My neighbor recently approached me about a decorative bike she has had displayed in her front garden for years. She said that she was ready to “throw it to the curb” and wondered if I would be able to use it as a stained glass project. The bike was in pretty rough shape after being in the elements, but I thought it would be an interesting project to play with.

The first step was to remove any rust with my Dremel. After removing as much of the rust as I could, I gave it a coat of rust converter then sprayed it with a metallic Rustoleum paint. I was then ready to begin adding stained glass.

I started with the front basket, choosing a clear iridescent glass to reflect a rainbow of colors in the sun. Next was the big wheel. I tried to make it colorful without being gaudy - so focused only on filling the larger areas with stained glass. The next area was the smaller wheel and finally the smaller basket. Each part required custom made patterns for each piece of glass. It was time consuming, but I am very pleased with how it turned out and thankful that my neighbor thought of me before sending this to the iron heap!