Interview Series: Week 10 - Moxnme

The responses are winding down, and I'm nearly at the end of them, sadly.  From what I have in my Inbox, I only have two left after this one.  I will of course refresh the call on the sites I have them on, and once again, if you know of anyone who does any kind of hand-crafted work and sells it, and would like to have their work and their story featured on my blog, please, please have them contact me!  I can be reached via the messaging on Facebook, Zibbet, MadeItMyself, Etsy, or by email; links are to the side riiiiiiiiiiiight over there ----->

For now, this week, I'd like to present Moxnme of Zibbet and her incredible glass work.

Name: Michelle (moxnme)
Craft: Stained Glass
Favorite material (or medium, whatever you want to call it!): Stained Glass
Most Popular Seller (whether it be online or at shows): Screenbugs – little glass bugs that go on your patio or window screen.  They keep birds and people from walking through the screen and also look neat and sparkle in the sunlight

 

 
Stained Glass ScreenBugs
Cute, creepy, and an absolutely awesome idea!

 

What got you into your craft?

I have always admired the intricacy of stained glass. The ability to cut glass and make a beautiful piece of art- it’s almost like creating a puzzle.

 

How did you learn your craft?

My mother has always done stained glass and when I had the financial means to support the craft I asked her to teach and mentor me.

 

 

Stained Glass Butterfly
I would love to see this beautiful gem in the sun!

 

What about YOU? Who is the artist behind those wonderful items?

I am an artist at heart; I have always been interested and surrounded by art my entire life. I have probably dabbled in all art forms but the ones that I love are painting, stained glass and sewing. I graduated from York University with a Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree and majored in Painting and sculpture. I am happily married to my husband Adam and we have a Black Lab named Moxie.

 

Stained Glass Dragonfly
Is it just me, or would anyone else get several of these and hang them in their garden, or their flowerbeds –
same with her Ladybug, Butterfly and Flower – or better, a combination of all of them?

 

What is a typical "working" day for you? How does it usually start and end? How many hours do you spend crafting? How many hours do you spend on other things? What about distractions? I know we all have them! Do you usually accomplish all you wanted to?

Well, my time is split between a part time office job and my art. I would say that work is the biggest distraction that takes me away from my art so I need to focus on my days off and weekends. My goal is to one day do my art full time but for now it’s part time. The stained glass process is quite lengthy and can take many days to complete a project so a typical day is hard to describe.

What happens when you Oops? Everyone gets one sometime or another! Do you get frustrated and destroy/start over, or do you go with the flow and see what comes out in the end?

When I have an oops it’s usually because the glass is not cutting or cooperating with me. When this happens it’s usually best to walk away or move on to something else and retackle it later. Usually I need to step back and recut the piece in a different way or choose a different glass altogether.

 

Stained Glass Panel
This would look adorable as a centerpiece in a paned window, or even better, as the pane in a bathroom window to offer light, privacy and a bit of sparkle! 

 

What is your design process like? How many tries does it take to be happy with the final product?

Every stained glass piece begins with an idea, and then transforming the idea into a concrete design begins with sketches. After a design comes together on paper I begin to experiment with glass color combinations. Once the design has been approved and the glass has been chosen I begin to cut out the pieces.  I then grind each piece to give the edge a rough surface, then wash and dry each piece to remove glass dust, I copper foil each piece, and begin to re assemble the design and solder the piece together on front and back.  Every piece has an element of trial and error, but there are so many steps that if something’s not right there is always time to change.

 Stained Glass Orange Bird
Adorable.  Not much else one can say! It even comes in other colors!

 

What is your greatest roadblock, be it government regulation or that little frustrating thing that just likes to sneak up and stop you in your tracks? Broken needle? Jump ring jumping out of your pliers? Thread knots? Cats? Dogs? The family hedgehog rolled about in your yarn basket?

Time is my greatest roadblock. I have a million ideas but lack the time to complete them all. For example, I have an armoire that has wooden insert in the doors, I took the inserts out last summer to make stained glass inserts however I had to put the wood back at Christmas time since I was having company and hadn’t completed it. Someday I will tackle this…

All important pricing... Do you have a formula? Do you wing it? Do you feel your work justifies your prices?

I do have a formula that I use. It takes into account the size/square footage of the piece, the number of cuts, supplies and my time. I have trouble with figuring out how to charge for my time but I am working on this.

 

Stained Glass Window
*jaw drops* *gapes* I'm not sure I should even try to SAY anything…

 

And of course, is there anything else you'd like to say to our "viewers at home"?

If you have a passion stick with it, don’t be afraid of failure because if you’re having fun it’s a success!

 

Thank you, Michelle, for sharing your story and your work, and as always, thank you for helping spread the message that hand-crafters are not machines, but hand-craft beautiful things that deserve as much, or more, attention than anything machine-made.

Make sure to visit Michelle at www.moxnme.com or at Moxnme on Zibbet.