WOODSTOCK — “There are times I have to stop because I’m bleeding on a project,” says Kit Beebee of Woodstock.

Creating stained glass art is Beebee’s passion, and she’s willing to bleed for it.

Working with stained glass of course requires that it be cut, and that’s why she sometimes finds herself stopping for first aid treatment of her hands.

Alaska to Maine

Beebee moved to Woodstock a couple of years ago, after her husband, Bill, passed away. The couple had been living in Homer, Alaska for a decade, coming originally from upstate New York.

They had a log cabin in Homer, and after his death she was finding it lonely. Her daughter and son-in-law lived in the Bethel area, and she decided to join them.

Beebee has been doing stained glass for about 20 years.

“I’ve always worked with my hands,” she said. “My first love was textiles.”

She got an associate’s degree in textiling from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. She was particularly interested in quilting and dying fabric.

Beebee said there are similarities between quilting and stained glass in the arranging of pieces to make a whole.

She learned to do stained glass in a class and was a quick study, creating a glass window for a door as her first project.

“I enjoy cutting glass, and making complicated cuts,” she said.

Tools

She uses a variety of tools, including cutters, pliers, nippers and saws, to cut the glass.

While she sometimes cuts her hands on the sharp glass edges – she can’t wear gloves because it hampers her dexterity – she does wear a face shield. In addition to cutting, she also grinds the glass to finesse it.

“I grind pretty intently,” she said.

She then lines the edges of each glass piece with copper foil, puts all the pieces together and solders them.

She also sometimes fuses glass pieces on top of each other, using a kiln in her basement.

While some stained glass artists work on a light table so they can see how the colors shape up as they work, Beebee does not.

“I do the whole thing, then see it when it’s done,” she said. “I lift it up.”

Her reaction to the result can range anywhere from excitement to disappointment, she said.

Obtaining glass can take effort. In Alaska, there were two glass stores in the whole state. There, Beebee had it all shipped, at a significant cost.

How it looks online can differ from reality, with color variances, so she never really knew what she was getting until it arrived. Here, she has the option of purchasing it in person, typically from a store in Manchester.

Beebee creates glass pieces for her own satisfaction. She rarely sells them. That allows her to work only when she’s moved to, not according to a schedule.

“I have to be inspired by the glass,” she said.

With that approach some pieces take a couple of years to finish. Others can take as little as two weeks.

An octopus required creating over 60 suction cups and took two years. Another creation she started in Alaska and finished here – requiring a delicate touch in transporting.

While Beebee doesn’t do it for profit, she will occasionally teach an interested pupil. Most, however, don’t last, she said, though one local student is currently sticking with it.

Despite the occasional cut fingers and sometimes unpredictable results, Beebee finds the craft therapeutic.

“I do it for my mental health,” she said.