About Me - Penny Stevens

I make a range of objects from bathroom tiles, wall lamps, clocks, window inserts, wall-art plaques and cooker splash-backs to bowls, platters, jewellery, garden screens and Christmas decorations for craft fairs and charitable events, art work for the gallery in Woburn and many more.

This autumn I have started passing on my passion for glass to other would-be glass enthusiasts by running a series of one-day and half-day taster workshop courses.

Look for me on CRAFT COURSES.

The 'Through the Arch" studio is in a small village in Buckinghamshire where I hold the workshops and open-studio events. 

I have developed my love-of-glass hobby into an engaging and creative small business, making and selling handmade, fused glass gifts and decorations at craft fairs, on line through this site, on Etsy, and Woburn Art Gallery and The Little Art Gallery in Broadstairs, Kent. 

Formerly a teacher and Deputy-Head in a primary school, I am now retired and enjoying taking my artistic talents to new heights. I have always had a love of art and painting, having studied art and biology at university, but the demands of teaching had always got in the way of following my passion in the arts.

My love of the colour and the texture of glass has inspired me to create many unique products in my current range, which is always changing and developing with experience in exploring different materials and processes within the marriage of glass and heat from the kiln.

The Glass-Fusing Process

Glass sheets, precious metals and millefiori beads are often used along with a vast range of coloured glass, dichroic glass, glass powders and Frits (small coloured glass chippings) to create these pieces of glass art. Each glass piece retains its own uniqueness with variations in colour and form. Work with dichroic and iridised glass is also very popular and extremely eye-catching, especially in jewellery.

The process of glass fusing requires glass to be cut, ground at the edges, to shape and remove sharp edges, and then coloured or given texture before placing in a kiln to 'fuse' the layers of glass together. In some cases the piece is then placed in the kiln again over a mould and 'slumped' to take on the form of the mould. During this process the glass is heated carefully to ensure that it is hardened in the process.

The Business is Launched

"Through the Arch" was launched in July 2018 following the purchase of a long-awaited kiln. Having studied Glass Fusing at Hatfield University (on a series of short courses), I had gained experience of working with the wonderful colours that are available in glass but was eager to further develop my creative skills in my own way and in my own studio at home.

Purchasing Glass Art

Some of the items in my gallery are for sale. I would also be delighted to be asked to make pieces for a commission - anything from a coloured bowl to suit your own style, bathroom or kitchen tiles, up to a large set of wall-art plaques, a window or a pair of glass wall lamps. Please contact me to discuss your ideas. If you wish to view any products you would be most welcome.

Contact me to order a commission or visit the studio or you can see a very small range of my products at The Woburn Art Gallery or purchase from my ETSY shop.

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