Meet the Bolton glass sun-catcher artist using famous brands

A TEXTILE artist has turned her hand to making glass art featuring brands including Nike and Adidas.

Tara Collette, from Bolton, has created colourful stained-glass sun-catchers which feature well-known brands.

The stunning wall art is part of her new glass collection, and the artist will be adding new pieces in the coming weeks.

She said: “In lockdown I did banner-making and one night I was looking for a new craft to get into and looked at glass art on YouTube.

“I watched it and ordered cheap stuff to give it a go.

“For four months I taught myself how to do everything and launched my first glass collection in February.”

After graduating in graphic design, Miss Colette now works from her studio in Salford.

She said: “I just think the brands I do are iconic, and everybody knows them. Everyone can relate to them.

“I’m doing Tabasco and sriracha sauce now and working on more for the future.”

Miss Collette will also be showcasing her work at the Manchester art market on August 14.

She said: “People already saw my work when I did the banners and my glass work sold out in the first week.

“I was not expecting it and even though I like my pieces, I wasn’t sure whether other people would as well.”

The talented 25-year-old had dabbled in using both the copper foil and lead method to stain the glass, eventually settling on lead after learning it at Bolton College.

She said: “The lead is how church windows are done.

“There were lots of other people at the college doing it as a hobby, so everyone is just pottering about looking at each other’s work too.

“It’s quite a social thing to have people doing it with you.”

While at the college, Miss Colette got to make her mushroom glass work using a kiln to fuse the glass together.

She said: “I am always into American things like this. I do not know anyone else doing this, maybe because its quite an old traditional thing to do but people love it.”

Miss Collette got a scholarship after graduating and this helped her start out with her studio.

She said: “That really gave me important studio space I needed for a year and then after that I just begged to stay.”

Follow her IG @taracollette to see her work.

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