Crabill brings stained glass to art festival

Among the works available at this year’s Arts and Crafts Festival will be Mike Crabill’s stained glass.

Crabill, who moved to Bella Vista about a year ago, has been making stained glass for more than 40 years. He started out making gifts, he said, after his brother, Larry Crabill, taught him how. More recently, he said, he’s started making more art and taking his company, Rocking Horse Glass, to craft shows to occupy his time and make some money.

“It’s fun,” he said. “It keeps me busy and active.”

The art is varied, he said, because he gets tired of making the same thing.

“You look through magazines and books and you get some ideas,” he said. “I try to do some different things and not just have glass.”

He’s regularly trying new materials and new shapes, including agate stones in place of glass on some pieces and silverware for the bodies of dragonflies. He really enjoys working with agate, he said, though it can get expensive.

A normal stained-glass piece, he said, starts with a design, which determines the shapes he cuts his sheets of glass into. Once the glass is cut, he said, the edges are smoothed and the glass gets foiled and polished, then a lead-tin mixture is used to solder pieces together. It melts in between them, he said, and makes the whole piece solid.

A larger piece, he said, could take anywhere from eight to 10 hours, while a smaller one could be finished in 20 minutes.

“I’ve probably got three or four hundred pieces ready for the show,” he said.

He tends to focus on smaller items, he said, because that’s what he’s found people tend to buy

— though he’s also willing to take custom orders and make a custom piece.

He’s used stained glass to make various images and designs, including feathers, flowers, arrowheads, bugs and festive pieces including Christmas trees and snowmen. He’s also made more complex pieces like his kaleidoscopes — which he said are a real joy to see kids experience.

“It’s fun when you see little kids light up,” Crabill said. “Of course, I’m a grandpa, what can I say?”

Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista Mike Crabill holds a glass Christmas tree he made and stands with several of his works that are for sale at Wishing Springs Gallery.

Photo provided by Mike Crabill The view inside a kaleidoscope made by Mike Crabill.

Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista A stained-glass flower made by Mike Crabill.