Photo by Diane Poole.
Rhandie Weaver is the owner of Blue Dragon Glass.
Rhandie Weaver is a natural at creating pieces of art from glass. After seeing what her brother created following private school classes, she was inspired to try it herself. She hasn’t stopped since that first class in 1997.
“I took a stained glass class, and it turns out I’m a natural. So I just went nuts after that,” Weaver said.
The Trussville resident made so many pieces that she turned to friends to house her creations. But by 2000, she needed more space — and a way to fund her growing collection.
“My friends’ houses got really full of glass, and I needed some money to buy more,” Weaver said. “So that’s kind of how the business ended up becoming a business.”
Today, Weaver works in multiple forms of glass art, including stained glass, mosaics, carving and kiln-fused pieces, often combining techniques into a single design, and she works on many different pieces at the same time.
“I can’t do one project,” she said. “I don’t have that kind of brain. I have to work on 20 things at the same time.”
Her business name came from one of her earlier creations.
“I was making a five-headed dragon with stained glass wings and wanted my business name to be something ‘Dragon Glass.’ I couldn’t figure out the color until I got to blue — and I thought, that’s it. Blue Dragon Glass,” Weaver said.
Creating glass art comes with challenges. Materials are difficult to source locally, adding to the cost.
“The closest places to buy glass are in Texas and South Carolina. … This is a glass desert,” she said.
Weaver is always looking for apprentices to keep up with demand.
“An apprentice would basically start by learning stained glass by making their own panels. And then they would jump in to help on whatever I need. I just need help because I’ve got a lot going on,” she said.
Her favorite piece is “Seth,” a wizard she made for herself that took a very long time to create.
Photos courtesy of Rhandie Weaver.
Some of Rhandie Weaver's many creations, including "Seth," above.
“I rarely make pieces for myself, but I wanted to make ‘Seth’ for me — and it took me six years because I had to stop and do other projects. But I finally got him done,” Weaver said.
Weaver shares her craft by teaching classes at MAKEbhm in Avondale and Red Mountain Makers in downtown Birmingham, and she occasionally offers private lessons from her home studio. Students in her classes create their own pieces from start to finish, often leaving with an 8-by-10-inch panel or mosaic project.
She said, “I’ll teach you stained glass, carving, etching, fusing — everything — so you can really learn the craft.”
