A technique you’ll struggle to find anywhere

else in the country!

Brand new to Cheshire School of Glass, genuinely rare in this country.

Granulés de Verre is a French technique that builds a piece from particles of glass, fused together by the heat of the kiln. The finished result is a lovely contradiction: strong and robust in the hand, yet delicate and fragile to look at, with a sparkling, sugar-granule finish that catches the light from every angle.

What really sets these pieces apart is the colour. Because the surface is made of millions of tiny refracting particles rather than a smooth sheet, the light doesn’t simply pass through – it bounces around inside the piece and comes back out. The result is a luminosity you won’t get from any other kind of glass.

On this three-hour course, Jen will guide you through making a centrepiece of your own, placing colour with real precision or blending it seamlessly from one tone into another for a soft ombre effect.

What You’ll Learn

• Working with glass granules – how the particles behave, and how to build with them
• Placing colour precisely – creating defined areas and controlled detail within the granules
• Blending and ombre effects – melting one colour seamlessly into a complementary tone
• Building for strength – how a piece this delicate-looking ends up this robust
• Understanding the firing – what the heat does to the particles and how the sparkle is formed

Jen guides you through every stage, so there’s no need to have tried anything like this before. Very few people in the country have.

What You’ll Make

One Granulés de Verre centrepiece, approximately 33cm in diameter, in colours of your own choosing.

Because you decide where the colour sits and how it blends, every piece is unique. The granular surface means no two catch the light quite the same way, either – these are the sort of pieces that people pick up and turn over in their hands.

Why This Course?

Most glass courses teach you a technique you could find elsewhere if you looked hard enough. This one doesn’t. Granulés de Verre is barely practised in this country, and this is the first time we’ve run it at Cheshire School of Glass.

It’s also one of those techniques that looks far more complicated than it is. The granules do a great deal of the work for you – your job is the colour, the placement and the blending, which is the enjoyable part.

And the finished pieces really are stunning. That sugar-granule sparkle and the depth of colour are difficult to describe and rather easier to simply stand in front of.

Your Tutor: Jennifer Barker – Lead Instructor & Founder

Jennifer has been working with glass for over 30 years, having discovered her passion for the medium while studying at Wolverhampton and Staffordshire Universities, where she completed a BA and MA in Glass.

Her expertise spans the full spectrum of glass techniques – from delicate kiln-formed pieces to large architectural installations. Jennifer’s specialist areas include kiln-formed glass, surface manipulation, and kiln-casting, but she’s equally passionate about traditional techniques like stained glass and copper foiling. For 12 years, Jennifer was Head of the Glass Department at Glyndŵr University, where she discovered that teaching glass art was almost as addictive as making it.

What sets Jennifer apart as an instructor is her genuine love for sharing knowledge. She believes that anyone can learn to work with glass beautifully – it just takes the right guidance, encouragement, and plenty of hands-on practice.

Can’t make the date? Please email us to register your interest at jen@cheshireschoolofglass.co.uk and we can let you know when further dates are added