Blending an idea with a bit of research has resulted in creative glass jewelry and a new hobby for a Jim Thorpe man.

From start to finish it takes Matt Filer, founder of Pisgah Designs, over 12 hours to create his unique jewelry pieces.

Handcrafted glass pendants featuring fabric and copper compose the pieces he began making four months ago after curiosity on the job site struck him.

“I install windows for a living, and I started thinking about how you could make your own laminated glass,” said Filer.

Laminated glass is a type of safety glass that is held together when shattered by an interlayer of polyvinyl butyral or ethylene-vinyl acetate, between two or more layers of glass.

The interlayer keeps the layers of glass bonded even when broken, preventing the glass from breaking up into large, sharp pieces.

“I was thinking it would be cool to make glass different colors to make the piece different colors. No one at work knew how, so I came home and researched it. I was just interested in how to make my own laminate,” said Filer.

After an extensive search on the internet, Filer came across a D.I.Y. blogger who had experimented with the same idea Filer had, by using microscope slides.

“That’s how he did it. Then I thought maybe you could put something in with the laminate to make it different colors,” he said.

“I bought a toaster oven and started making larger plates of laminate, then I though of cutting shapes from the glass. I had no idea about what I was going to make,” he said.

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Filer converted the corner of his finished basement into a laboratory with various pieces of glass, fabric, chemicals and metals.

Eventually he moved to putting random pieces of fabric in with the U.V. material used in solar panels, and it worked.

Creating the glass forms was only half of the project. He had to figure out what exactly the newly made pieces would be used for.

“I knew about electroforming because of people doing it with crystals. I have a friend who makes them,” he said.

Electroforming is done with gold, silver, nickel, brass or copper by using amps and volts to pull material to another piece of material, creating a type of electromagnetic energy.

In the basic electroforming process, an electrolytic bath is used to deposit the metals onto a conductive patterned surface, such as stainless steel, or in this case, glass.

“I wrap copper tape around the glass pieces and make rings to hang them from,” he said.

In a plastic tub, Filer coils copper wire around the inside, attaching a negative clip to one end and a positive to the opposite end of the coiled wire.

He then fills the tub with a Bright Acid Copper solution for the electricity to conduct through before he hangs his glass pieces from the copper wire inside the plastic tub.

“I had to research the process online. You can learn anything online.”

The voltage used to create the unique designs is 5 amps, which is less than a battery.

It takes 10 hours for a piece in the solution to form correctly.

“The process is gradual,” Filer said.

After the forms are made he adds finishing touches with different chemicals.

“You can then paint it with patina to make it look aged,” he said.

“The first couple I made were horrible,” Filer said.

“It’s like playing music or meditation,” said Filer, who as a musician, performs throughout the area. “It’s relaxing after working all day. I like doing detailed work.”

Filer has been tapped to make personalized pieces for the band “Mountain Ride.”

“They want me to make a bunch of them to sell at festivals,” he said.

Filer makes custom designs for his new business venture, saying anyone interested can visit his Facebook or Instagram sites: Pisgah Designs.