Heller's Blazing Star

Creating custom art is all about translating an idea into reality. My clients came to me with their friend’s cabinet door; they had accidentally broken the glass and wanted me to make something beautiful to replace it. Their friend works at Grandfather Mountain and loves all kinds of nature, animals, and plants. One type of flower, called Heller’s Blazing Star, is really special to her since it grows in just a few places, one of which is on Grandfather Mountain. When they shared a picture of it with me, I fell in love with the spindly purple flowers and green leaves. We talked about how it might look to create the flower portion out of fused glass and then build the rest of the window using a traditional stained glass construction technique. We went back and forth with some designs and settled on one that kept the flower central and used a complementary and equally interesting glass for the outer portion. For harmony, I decided to carry over the same purple of the flower for the squares in the border. I am grateful to have connected with a professional local photographer, Robin Stenson, at 3 am Media, who took this photograph for me. I can’t wait to hear what their friend thinks when she receives this thoughtful gift!