Pretty puzzles made of glass

Inside a bland storefront on a strip of Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock, a real estate salesman is patiently reinventing himself as a painter of light.

Carefully pressing thin strips of lead around oddly shaped chips of jewel-toned glass, Dave Van Wess of Studio City, whose business cards trumpet him as the “Stained Glass Realtor,” is making a two-dimensional flower bloom on his craft table. After about two years of nighttime lessons at the Stained Glass Supplies Store, Van Wess has already pieced together enough skills -- from the initial design to the delicate cutting of the pre-colored glass to the final welding -- to attract buyers for his compositions.

“This is the most passionate hobby I have ever had,” said Van Wess, gesturing to a photo of one project -- a bunch of grapes -- that he recently sold for more than $1,700.

“Sure, progress for each project is real slow, but when your art hits the light for the first time, everything is brought to life. It’s very moving.”

Dozens of hobbyists have felt that sensation, thanks to Betty Krumal, a 20-year devotee and a stained-glass teacher.

Krumal sees window-making as a kind of healthy addiction, one that has even consumed her husband, Tom. He’ll drop by the store to offer unpaid pointers in exchange for the chance to look over students’ shoulders and maybe pick up some inspiration.

Between the novices, teachers and advanced students, plenty of inspiration gets lobbed around these particleboard craft tables.

Long after the store’s owner has packed it in for the day, experienced artists like Van Wess pore over their shiny jigsaw puzzles at the back of the supply shop, encouraging the first-timers who have never picked up a pair of breaking pliers and have no idea what a pistol-grip cutter is. Rabbis, ministers, actors and dermatologists sit side by side, joking, encouraging, even singing.

“Betty is incredible,” Van Wess explained. “I don’t necessarily need to be taking classes anymore, but she makes classes fun, and with the mixture of people we get, with different experience levels, we inspire each other, give each other ideas.”

Stained glass isn’t the only art taught here. Other classes specialize in bead making, fusing -- the art of melding glass together to create patterns -- or mosaics. Hobbyists can even learn “slumping”: firing a flat piece of glass until it folds into a certain shape, like a plate or a bowl.

But snapshots plastered over the store walls make it clear that stained glass is the most popular.

Hundreds of colorful photos, mostly of students’ work, hang along the back wall, from complicated portraits of animals to Craftsman-style geometrics.

The shop doesn’t seem like a place to create such ethereal art. It looks something like an eccentric granddad’s hobby room, with oddly shaped shears, cutters and hammers scattered over the tables and Muzak wafting from an unseen radio. A bowl of silicon-based castoffs sits in a corner with a sign that reads: “Please help yourself. If I could help myself, I would need neither therapy nor beer.”

Krumal’s class schedule has no official first or last day. Instead she runs her classes twice daily, three days a week, and acolytes simply show up until they don’t feel like it anymore. Some, like Van Wess, have devoted years.

It’s a high compliment, given that Krumal isn’t cheap; eight weeks costs $75, not including materials and tools, which usually cost at least $35 more. And students are expected to pay for all classes in advance, with no refunds for missed time.

It can take weeks to create a single piece. Newcomers expecting to cobble together a medieval angel in two hours will likely have their expectations, well, shattered.

At one recent class, a young couple spent their first hour at the shop just learning how to cut thin pieces of clear “practice glass,” fumbling with straight cutters, small round-headed hammers and other unfamiliar tools.

About 90 minutes in, Krumal finally declared them ready to trace their first design on paper -- the initial step for any stained-glass piece. Their maiden masterpiece would be the size of a sheet of paper and show a simple motif like a frolicking kitten or a basic bunch of squares.

At the next table over, a makeup artist from Eagle Rock struggled with Tom Krumal to lock down the exact measurements for a new window for her house. Tina Roesler Kerwin owns one of the area’s many early 20th century homes influenced by the Arts and Crafts style, and she wants her decor to match.

That night, though, her task seemed daunting. One mistake and Kerwin would be stuck with a painstakingly crafted window too big for its frame. But she smiled, unfazed. “This is therapy,” Kerwin said. “This is a break from the real job, and we all need a creative outlet.”

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Stained Glass Supplies

What: Stained-glass lessons for all experience levels

Where: 2104 Colorado Blvd.,

Eagle Rock

When: 9 a.m. to noon and 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.

Cost: $75 for eight weeks, not including glass, tools and other supplies

Contact: (323) 254-4361