Cheyenne Coppercraft and Stained Glass

Owners and Artisans: Mike and Karen Steere

Mike Steere Mike's interest in metal art started in midde school when he made his first metal casting of a horse's head. He also has worked with sheetmetal fabrication from high school on and is an expert at all types of welding. Mike had to wait 35 yrs. before he could afford the tools he now uses to create his copper garden art. He uses a combination of plasma cutter, acetylene torch and cold water bath to achieve the beautiful flame-treated colors in his creations. He is able to custom make almost any design the customer brings to him. The only limitation sometimes is the size of the project the customer wants made. Mike continues to create new designs in copper and explore new methods of producing his garden art.

Karen Steere Karen's interest in stained glass started when she was a pre-schooler visiting her grandmother's house. One of her favorite things to do was watch the sunlight shine through the prisms hanging from the antique oil lamp. Her life-long fascination with light, prisms, bevels and stained glass led her to take a beginning stained glass class in her home town. Karen soon had her own stained glass studio set up in her home. Her favorite type of stained glass to create is unique kaleidoscopes. She also enjoys making unusual suncatchers that entail adding decorative wire trim. Karen can custom make most stained glass designs but prefers to work on smaller projects that do not take up all of her studio space. She enjoys exploring new stained glass methods and time-saving tools. Karen loves the challenge of working with complicated geometric patterns.