Christmas items. I  make all pieces to order in 1 – 2 weeks, so if you’d like to purchase any please visit my shop and place your order by 9th December at the latest if you’d like them in time for Christmas!

 

One of the most uplifting and creative movements in 2020 amongst all the sadness and angst is the ‘The rainbow campaign’. People all around the world have been putting up rainbows for everyone else to see to help people get through social distancing and loneliness,  sending out a message saying ‘everything will be OK’.

Before it all kicked off in March 2020 I had made a stained glass rainbow emerging from clouds for my 6 month old daughter’s nursery. I hand painted her name on one of the red strands to add a personal touch to her rainbow.

Since then I’ve had requests from people wanting some uplifting nursery rainbow pieces for their own babies and young children’s bedrooms. I managed to get hold of some non-lead solder as a safety precaution too.

The rainbow and cloud sun catches serve a dual purpose, sending out a re-assuring and uniting message on their windows to neighbours and passers-by.

I’d like to take a personal thanks to all who have helped us through this difficult time – in particular NHS and key workers – who have selflessly been battling the pandemic for the benefit of us all.

I’ve been able to self isolate at home and have found solace in my workshop – rainbow making, as it turns out, can bring one a great deal of comfort.

 

Landscapes work wonderfully well in stained glass. The colourful mosaic pattern of fields, the lines dividing the horizon and sea, the curves of country roads, dark shapes of coppices and woodland…

So I was delighted when I was approached to design and make a landscape piece of the Lambourn valley in West Berkshire. The Lambourn Valley Way runs from the Berkshire Downs near the Uffington White Horse to Newbury along the valley of the River Lambourn connecting the Ridgeway with the Kennet valley.

In the spring the area is filled with fields of beautiful lilac coloured linseed flowers in contrast with bright yellow oil seed rape fields. The client was looking for a special gift for her father’ 70th birthday, who regularly walks this valley with his two dogs.

Using a photograph provided and taking inspiration from landscape painter Anna Dillon, I divided up landscape into a patchwork of colours and patterns.

I choose bright and varied patterned glass to create a vibrant landscape stained glass sun catcher.

The client’s dad was delighted:

“I received the most beautiful birthday present from my children of a fabulous panel Maya did based of one of my photographs of the Lambourn valley. Thank you so much for such a lovely interpretation. It was a surprise and a big thrill… It is hanging in the window right in front of the chair I sit in most often and is a joy every time I look up!”

 

Over the last few months I’ve been working on a commission for an outdoor garden feature.  The brief was a stained glass leaf design to go above a garden door in the back of the client’s terraced house in York.

I designed a single curling fern pattern, and chose a variety of earthy green mottled glass that would show up some beautiful patterns in the light beaming into their back garden.

The transom piece was installed above their wooden garden door with a piece of shatter-proof glass on the outside to protect it from the wind and outdoor elements.

After agreeing the design, the first stage involved drawing out the pattern to scale on a flat board – this is called a cartoon. I then selected the glass, and cut and ground each piece by hand to fit the cartoon.

Once the pieces were cut, the next step involved applying copper foil around the edge of each piece before soldering the all together with flux and lead.

Here it is before installation in the workshop after I finished soldering it – the client was pleased (-:

“We were overjoyed which the stained glass piece Maya crafted for us, it exceeded all expectations…we enjoy it every day!”

January has been a reflective time to think about a new spring collection of seaside sun catchers after the busy Christmas period.

One of my best sellers lately has been the painted fish spiral sun catcher. I’ve decided to make a new design of a fish with striking and beautiful colours: the mackerel.

Last summer I witnessed the arrival of a large shoal of mackerel off the Slapton Ley in Devon’s South Hams. Occasional tails would flip out of the water, and crowds of seabirds were attracted from miles around for an easy meal. The shoal forced smaller fish like sandeel, herring and sprats to the surface, making it look as if sections of the sea were boiling.

My partner managed to catch a few mackerel fishing from the shore which were delicious on our BBQ later that evening!

The beautiful iridescent colours and patterns of the mackerel’s skin on their top dorsal are the focus of my next sun catcher.

The stained glass mackerel will have hand-painted black zebra-like vertical stripes on it’s back, fired in the kiln at around 660 degrees C. I have some fantastic textured glass ready for the fins and tail, and a greeny-blue iridescent glass for the top half the mackerel’s back.

I can’t wait to get started!

The new mackerel sun catcher will be available in my shop and on Etsy this summer so watch this space…