Ask Me Anything - I mean it!

There’s a phrase I use in almost every class: “I do zero resource guarding.” It sounds like something out of a dog training manual, and with three dogs in my home, that’s exactly where I got it. But it’s the most accurate way I know to describe how I teach.

Here’s what I mean: ask me anything. Where do I buy my glass? Happy to tell you. What tools do I actually use versus what’s just nice to have? I’ll walk you through all my choices and reasoning. Why do I do a technique a certain way — using ball chain, the substrate I pick for a given project, how I mix or select grout? I’ll explain my reasoning, and I’ll tell you when it’s just personal preference versus when there’s a real reason behind it.

Where I Actually Shop

Since I get asked constantly, here’s the real list — no gatekeeping, no “trade secret” nonsense:

• Big M Glass Art in Tacoma — my local go-to for stained glass, and where half my best “the glass told me what it wanted to be” stories start.

• Delphi Glass – I watch for their sales on 12 x 12 sheets of VanGogh glass in particular, and their catalog specials in general are worth checking regularly.

• Mosaic Trader — where I get all my pre-formed glass tiles. They simply offer the best price, and I stock up for extra savings.

• AnythingInStainedGlass.com — another reliable source for sheet glass, and they have very fair prices for shipping.

• Ballchain.com — that domain name probably means they were early adopters of internet sales! My only sadness is they don’t offer multicolored ball chain.

• Panda Hall – a wholesale source for bezels and beads. The exact same items often turn up on Amazon or at Michaels with a markup added on, so I go straight to where they’re sourcing from.

• Amazon — glue, syringes, tub o’towels – the constant flow of necessary supplies. Auto ship helps with the savings, as does a business account.

• Hardware stores and restaurant supply stores — not exactly mosaic suppliers, but I’ve found genuinely useful items in both – cups for grout kits, grout, gloves, baggies, and so on.

• Woodpeckers Crafts – wooden substrates. They’re a family owned, fairly priced, well stocked company, and they do custom orders (like the substrate for this year’s new holiday trees class!).

• Random places – Facebook marketplace, garage sales, festivals, when I’m traveling.
  

The Part People Don’t See: Sourcing for Affordability

I work hard to source at the best price I can because I want my classes to stay affordable. That’s not an accident — it’s a deliberate, ongoing effort, and it’s worth explaining because it drives some choices you might not otherwise understand.

Take silicone for an outdoor class. I could hand everyone a full tube — easy, no thinking required. A 2.8 oz tube runs about $9–10. Instead, I buy 10 oz tubes for $11 and portion it out into 20-cent syringes. Less waste, both of the adhesive itself and the packaging that comes with it. Whatever’s left in a syringe at the end of class, I use on my own work at home. If I can recycle the syringes, I do that too. It’s more effort on my end so that the class stays priced most fairly for you.

Same logic applies to buying in bulk. Ball chain doesn’t go bad, so I don’t buy it in small increments — I buy 1,000 feet at a time, because it’s 26 cents a foot that way instead of 34. That’s a real savings that adds up across a season of classes, one I can pass along.

None of this is glamorous. But it’s real work, and it’s part of why I don’t mind telling people exactly where I shop — the value I’m bringing isn’t a secret source, it’s the time I’ve already spent finding the best one.

Why I Don’t Guard Any of This

There’s a version of scarcity thinking that says if I tell why and how I do things or where I shop, you don’t need me anymore — you’ll just go make your own mosaics and skip my classes. Knowing where I shop doesn’t teach you what I’ve learned from thousands of hours of hands-on work — how to see a design, how to know when a piece is done, how to fix something that’s gone sideways. Information isn’t the same as skill, and skill is what people are actually paying for when they take a class.

It’s the same with technique. Someone will ask why I outline a design with ball chain instead of just cutting glass tight to the line, and I’ll tell them exactly why: the wire disappears under the grout, so it reads as a row of individual beads, and once that outline is set, you don’t have to cut your glass as precisely — the chain is already doing the defining, the glass just has to color inside it. That’s not a trick I’m protecting. It’s a trick I want every student walking out the door with, because the more of those they collect, the better their next piece gets, with or without me in the room.

Also, teaching isn’t a competition with my students. I’m not trying to stay one step ahead of you by keeping you slightly in the dark. I want you to leave class able to keep going on your own, whether that means taking another class with me or setting up a card table in your basement with a box of scrap from Marketplace. I’m just happy you’re continuing to be creative!

Other mosaic artists and teachers do things differently than I do, in ways that work just as well for them. There’s no one right way to source glass or run a class. I share my approach not because I think it’s gospel, but because I hope it will help as a student builds their own version of how they want to work.

So: ask me anything. I mean it.

Ready to see it in person? Full class schedule at hendersonartsllc.com.