Noa Perez

My first stained glass: from a lemon to lily of the valley

How I got into stained glass — from a little lemon discovered in a workshop to a glass lily of the valley imagined as a gift.

A stained-glass sprig of lily of the valley, pink bells and green leaves, in a green vase

Stained glass had been calling to me for a long time. I had read a great deal about the technique — but before investing in all the equipment to work at home, I wanted to handle the glass for real. So I started with a discovery workshop, over a single weekend.

The lemon, to learn

At the workshop, the tools were introduced to me one by one — the glass cutter, the grinder, the soldering iron — and I made a first little lemon. There’s nothing like doing to understand: that’s where the logic of the method clicked, from cutting all the way to soldering.

Glass pieces laid on the drawn pattern
1. The pattern, then the glass cut piece by piece
Wrapping copper foil around a glass piece
2. Each piece is wrapped in copper foil
Glass grinder and pieces of glass
3. The grinder trims the edges so everything fits
Soldering iron on the workbench
4. Then soldering with tin, over the copper
Finished stained-glass lemon, yellow glass with green leaves
My very first stained glass: a little lemon.

That lemon won me over. Right away, I invested in the equipment and got started at home.

The lily of the valley, a gift

Lily of the valley is my favourite flower. When a friend hosted me in Berlin in early May, it became obvious: I would bring back a sprig of it in glass.

The idea of a stained glass “as a bouquet” — set in a vase rather than hung on a window — meant solving two or three puzzles.

Cutting the small glass pieces
1. Cutting each little bell and each leaf
Glass bells wrapped in copper
2. Grinding to round them off, then the copper foil
Assembling the glass sprig of lily of the valley
3. Soldering the bells onto the stem, one by one
The stained-glass lily of the valley on a balcony, in full light
The finished piece — in the sun, the glass does exactly what it’s made for.

I loved the result so much that I made two versions: one for my friend, one for me. That’s exactly what I like about this piece — modern, easy to keep at home, and it doesn’t need to replace a window to catch the light.

The lemon and the lily of the valley in stained glass, hung by a window
My first two pieces, together in the daylight.

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