Custom Cars (and Other Fun Stuff) in Glass

WAITSBURG – With its cheery red, white, and green checked floors and the reflected light of stained glass bouncing off the soft green walls, it's no wonder Leslie Nichols has dubbed her stained glass studio her "happy place." The small getaway, carved out of a corner of the family shop, serves as an artistic sanctuary for the Waitsburg mom of four.

Nichols said she has always been artistic but felt a particular draw to stained glass as a medium.

"I just love all the colors and textures, and the way they look once they're all put together. There are so many possibilities," she said.

Nichols learned the basics of stained glass art many years ago, under the direction of Michael McCoy, when she lived in Moscow, Ida. McCoy is a second-generation stained glass artist and owner of Essential Glass Works in Moscow.

McCoy taught stained glass classes for many years before discovering fused glass, his current favored medium. Nichols took several classes from McCoy and later began helping him fill orders. She still helps him out by working on stained glass items people bring in for repairs.

Nichols said the restoration projects are especially challenging since they must be taken apart and matched with old or reproduction glass before being put back together. She much prefers creating new items, especially those of her own design.

Her current goal is to finish a piece for Dry Creek Farms that she started nine years ago, just before she and her husband left for China to adopt their youngest son. The intricate piece is one she designed using the farm's logo as a base. It includes a farm truck, silos, lettering and wheat stalks with each kernel in the wheat heads cut from individual pieces of glass.

Now that her children are older Nichols is ready to see the project completed.

Nichols says she mostly makes pieces for friends or family, and doesn't get to keep many of her creations. She was commissioned to make a window hanging featuring Jeff Gordon's race car and another of a show car belonging to her brother-in-law.

She is currently working on a piece for her brother, featuring a vintage pickup truck. The process she employs is not for the impatient.

Nichols blows up a photo of the subject and traces it onto tissue to make a pattern. She then divides the pattern into pieces, which she numbers and cuts out, individually. Each piece is then placed on a sheet of glass, outlined with a white marker and cut with a diamond-head glass cutter.

She uses a grinder to take the sharp edges off of the pieces and to help shape the smallest pieces such as taillights. Each piece is then placed on a grid and re-shaped to make sure they fit properly into the frame. The edges of each piece are then wrapped in foil, down to the smallest wheat kernel.

Finally, a soldering medium is applied to the foil and the piece is soldered together. The time investment in each piece is immense and the cost of glass varies considerably depending on the type used.

Nichols said she especially loves making lampshades and has two that are being used as displays in Carpet One in Walla Walla.

"This is really more of a hobby, though I've always wanted to teach. Now that the kids are older, I'm cleaning out the studio and trying to get back into it. Who knows what will happen," she said.