Glass n Wood *** Aransas Pass, Texas

A couple of years ago, my daughter, Lesa, commissioned a gorgeous, 12X16 inch stained glass sun catcher depicting a cardinal (a bird which has special meaning for me) for Mother’s Day. Last year, my daughter, Kelly, gave me a lovely floral sun catcher. I have studied those two pieces many times and marveled at the talent of the artists who made them.

Carving is another art which has always intrigued me…I just can’t imagine being able to take a piece of wood and a few tools and creating anything remotely realistic. In addition to carving a piece, the artist has to be able to paint the pieces to achieve ultimate realism.

I really hit the jackpot when I found Glass n Wood, a wonderful Etsy shop so full of marvelous stained glass and carvings that I wanted to show you every one! I always have a hard time choosing which photos to use when I write these features but today’s choices have been the most difficult.

Phil and Lettie Roets are the artists behind Glass n Wood. Phil has been carving for almost 17 years and Lettie began creating with stained glass over four years ago.

Phil's initial venture into his craft was inspired by a woodcarving that Lettie gave him as a Father’s Day gift 17 years ago. He loved it so much that he received a second carving as a birthday gift later that year. As fate would have it, a wood carver’s show coincided with his birthday, which Phil attended. He bought his first set of carving tools, signed up for a course and, as Lettie says, “The man was hooked and the rest is history”.

After Phil’s initial course, he continued to hone his craft with books, magazines and courses with several well know carvers. Phil's biggest influence, ingrained in his present style, is from the teachings of Jim Sprankle from whom Phil took four one week courses. He continues to consult Jim’s books on carving and painting and uses Jim Sprankle brushes for delicate painting operations.

Lettie was gifted with a Stained Glass training course from Phil four years ago. She took the course with the objective of making stained glass windows for their new home which was being built in Texas (they were living in Tampa, Florida at the time) but she found she loved the art of stained glass so much she continued the hobby. Lettie uses books and patterns, which she purchases from glass suppliers, to help create her pieces. However, she is leaning more and more towards developing her own patterns, inspired from photographs she and Phil have taken. That is accomplished using a computer program to create a stained glass pattern from a digital photographic image.

Both Lettie and Phil love nature and go on nature trips and birding excursions whenever they can, gaining inspiration for their work from scenes or animals that thrill them. Examples are the Ferruginous Pigmy Owl (shown in their Etsy shop) which they spotted on the famous King Ranch in Texas, and the Greater Kiskadee (shown in photo above) which are only found in the southwest area of Texas. When Phil saw these birds, he knew he had to carve them.

Both stained glass work and carving are very time intensive crafts. Letties more complicated works, such as her stained glass decoys (photo above) take as long as 20 hours to complete. One of Phil’s carved ducks (example is the Northern Shoveler Drake, shown above) can take as long as 48 hours from start to finish.

Phil and Lettie love their crafts and continue to create their wonderful pieces, not for financial incentive, but for the pure joy they derive from the process. Their love for nature and God’s creations are obvious in every piece of their art.

Phil has won many blue ribbons in carving competitions. Each of his pieces is carved with the same care and attention to detail, whether or not it will be entered into a competition. The pieces he does enter (about 80%) are on the competition circuit for 18 months and then "retired' and available for sale.

This January, Phil established a woodcarving club in the coastal bend and is involved in woodcarving instruction, which he does for his own enjoyment. He is always willing to help anyone who needs it.

In addition to their shop on Etsy, Lettie and Phil sell in art galleries near their home. Lettie’s stained glass is in two galleries, The Niche Stained Glass gallery in Rockport, Texas and Mustang Island Gallery in Port Aransas. Most of Phil’s larger, more expensive, sculptures are in The Art Gallery of Rockport and Mustang Island Gallery.

To visit Phil and Lettie’s Etsy shop, click here. You will see why choosing photos for this feature was such a difficult one.

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