10/08/2026
From a Crate of Abandoned Glass to a Community of Makers
A few years ago, Hustle and Flow started with a crate of abandoned glass in my garage and permission from my mom to make art with it.
I didn’t have a grand plan.
I just had this glass.
And I wanted to see what I could make.
That little collection of forgotten pieces grew into a creative adventure. I started making stained glass, then packing my work into the car and caravanning up and down the Oregon coast as a vendor at festivals, markets, and events.
I loved the adventure of it.
I loved meeting people, finding new places, setting up my little booth, and watching someone stop in their tracks because a piece of glass caught their eye.
But somewhere along the way, something changed.
I discovered that I love teaching even more.
There is something extraordinary about watching someone walk into a class and say,
“I’m not creative.”
And then a few hours later, they’re holding something they made.
Their thing.
Something that didn’t exist before they walked through the door.
And there’s this little shift that happens.
Maybe it’s pride.
Maybe it’s surprise.
Maybe it’s the realization that perhaps I am creative after all.
That’s what I’m really excited about building.
My classes have a little bit of that paint-and-sip feeling.
We come in.
We put some music on.
We talk.
We laugh.
We mix and match beautiful pieces of glass.
There are colors and textures everywhere, and somehow the table becomes this giant palette.
Nobody needs to arrive knowing how to make art.
Nobody needs to have a “creative personality.”
We just start playing.
And somewhere along the way, something new is born.
Confidence is found.
Camaraderie happens.
People make things.
And I get to watch it happen.
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So Why Witchstarter?
Because I have more ideas than I have hours.
New patterns are constantly bubbling up. Creatures, ornaments, installations, class projects, experiments, things I’ve never made before.
I want the time to develop those ideas.
I want the materials to prototype them.
I want enough variety of glass on hand that my students can make real creative choices instead of working around whatever happens to be available.
And I want to keep building classes where people can come together, learn something new, and experience that moment of:
“I made this.”
Glass is an expensive medium, and material costs keep rising. Every piece of glass I purchase has to serve a purpose, and that can make experimentation difficult.
But experimentation is where new ideas come from.
I want to make room for it.
And this isn’t just about my own creative practice.
Hustle and Flow exists within a much larger creative ecosystem.
I buy materials from my local brick-and-mortar glass studio.
I’m learning new skills from a local lamp builder.
My work goes into local storefronts, helping those businesses create beautiful, interesting spaces.
My classes bring people together.
Students discover skills they didn’t know they had.
And then those people take their creativity back out into the world.
There is a flow.
I learn from someone.
I support their business.
I make something.
Someone else discovers it.
I teach someone.
They discover that they’re creative.
A storefront gets a little more beautiful.
A student leaves with something they made with their own hands.
A piece of glass sitting on a shelf becomes a dinosaur, an ornament, a window, a garden stake, a lamp—or something none of us had imagined yet.
And then the creativity keeps moving.
That’s what I want Witchstarter to support.
Not simply a better-stocked studio.
Not simply more finished pieces.
More capacity for the making.
More time to experiment.
More materials to play with.
More classes.
More teaching.
More learning.
More weird ideas becoming real.
More opportunities for people in our community to sit down, work with their hands, and surprise themselves.
I know times are tight. I don’t take it lightly when someone chooses to spend their hard-earned money supporting a small creative business.
So I want to be transparent about what your support makes possible.
You’re helping turn materials into ideas.
Ideas into art.
Art into experiences.
Experiences into skills.
And skills into more creativity.
You’re not just helping me buy glass.
You’re helping me make more room for the making.
And maybe, somewhere along the way, someone who walks into a class saying “I’m not creative” walks out believing something a little different.
That, to me, is worth building.
StainedGlassClass LearnToMake CreativeCommunity SupportLocalArtists OregonArtists OregonCoast
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/floralei-designs/witchstarter-2026-spooky-season
