A stained-glass spectacle in Beenleigh

At just 26, Michael Burton became enamoured with stained glass after tagging along to a class his partner wanted to attend.

Fascinated by the beauty and technique, he ended up buying a range of coloured glass after the course and built his first set of windows.

‘I ended up building a house around that set of windows – 3 of them, all depicting Australian birds,’

The craft has remained a constant source of joy in his life ever since.

‘The windows I built came with me wherever I went, and I’ve moved about 5 times in the last 50 years,’ Michael says.

‘They’ve been broken and chipped along the way, but I’ve always fixed them and put them up in a place where they can be seen – not only because they were the first 3 panels I ever made, but because I can look at them during classes and remind myself how hard it is to do a fantastic job.’

His windows now shed light in his Beenleigh show room and workshop, Sunlight Studio, which is home to a huge variety of Tiffany lights, leadlight windows, panels, figurines and more.

‘As for support, locals have been great – quite a few come in to visit and the rest are on the website,’ Michael says.

For Michael, the art of stained glass has become his life’s work.

‘I have done everything on my bucket list – I’ve jumped out of planes, worked in 5 countries, been around the world twice, loved it all – but in retirement, I could not ask for anything better to pass the time and do what I love to do,’ he says.

‘It’s the nicest thing in the world to involve oneself in something which not only stretches the imagination of what they can do, but also in a practical sense produce something that other people think is great.

‘I get a kick out of it when I see people of all ages starting and finishing a project that looks good and getting compliments from workmates, family and strangers.’

If you’d like to visit the show room or book in for a workshop, call Michael on 0402 307 819.

By June Ho