SUE Whyte has swapped a science lab for an artist’s studio. Having spent the past 25 years working as a research scientist and laboratory manager, she now focuses on stained glass in her own workshop.

She had always harboured a fascination for stained glass. “From being a child I loved the light that shines through church windows,” she says. “I like the way it filters through the different colours and the effects it has upon the walls and floor inside.”

It was an art she always wishes she knew more about, but did not get the chance. “When I was at school it was either sciences or art, you did one or the other.”

Until five years ago the University of Leeds graduate worked as a medical scientist before going on to test foods for suppliers ranging from large supermarkets to independent traders. But she always had a creative leaning and did not lose her desire to work with stained glass.

Suffering back and knee problems, Sue, 46, eventually gave up her scientific career. She planned to try new things, when “out of the blue” a prospectus landed on her doormat. From Bolton Royd Adult Education Centre in Manningham, it offered various courses including ‘stained glass for beginners’.

She signed up for a couple of different classes. “One was stained glass, and immediately I was hooked,” she says, “totally, insanely hooked.”

“It turned out to be something I could do," she adds. "I had always enjoyed art but could not draw or paint. I often struggled to get ideas onto paper, but with glass it was easy and had endless possibilities.

“It is one of those skills that, until fairly recently, it was difficult to learn as a hobby, but the crafts movement changed that. Things are far more accessible to the general hobbyist nowadays. If you want to learn it you can.”

She also learned a lot online and from books. "There are so many resources, like You Tube, that you can learn a lot without leaving the house.”

Soon, her Wyke home was filling up with the results of her labours. “I put them up in my windows, on the window sill and in the garden I have ladybirds and bees.”

The hobby is not cheap and, coupled with compliments from friends and family, Sue wondered whether she could sell her pieces. “I wondered whether anyone would be interested in buying some of the items I made,” she says. “I had given some of them to family and friends as gifts and they really liked them.”

To put it to the test, Sue took her wares to a summer fair in Cottingley. “I got a very positive reaction which really pleased me, so I booked to sell at other venues.”

Her wares - made in the studio she has created at home - include suncatchers, bowls, wind chimes, garden ornaments, coasters and window hangers. She also makes lamps. “And I make Father Christmases at the end of the year,” she adds.

“I like doing small pieces - decorative items. My workspace is not big enough to do windows. I don’t mass produce - everything I make is different, with different angles or expressions..”

Using a ‘foil’ technique, she joins cut pieces of glass through the use of strips or foil, creating designs in a framework of soldered metal. “It is the same way that Tiffany lamps are made,” says Sue. She also uses a ‘fused glass’ technique, firing glass in a kiln at a high temperature.

Here in particular, her scientific background comes into play: “You have to think about the scientific process. The fused glass technique is much more complex and technical.”

She adds: “I’ve only been working with fused glass for two years and have twice been to Bristol to take courses in fusing. If you want to develop as an artist you have to keep trying new and different things. I enjoy challenging myself to improve.”

Sue takes pains to source materials from British suppliers. “There is a huge glass warehouse off Wakefield Road in Bradford which has resources for people interested in stained glass.”

She also recycles glass, including wine bottles, which she flattens, moulds and cuts into strips, making sheets of glass to turn into wind chimes, ash trays and candle holders for tea lights. “I can print butterflies or dragonflies onto them,” she says.

“I have a massive box next to me full of wine bottles. Someone donated some whisky bottles and blue gin bottles which looked lovely. I don’t drink so I depend upon the kindness of strangers.”

Sea glass, picked up along the coast around Filey, where Sue holidayed as a child, is also put to use in Sue's workshop. “I find it loose on the beach. It is smooth when washed up and can be incorporated into tea light holders.”

She now sells in shops including ‘Made in Bradford’ as well as through her Facebook site and at fairs throughout West and North Yorkshire.

Since hanging up her lab coat she has not looked back. “It is so different to what I used to do. I enjoyed my previous career but I love what I am doing now. I didn’t think I would ever be doing something like this - there is so much variation in what I do.”

* For more about Sue's work visit facebook.com/SueWhyteGlass or email suewhyteglass@hotmail.co.uk