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Demonstration planned during
Artifactory on December 3
IP TILS'
Section Two
'Bandaids
by the gross"
Monica Jones of Heppner concen
trates as she brushes flux on her
stained glass butterfly in prep
aration for soldering on its anten
nae. A beginner, Monica said the
insect is her eighth small project
and she intends to start a lamp in
January. Note her left index finger.
The Sweek brothers joked that they
bought bandaids "by the gross."
. The Sweek brothers display an ambitious first project by a student. This stained glass window
A first Student project was designe(j an(j constructed by Judy Laughlin of Heppner in an eight month period. Mike Sweek (1)
built the frame that encloses their student's handiwork.
Morrow County's award winning newspaper..
kXPiD II 11 ill 11 I
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Page Nine
TiffanY for ChrUtina Greg Sweek cuts a small piece of glass to fit into the colorful and intricate
J J"' nrisirnus Tiffany patterned lamp he is constructing. The stained glass masterpiece
will be a Christmas gift "If I get it done in time," Greg commented.
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November 17, 1977
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Heppner, Oregon
Story and
photos by
Elane Blanchet
Creating with
stained glass
u
r r
Mike Sweek snips a bit of copper foil
to wrap around the pieces of colored
glass which make up the hanging
lamp he is creating. Portions of the
unassembled lamp can be seen in
the foreground.
Greg and Mike Sweek of Heppner are
stained glass craftsmen creating
items of great beauty out of glass,
copper and lead. They are sure to be a
crowd pleaser at the Artifactory on
Saturday, Dec. 3, where they plan to
demonstrate their craft throughout the
day.
The brothers work on their sparetime
activity in a small shop in the basement
of Mike's house on Court Street,
surrounded by colored glass of every
hue, shape and texture, rolls of copper
and lead, soldering iron, pattern and
lamp forms. On Monday, Wednesday
and Thursday nights a total of 15
students invade the basement, eager to
learn the stain-glass craft.
"If you can't stand failure, this isn't
the class for you," Mike Sweek
commented. "Glass is an unpredictible
quality." He added that fear of glass
was the biggest obstacle for the
beginner to overcome.
The Sweeks estimate that they have
about $4,000 worth of inventory tied up
in stained glass supplies, mostly in
glass itself. They call their craft "the
hobby that grew."
Greg became interested in the
craftsmanship aspect of stained glass
while in college at Oregon State
University, and, after returning to
Heppner taught himself how to creat
stained glass items out of a book about
4V2 years ago. Within six months,
brother Mike caught stained-glass
fever.and a joint venture was born.
While the Sweeks sell some of their
items, they admit that so far their best
products have been gifts. A lamp
patterned after a Tiffany design took
Greg 400 hours to complete and is now
hanging in their parents' house in
Heppner. A window they considered
their best is installed in the bathroom of
the same house.
The Sweek brothers are actually a
poor bet to be stained glass craftsmen
since Mike is partially color-blind and
Greg admits he has a very poor color
sense. They both rely on their mother
Lillian as color consultant.
"Most of the cost of stained glass is in
the labor," commented Mike. Only
about $50 or $60 worth of glass may go
into a lamp worth $450. The most either'
brother has sold either a window or a
lamp for is $250, underscoring the fact
that their most time-consuming pro
ducts are either given away or kept.
The Sweeks have never advertised
either their stained glass products or
classes. Word-of-mouth has brought in
about 40 students in the past three years
i
and all window or lamp customers have
heard about the craftsmen in the same
way.
Most beginners have a certain
project in mind when they take the
45-hour class, though their two instruc
tors may start them on a simpler item,
such as a small stained glass butterfly,
to give them confidence and teach the
basic skills involved. The hardest part
in stained glass work, the brothers say,
is cutting the glass and learning to cope
with failure when the brittle substance
breaks in the wrong place several times
in a row.
The Sweeks and their students use
two techniques in assembling stained
glass products. Lamps and indoor
windows are put together by wrapping
the edges of the glass pieces with
copper foil and then soldering them.
This method creates the strongest bond
and is the one that was used for Tiffany
lamps. A window that will be exposed to
weather extremes must have a more
flexible bond to allow for contraction
and expansion of the glass. Lead pieces
with grooves are then used to fit the
glass together.
Patterns for lamps are often derived
from Tiffany and are modified when
desired. Neither brother likes to do the
same thing twice, so if an order comes
in for an item one of them had already
done, the other brother takes over.
Both Sweeks were born and raised in
Heppner, the sons of Ned and Lillian
Sweek. Mike graduated from Heppner
High School in 1965 and Greg in 1970. '
Both are also graduates of Oregon State
University, Mike in Biology and Greg in
Range Management. Mike is married
and his wife Judy also works with
stained glass.
Greg is employed as a county
appraiser and Mike as a fork lift
operator at Kinzua. In addition to their
stained glass hobby, both brothers also
keep bees. Mike makes rugs and works
with wood, constructing frames for
many student projects.
"We have arrived at the present state
of our stained glass enterprise entirely
by accident. We had no premeditated
path," commented Mike.
Accident or not, words don't do
justice to the intricacy, and beauty that
result from the Sweeks' spare time
activity.
Seeing is believing, so everyone is
invited to watch the brother craftsmen
at work during their all-day demonstra
tion at the Artifactory on Saturday,
Dec. 3, in the Catholic Parish Hall.
.