← All events
arts · Saturday 8 August 2026 · 2:00pm 
Stained Glass Taster Workshop
At Dunamaise Arts Centre · Church Street, Portlaoise, Co. Laois
At Dunamaise Arts Centre · Church Street, Portlaoise, Co. Laois
Dunamaise Arts Centre hosts a beginner stained glass taster workshop on Saturday, 8 August 2026, teaching the traditional copper foiling and soldering technique used to build stained glass panels. The two and a half hour session is designed for people who have never worked with glass before, using pre-cut pieces and a choice of five ready-made patterns so the class can focus on technique rather than design or cutting. It runs in the afternoon, priced at €85, with booking handled through Glass and Arrow.
The workshop covers the core skills of stained glass assembly: wrapping cut glass pieces in copper foil, positioning them into a chosen pattern, and soldering the joins to build a finished panel. Because the glass arrives pre-cut and the patterns are pre-designed, beginners can get through the full process, from foiling to a soldered, finished piece, inside the two and a half hour slot without needing prior craft experience. It sits within Dunamaise’s wider programme of hands-on craft workshops, which runs alongside the centre’s theatre, music, film and exhibition programme, giving the arts centre a role as a working craft space as well as a performance venue. Participants take their finished panel home at the end of the session.
Dunamaise Arts Centre is on Church Street in Portlaoise town centre, close to the train station and the town’s main car parks. Portlaoise sits on the Dublin to Cork and Dublin to Limerick rail lines and just off the M7 motorway.
A craft workshop is an easy excuse to spend an afternoon in the county town, with cafes and shops around Church Street to fill the rest of the day. There is more to see in Portlaoise and across Co. Laois.
Heading to Dunamaise Arts Centre in Portlaoise? Laois has plenty more to see. Read the Portlaoise area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.