Those who live in glass houses should not only refrain from throwing stones, but they should also never walk around naked. Cloak yourself in creative inspiration with today’s Groupon to Glassique architectural-glass design studio. Choose between the following options:
- For $49, you get a two-day introduction to glass-mosaic-making class (a $125 value).
- For $49, you get a two-day advancing in glass-mosaic-making class (a $145 value).
Both classes include two four-hour sessions; check the schedule for a list of available dates.
Glassique’s owner and glass guru Richard Heath and his team of associated artists fuse more than 60 years of experience into their intimate glass-design and fabrication classes. During the two sessions of the introduction to mosaics class, students learn techniques to create their own light-catching creations from instructor Gretchen Fuller, using glass blown by a dragon held captive in the basement. After covering the basics of mosaic design, cutting glass, and the use of special tools, pupils grout and finish a trivet, small wall decoration, or coaster to take home. In the advancing in mosaics class, intermediate-level students create tabletops ideal for gardens or terraces using the indirect method, in which artists make smooth, flat surfaces and dodge questions about grouting. Advancing in Mosaics students may provide their own tabletops or order them from Glassique prior to class; all other glass and supplies for the classes are provided by Glassique.
Inside Glassique’s intimate design studio, light filters through stained-glass artistry and spills color onto the tables. In addition to teaching students, the resident team of artists styles custom entry doors that open like the growing confidence of their student creators.
Glassique
In 1979, a job repairing and restoring church windows illuminated Richard Heath's passion for glass art, which is now embodied in his design and teaching studio, Glassique. Working with the church's leaded glass spurred Heath to earn a certificate in the restoration of Tiffany works and delve into other fabrication methods such as fusing and foiling. Thereafter, he opened Glassique's first incarnation in San Diego and announced the event by making the stained-glass sign that still decorates the shop.
Missing family, Heath relocated Glassique to be with his four children in Seattle, settling the business in a 2,000-square-foot showroom with a studio for the creation of original commissions and custom reproductions. He and a small team of artists also hold comprehensive 2-D glass art classes. Heath's intricate commissioned work—including a glass portrait of John Wayne—proves that he thinks big. “We don’t teach little things,” Heath told Maple Leaf Life in 2011. “We teach the real art of stained glass.”