Sometimes, you toss the pattern aside—and that’s where the magic happens. While I love working from a well-crafted design, there are moments when my creativity kicks in before my planning does.

Some of my favorite pieces come from simply starting with a shape—a heart, a raindrop, a shamrock —and letting the scrap glass guide the design. I’ll often find one interesting leftover piece, and that becomes the seed. From there, I build around it like a puzzle, letting the color and shape of each scrap inform the next.

This kind of freestyle glasswork works best for mosaic-style projects, where precision isn’t as important as visual balance. It’s about flow, instinct, and letting go of the idea that every piece needs to be pre-planned.

There’s something freeing about not knowing exactly how it’ll look in the end—and just trusting the process.

Freestyle crafting won’t replace my love for clean patterns and symmetry—but it gives me space to explore, use up scrap, and sometimes surprise myself with what I create. If you’re ever stuck, try setting the patterns aside—you might find something totally unexpected.