Freckles & Flux Glass Co. Creates Bold and Vibrant Works of Art

Meaghan Beech was scrolling through Instagram in 2021 when a post from a glass artist grabbed her attention. The Lake County-based hobbyist had previously tried crocheting and cross-stitch, but this post inspired her to buy her first stained-glass starter kit. When it arrived, she left it in her spare bedroom for a couple months — intimidated by the number of steps and pieces — before eventually opening the kit and getting to work. 

“My first piece was a tiny little feather,” Beech recalls. “I was watching a YouTube video and kept pausing. I would do the work, press play, watch a minute, pause, do the work. It took me like three hours, but I just immediately fell in love with it.”

In October 2023, after becoming more comfortable with completing and selling her works, she left her corporate job to pursue stained-glass art full time under the name Freckles & Flux Glass Co. Beech creates her own original patterns, which she draws on her iPad before tracing them onto sheets of glass in various colors and then cutting the pieces out with a small carbide wheel. 

Once she has the pieces cut, she then grinds the edges to make them smooth and applies copper foil tape. She melts solder onto the work, which binds to the copper foil tape, and then washes, polishes and buffs the pieces before applying a black or copper patina. Beech then gives each piece one last polish and adds a chain. 

Many of her pieces are inspired by neotraditional tattoos, which use bold outlines and vibrant colors. This is reflected in her series, “Flora, Fauna and Feast,” in which Beech challenged herself to create a single, striking image to represent each of the 26 letters in the alphabet. 

Other favorite creations include Beech’s Lucky Cats (depictions of the waving felines from Japanese culture), Lake Erie sunrises and cardinals. While making stained-glass depictions of our state bird comes second nature now, Beech still likes to keep things interesting.

“There are different ways to still make it fun and challenging for me,” she says, “because the last thing I want is for my work to feel mundane.”

For more information, visit  frecklesandflux.com.

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