'Stained glass: how hard can it be?'

IT'S A FUNNY OLD WORLD

- Gabrielle Mullarkey

"I completed a one-day course in therapeutic hand massage a few years ago. I mention this because it's the only time I've been good with my hands - strictly speaking, someone else's.

And yet, despite years of tacking my own thumbs to the nearest cork board, for some reason I signed up recently to yet another craft class, thinking, 'This time I'll crack it.'

Probably not a sentiment to air at a stained-glass workshop.

I've wanted to do this one for ages, not least because I enjoy gawping at cathedral windows and wondering, 'How hard can it be?' My rush of optimism is always followed by a rude awakening, by which time it's too late to ask for my money back.

At this workshop, I'd come to my senses that very morning, but went along anyway, anticipating a scary Bake-Off scenario: 'Crafters, you have four hours to recreate Notre Dame's north transept window. Craft!'