CHELSEA — Half stained glass workshop and half vintage slot machine dealership and repair, a converted barn tucked in a Waterloo countryside lot is where Bill and Marsi Darwin share a unique, decades-old studio.
Bill is laying out pieces of a church window. It is the 4th of 5 stained glass panels for a church in New Boston, Mich. Last year, a sudden windfall of church commissions included a beautiful window for St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Chelsea.
Although much of his stained glass is for private residences — some in downtown Chelsea — you will find his handiwork all over the place.
The Dexter District Library has three arts and crafts-style panels from Darwin’s Studio, completed in 2011.
Bill will do brewing-themed panels for the Chelsea Alehouse Brewery, where, for now, a collection of his smaller stained glass panels are hanging.
In a different room, he is tinkering with the guts of an old slot machine that was in such bad disrepair that he had to scoop out mouse nests to get it working again. It is one of many pre-1950’s machines he has repaired or sold.
When they were in their 30’s, Marsi met Bill when he used to teach stained glass classes. He had learned the trade from his grandfather Roy Darwin as a teenager. A workshop with her future husband at the Waterloo Farm Museum was Marsi’s first foray in the trade. Now, she is a talented stained glass artist in her own right.
On a nearby work table, Marsi is cutting pieces of stained glass to resemble a photograph taken of a lake in Winter. It is not all that common to find her working on a commissioned panel, however, on this occasion, she is doing four seasons for a client.
Most often, “I create stuff that is in my head first, then sell it,” Marsi said. She makes stained glass panels, sand-etched coasters, and ornaments.
“I prefer smaller venues and art fairs, one-day shows that aren’t too far away or too expensive to get into,” she said.
The holiday season leading up to Christmas is her biggest market. This summer, she started selling her wares at farmer’s markets — eggs, too.
Although the stained glass side of the business is the oldest, today, it accounts for about 30 percent. The greater portion of business is in vintage slot machines.
“If we hadn’t gotten into that business, we wouldn’t have this business now,” Bill said. “I’ve been on the stained glass roller coaster for decades. It comes and goes,” he says, reporting that the housing and economic crisis made luxury items harder to afford. “But having two businesses in one, when one is down, then the other may be up.”
The division of labor seems to work well for the couple in their countryside studio. Marsi makes her art, while Bill chases down commissions and tinkers with old slot machines.
Jennifer Eberbach is a freelance writer for Heritage Media. She can be reached via email at jennifereberbach@gmail.com
