Fred Baze
Clarinda, Iowa
(712) 542-4587
The Stained Glass Shoppe was founded in 1986 with the long range plan to provide supplemental income when it came time to retire from my job with a utility company. I always did woodworking and remodeling of our homes in the past. Also I had always admired stained glass and when an adult education class opened teaching the art to beginners I immediately signed up. After learning the basics of lead and copper foil methods and making a few small projects I was really hooked and started making larger projects (ie: windows, lamps, jewelry boxes, etc.)
After about 5 years of working with stained glass my dream of someday starting an in home business became a reality when my company announced an early retirement that was just too good to pass up.
After retiring in late 1991 I decided to remodel my work area and really get serious about stained glass. Since the nearest stained glass outlet was 85 miles away I decided to stock glass and supplies as well as continuing my work on glass panels, windows and consignment projects. The quality of my work continued to improve to the point that the local community college called and asked if I would consider teaching adult education classes.
Since I have been a woodworker from my teen years, I started making solid wood frames (ie: oak, walnut, cherry, etc.) for some of my commissions. This gradually led to the restoration and releading of old windows that had deteriorated from age or mistreatment. This sometimes requires a lot of time and research searching for matching glass to repair broken windows. This is sometimes frustrating when I can't find the repair glass I want. But is also very rewarding when everything comes together and I can put the piece back in service.
Then in about 1990 my eldest daughter Pam wanted to learn stained glass. So after giving her a few lessons she set out to be a glass artist also and now works from her home shop in Papillion, NE where she is also a full time Occupational Therapist. We now work shows and market stained and fused glass and jewelry together.
Pam Honken
Papillion, Nebraska
(402) 332-8434
The gift of creating beautiful pieces of art out of glass is one that was inspired by my father, Fred Baze. As a Navy spouse, flexibility is a way of life that is a necessity every day. As an Occupational Therapist or a glass artist my creativity is allowed to blossom and develop as time goes by.
After completing my first foiled project under
the instruction of my father, I very quickly became hooked on glass. I
started out in 1990, working out of a small shed off a carport in
Pensacola, Florida but didn’t actually start creating commission pieces
until after our second daughter was born in 1991. From
