Larry Ford has been making and selling stained glass since the 1970s.
His mom was a talented painter and he suspects he got some of his artistic talent from her, even though he didn't use much of that talent growing up.
After high school, he wanted to be a gunsmith, so he moved to Pittsburgh to take classes. He walked past a stained glass studio every day on the way to class.
"I really like hands-on projects, and after seeing what the stained glass shop was doing every day, it really changed my mind about what I wanted to do," he said. "So I quit gunsmithing and tried out stained glass, which I ended up loving."
Mr. Ford had a three-year apprenticeship at Marsal Glass Studio in Pittsburgh and has worked at studios all over the country, from Delaware to California.
"I have sold work that has traveled all over the world," he said. "Someone recently sent me a picture of one of my pieces in Australia, and I know I have a couple in South America."
Before he started working for himself, he held many odd jobs over the years, including fishing, carpentry, brick and tile laying and sign painting.
"I've done all kinds of things," he said. "Just doing stained glass alone hasn't been able to pay all the bills over the years."
After working those jobs and making stained glass art from coast to coast, he came back to Smyrna and purchased a home, which became his headquarters in 1986. The entire first floor is dedicated to his craft.
As an independent artist, he rarely makes non-custom pieces.
"If you come to me with an idea, I can put it into glass," he said. "People usually love what I make for them, and it's great to do something that makes people smile."
He draws all the designs freehand to scale on paper. He has an entire closet full of the designs he's made over the past 27 years.
On his designs, he numbers each piece he will need to cut. One by one, he makes shallow cuts on the glass, which he buys in large sheets, and breaks it along the cuts with a pair of specialized pliers.
Mr. Ford then grinds down the edges of each piece to make them smooth. He constantly compares them to his designs to achieve the perfect shape. If he grinds too much, he has to start over and cut a new piece.
"Sometimes it can take me more than 20 minutes to grind a single piece of glass to make it perfect," he said.
Every one of his projects has many cuts and all the pieces must fit together like a puzzle. The process of cutting and shaping the glass can be very time-consuming, considering some of his works have been made of more than 300 pieces of glass.
After being cut out and ground down, the individual pieces are then wrapped in copper tape before being soldered together.
In 2006, wind shear broke stained glass windows in St. Joseph's Church adjacent to Mr. Ford 's home. The church asked him if he could replicate the broken windows that were originally made in 1896.
After Mr. Ford chose the right colors and went through the whole process of making the windows, they came out to look almost identical to the originals with the help of Cindy Moulsen, who finished them off by painting faces and intricate details on the glass.
"It's awesome to be a part of history," Mr. Ford said. "I can see the windows I made in the church from my house every day, and I know the church will be around for a long time after I go."
He has also made windows that go on either side and above the front door of the American Legion Post No. 14 in Smyrna.
Aside from the windows, one of his favorite custom pieces is of a Great Blue Heron that he made for a friend three years ago. It is more than 3 feet wide and 5 feet tall.
Though Mr. Ford mostly makes two-dimensional pieces - ranging anywhere from a Phillies "P" or Steeler's logo to large stained glass windows - he also makes many different types of stained glass art.
In his shop, he has a 1970s kiln that he uses to melt old bottles into new objects such as ashtrays and incense holders.
He has made a few three-dimensional pieces, including a jewelry box he made for his mother that is inlaid with a Native American arrowhead.
"Making the 3-D work is a whole different game," he said. "You have the five pieces for the bottom and five for the top, and all need to be the perfect size so the box is symmetrical and closes properly."
Mr. Ford adds new photos of his projects to his Facebook page almost daily.
"It used to be just word-of-mouth, but now I'm able to show people my work online," he said.
