Treasure in glass

Avid Old Sleepy Eye collectors, Floyd and Sharon Reynolds of Kansas City, have added another treasure to their prized collection. And, no, it’s not a century-old Sleepy Eye Mill pitcher or vase.
This treasure is brand new, a two by two foot stained glass replica of a Sleepy Eye Mills flour barrel label, created at Sleepy Eye Stained Glass by Linda Green.
“It’s just beautiful,” Sharon said Monday. “We are so pleased with it.”
The Reynolds made a special trip from Kansas to pick up the completed work on Monday.
Floyd commissioned the piece from Sleepy Eye Stained Glass owner Mike Mason in 2008, when Floyd attended Mike’s stained glass seminar held during the Old Sleepy Eye Collectors’ Club Convention.
Mike made the pattern from photos of the barrel label and had intended to create the stained glass replica for himself.
“I had the pattern laying out during the seminar,” Mike explained. “Floyd saw it and ordered one before he left that day.”
Mike’s original pattern was twice the Reynolds’ completed piece. With its order, Linda was delegated as the artist in charge of creating the piece.
Linda said she received many positive comments on the piece.
On Saturday, Linda was working in the shop when a gentleman from the Twin Cities stopped in. He wanted to buy the stained glass label for his mother, no matter the cost.
When Linda told him it had already been sold, he asked if she could create another one. Linda wasn’t sure she wanted to take on the project again. “I hemmed and hawed and then gave him a price off the top of my head, a price I thought he would never take,” Linda said.
“He paid me half of that price up front. Now I have to do another one by Dec. 1.”
On Monday, after Linda signed her name as creator, Mike carefully packed the stained glass Sleepy Eye Mill flour barrel label for the Reynolds’ return trip to Kansas.
Sharon said she has some ideas where the piece will be proudly displayed in their home. “It’s so much prettier than I thought it would be,” she said. “It was worth waiting for.”
With its commission and purchase, yet another piece of art from Sleepy Eye Stained Glass goes out into the world.
Over the years, Mike’s business has gained quite a reputation for quality stained glass artwork. Mike said they have created or restored stained glass pieces that have been sent all over the United States. Just recently, a stained glass piece was commissioned and completed for a couple from England.
“I don’t think of my work (at Sleepy Eye Stained Glass) as a job,” Linda said. “I’m doing something I love to do. I have fun every day when I come to work.”
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