Stained Glass Artist

So, the president [of First National Bank of Blue Island, Blue Island, Illinois] said, "If you come to Blue Island [Illinois], move your operation to Blue Island, we'll make you a loan. How much money do you need?" "I don't need a whole lot of money. All I need is like $10,000 to grow my business." "Well, $10,000 you know we don't make loans for $10,000, you know. We make loans for a minimum of $80,000 and up." Eighty thousand, I don't need $80,000. I wouldn't know what to do with $80,000 at one shot. That was at that time. But, anyway the reason why he came to me was because he had heard that I was having trouble getting a loan via the [U.S.] Small Business Administration. This particular year, I can't remember the exact year, but it had to be in the '80s [1980s]. I applied for a small business loan, and they turned me down. And the reason they turned me down was because I didn't have a business plan, a marketing plan. Well I knew what that was because I was taught by Sears [Roebuck & Company, Chicago, Illinois] and Montgomery Ward's [Montgomery Ward, Chicago, Illinois] what a marketing plan was and a business plan was, so I said oh that's all I need, I'll put together a marketing plan, business plan, and I applied for the loan. Well I went and applied for the loan and they told me, "Oh no, no, no we can't loan you any money it's a marketing plan and a business plan, but you didn't go to school for this." You mean I gotta go back to school to learn how to do a market plan and a business plan. So, I said, "I don't think so." So anyway I went from bank to bank to bank to bank trying to get a loan, everybody turned me down. What do you have for collateral? I own a home. Well, we don't want to loan you money against your home because if you don't pay us back then we gotta take your home. That's the only collateral I have. I have a car. Well, your car is too old and raggedy for us to loan you any money. So, I started to play the political game. I went to a bank. I will not mention the name at this time, but it was a bank in the black community and I applied for a loan. I thought if I saw a black loan officer he would understand where I was coming from. He did not have the courtesy to interview me for a loan.$$A bank, this is, this is a bank that is still functioning?$$The bank is still functioning, yes. I think it's under another name now, but it's still functioning. He didn't have the courtesy to interview me. I then went to another bank downtown Chicago [Illinois], big bank, and I walked in and told them I would like to apply for a business loan and the lady had me fill out a little application and everything and so she said, "Okay we'll call you." I never heard anything about the loan. A week later I went back to inquire about the loan and the lady said, "Oh we can't loan you the money." "Why can't you loan me the money?" "You have no collateral." So, I said, "Well I'm in business." She said, "Oh you need a corporate loan then. I said, "Yeah I need a corporate loan." So, I'm kind of dressed casual like I am now and she said, "Well go up to the sixth floor." I go up to the sixth floor and when I got off the elevator the door opened up and I was immediately in an office, a hall, it was office all office, and before I could get two or three steps off the elevator a lady approached me, "Yes may I help you?" I said, "Well my name is Jack Hampton I'm here to get a loan." She grabbed me by the arm, turned me around and said, "Oh no we can't make you a loan," put me back on the elevator and sent me downstairs. My question was, down in the lobby, "Why can't you make me a loan?" You didn't, you know why won't anybody interview me or even entertain the thought of me getting a loan.$Another trick of the trade is a lot of people don't realize how important what we call re-bars are, reinforcement bars in the stained glass window, in the church you saw a window bowing out, the round window, and one of the reasons it bowed out was because there was no reinforcement bar to help it stay in place. A lot of people don't realize there different types of reinforcement bars. Those you can see, those that you can't see, that you put into the window and it makes a stronger window. A lot of people go for these cute new designs and they, and, and with large pieces of glass and after a while the windows fall apart. Well, the trick of the trade is the smaller the piece of glass, the more lead you have, the stronger the window. A few tricks of the trade on repairs and restorations. A lot of people don't realize another reason why windows bow out is because the wood around the windows, frames, the window frames, they get wet from moist- from the rain and the wood swells and, and the window bow out. The windows gotta go somewhere, and the wood when it swells it forces the window out. Well, a lot of people will go in there and they'll take an antique window and cut it apart to make it fit a frame. Trick of the trade is you take the window out, cut the wood frame, flatten the window. How do you flatten a window? I've seen people take torches and heat them (laughter). I've seen people step on them trying to flatten them out. Trick of the trade is you go in and you cut each joint, each joint and you then slowly flatten that window out okay, a little at a time. You don't want to break the glass, it's an antique glass. A lot of it has been hand painted by artists. We have no idea who they are. Another real trick of the trade, this is the trick of the trade. This, I'm gonna put it out here and you heard it first here--stain, the lead that you use in a stained glass window is in most cases not pure lead. During the war, lead was used to make bullets. Lead then became scarce for projects like stained glass, so people who made lead they started putting other products, mixing it with the lead, and I call it garbage lead because whatever they had they put in there. They put zinc. They put steel. They put whatever they could get in there they would put in, in there to extend the lead. And what happens is over the years this lead would, the, the steel would rust and the lead would deteriorate, fall apart causing the window to deteriorate and fall apart. Well, the problem has been how do you repair that window. Okay you have a church window ten feet tall, five feet wide. You can't solder upright. You have to take that window out lay it flat, then you can solder it. But, how do you solder because the solder that we use today would not adhere to that solder because it was garbage solder so to speak. So, I developed a technique with a tool that I don't think, I think I was the only one that ever used this tool called a Dremel tool. I think I made Dremel rich now (laughter). I discovered that I could take a Dremel tool use a basic little wheel go in and clean each joint like a dentist would clean the teeth. I could clean each joint that's broken where the lead is and I could go in with a high grade chemical and lean that. A nickel, the chemical that would give a nickel coat, coating over that rust and so on, making it easy to come back and re-solder and then hence you have a strong new basic window. But, the secret is the chemical nickel.