Sallie Derr
Hello, my name is Sallie Derr and I am a glass artist from York, PA, working with stained and
fused glass. I learned these skills over two decades ago while living and working in Washington,DC. Starting with stained glass, I acquired the knowledge needed to follow the Tiffany method of making panels, where each piece of glass is carefully cut and then wrapped in a thin copper foil before being soldered together. Commissioned pieces began to be requested primarily for windows, transoms and, believe it or not, pet portraits, and Bent Light Stained Glass was born.
People often ask why I’ve called my business by this name, and the answer is simple. When the sunlight hits the colored glass, it actually bends in a way that allows the colors to change as the light moves. If you watch the sun shining through a church window for a period of several hours, you will notice that as the light moves, the colors change as well. The light is bending as it penetrates through the glass.
Finally, I also design and make fused glass art. This is a process of placing two layers of glass into a kiln and letting it heat up to 1400 degrees which then melts the two pieces into one. After that process is completed (which takes about 12 hours), the piece is placed onto a mold and goes back into the kiln for another 10 hours or so. Finally, if there are decorations to be put onto the glass, this is when it’s done and then one last trip to the kiln so that the glass melts enough for the basic shape and the decorative pieces to melt just enough to stick to each other.