Stained Glass Class in Camberwell: Two-Day £495 Course

Jude Stark Studio at The London Stained Glass Co teaches a two-day stained glass course for beginners from 4K Vanguard Court, Camberwell, London SE5 8QT. The course runs 10:30 am to 5:30 pm on both days, costs £495 with all materials included, and ends with a finished traditional leaded panel. It is the slow, thorough end of London's stained glass classes: two full days with a tutor who has practised professionally for over 30 years. The dates listed for September and October 2026 are over or full, so this is a course to enquire about early.

The courses are taught by Jude Stark, whose About page says she has been practising professionally for over 30 years and established her first independent stained glass studio in London in 1988. She has taught and tutored students throughout her career, including teaching the advanced City & Guilds Stained Glass diploma course, and several former students and trainees have gone on to set up their own studios. She is a member of the Contemporary Glass Society and the Heritage Crafts Association.

The studio trades as Jude Stark Studio at The London Stained Glass Co, and its website lists commissioning, a design service and a gallery alongside the courses. Geoff Simpson is named as a senior partner who worked with Jude for over 20 years, and Nick Peristiani assists in the studio and installs projects. So the class is held inside a working commissions studio rather than a dedicated teaching room.

The courses page says all courses are held at Jude's working studio in Vanguard Court, Camberwell, which it describes as a cobble-stoned inner-city oasis and home to a thriving community of professional artists and creatives. Courses are limited to small groups so that each student gets maximum individual attention.

The beginners course is designed for newcomers, and the studio says that if you have done a one or two day course before and want to practise and make another small panel, it suits you as well. You are guided through the steps and skills needed to create a simple glass piece using traditional stained glass making techniques, and a choice of appropriate designs is provided, because unfamiliar materials, tools and equipment make a blank page hard.

The syllabus on the page runs in the order you will use it: types of glass, how to cut glass, leading with lead came, soldering, cementing, applying the patina, and cleaning and finishing. That is the whole traditional leaded method from raw sheet to finished panel. By the end of the course you have a completed panel to take home.

Throughout, you have access to Jude's knowledge through demonstrations, hands-on making, one-to-one tuition and guidance according to your needs. The page promises useful insight into the materials, tools, processes and equipment, plus plenty of interesting bits of historical information. If you want to know why a Victorian door panel was built the way it was, this is a class where you can ask.

The course fee is £495, all materials included, and each of the two days runs 10:30 am to 5:30 pm. That is a very different price point from the £72 afternoon sessions elsewhere in London, and it buys two uninterrupted days, a single tutor, and the full leaded method from cutting through cement and patina.

The dates published for 2026 are Saturday and Sunday 19 and 20 September, marked ended, and Saturday and Sunday 17 and 18 October, marked course full. The courses page adds that more courses and workshops will be scheduled throughout the year, and it invites you to ask to be notified of future dates by adding jude@judestarkstudio.com to your contacts and using the form on the page.

That means there is no bookable weekend today, and I would not pretend otherwise. The practical route is to join the notification list now and contact the studio on WhatsApp, or by email at courses@judestarkstudio.com. The studio says email is preferred. Vouchers valid for 24 months from purchase are available for a specific course, for any weekend or two day course, or for any amount.

If a two-day beginners weekend is not what you need, the same studio runs a five day workshop that requires some glass experience, a glass fusing and slumping course for beginners and improvers, and a traditional glass painting and staining course for all skill levels. Group bookings go through a separate enquiry form.

The glass painting and staining course is worth knowing about if the leadwork bug bites. Painting is the technique that turns coloured glass into faces, folds and lettering, and it is the part of church and Victorian windows that a basic panel never touches. A student who finishes the beginners weekend could plausibly return for painting, though the studio does not state a required order beyond the experience guideline on the five day workshop.

The site's course reviews page collects testimonials from earlier students, and a good way to judge whether this is the class for you is to read those before you spend £495.

The studio address is 4K Vanguard Court, Camberwell, London SE5 8QT. Its contact page says visits are by prior arrangement only, which matters because nobody is waiting at a shopfront. Free parking is available in Vanguard Court, and the site says the studio is a 20 minute drive from Waterloo station.

By bus, the contact page lists routes 12, 36, 436, 171 and 345. The nearest Overground station is Denmark Hill, a 10 minute walk, and Peckham Rye is served by a bus on route 12. For the Underground, the page names Oval, then bus 36 or 436, and Elephant and Castle, then bus 12 or 171.

Because the course is two long days, give yourself a margin on the first morning. A 10:30 am start leaves time to find the courtyard, so wear flat shoes you are happy to leave covered in glass dust.

A £495 weekend is not an impulse buy, and a stained glass panel from a first course is a modest object. What you pay for is time and the traditional method: you will have cut glass, leaded it, soldered the joints, cemented the panel and applied the patina. If you only want to try the craft, a shorter class elsewhere will tell you the same thing sooner.

If you already know you want to make windows, this is the sort of course that justifies the fee, because you leave understanding every stage of a conventional leaded panel. It also suits anyone who has restored or wants to restore a period door or fanlight at home and needs to understand how the original was made.

Jude Stark Studio at The London Stained Glass Co, 4K Vanguard Court, Camberwell, London SE5 8QT. Two-day Stained Glass Course for beginners, £495, all materials included, 10:30 am to 5:30 pm each day. Visits are by prior arrangement only. Free parking in Vanguard Court.

Next dates are not yet published, so ask to be notified of future courses. Gift vouchers last 24 months. Wear closed shoes, bring a notebook for the glass types and techniques, and expect two days on your feet.