From the corpse-ridden byways of New Tristram to the teeming streets of Caldeum, a hero never has to travel too far to find a fine artisan. But just as a Jewelcrater can fashion the most delicate gems or steely Blacksmith can harness raw materials to fabricate powerful armor under the light of a forge, there are also talented craftsmen outside of Sanctuary that have fantastic creations to share.

This week’s community spotlight shines on Dustin Synnestvedt and his unique stained glass panel of the Archangel Tyrael. Dustin's Tyrael piece was the final project of a stained glass course at Bryn Athyn College on Pennsylvania where students were focused on learning and practicing the basic techniques of stained glass. The final project, so named "The Angel Project," was to take the culmination of all they'd learned and create their own angel window, the final result of which was to be donated to the Sandy Hook school in Connecticut.

The choice was theirs to pick an existing angel-themed window and copy it exactly, create their own window design based off a picture of an angel, or fashion everything from scratch! The window was intended to be 16"x12" so that it could fit securely into a picture frame.

One of the requirements of Dustin's project was that students were to choose a composition that was not to complicated, seeing as designing a window is quite a challenge in and of itself! Because of this, students were encouraged to zoom in on an existing photo or focus their window on a select portion of the picture as opposed to designing a window based on an entire photo.

Dustin shared a great number of photos of the painstaking process of creating this stained glass creation, which took him around 75 hours. The process included planning, cutting the glass, shaping it further on a grinder, painting it, molding the lead connections, and then adding the finishing touches. You can find a selection of photos from the process as well as the completed piece below. 

Can’t get enough of Dustin's stained glass? Check out more of his work out on his Facebook!