DIY Duo Turns Black Walnut and Stained Glass Into Functional Art

Some couples bond over movies or music. Kyle and Crystal? They bond over power tools, glass cutters, and a shared love of making things with their hands.

These Michigan-based creators met back in high school when Crystal was transferred into Kyle’s class and the rest, as they say, is history.

Fast forward to today, and they’ve been building together for over seven years, transforming wood and stained glass into some of the most unique pieces you’ve ever seen.

Where wood meets glass

Kyle has always been interested in woodworking. He finally decided to give it a try when he realized that he needed a new mallet for his workshop. Rather than buy one, he made a wooden one from scratch. He admits that his first attempt was “pretty bad”, but he kept at it and with each attempt his woodworking skills were improving.

With more mallets than the couple knew what to do with, they decided to open an Etsy shop and called it “Made by Maurer”.

Since then, Kyle has evolved into making larger items. He has built small tables, shelves, and even a storage area for a local winery that holds over 1200 bottles of wine. His woodworking skills get more impressive with each project that he completes.

Crystal, on the other hand, is a multi-talented crafter who fell in love with stained glass when she stumbled across Kyle’s old glass kit while trying to make a dragonfly ornament for her grandmother. Kyle hadn’t touched it much since in his words, “it’s time consuming and tedious.” He much prefers the woodworking.

Since then, Crystal has created everything from pet portraits to plants, landscapes, sports logos, and more - all from glass. Although these pieces are beautiful on their own, Kyle has helped take them up a notch by making custom wooden frames, shelves, and more recently, cabinets.

Cabinet collaboration

These are no ordinary cabinets. Crystal designs and pieces together beautiful scenes that Kyle will frame into a cabinet door. Once it is all put together, the stained glass is transformed by the lights that Kyle instals inside the box of the cabinet.

One of their most magical pieces to date is an under-the-sea-themed cabinet that they gifted to Crystal’s father.

Crystal first sourced some glow-in-the-dark glass from a small business and used it to create an under-water masterpiece. She inlaid an agate slice into the design and glowing glass for the sea creatures.

The lights that Kyle added inside the beautiful cabinet not only help to show off all of the beautiful colors and textures of the glass, but help to charge the specialty glow glass for later.

As soon as the lights go out, the jellyfish, octopus, and starfish seem to come alive. When entered into a Delphi glass competition with over 200 submissions, Crystal earned an honorable mention!

Sawdust, stained glass, & city living

Kyle and Crystal are always coming up with new ideas about projects they can work on together. But where do they get their lumber?

At first Kyle was cutting up logs on his chainsaw mill, but has described it as “back breaking, tiring, and exhausting”. After some research and discussion, the two decided to invest in a portable sawmill. That is when they introduced their HM126 portable sawmill into the mix. All of a sudden they went from struggling to mill 2 logs a day to easily milling 8. With all of this extra lumber, the couple are able to make some extra money selling it to locals.

You might be surprised to learn that Kyle and Crystal do not live on a big acreage. They actually live in the city and run their sawmill in the yard! They are surrounded by great neighbors who don’t seem to mind the hum of the mill, figuring it to be quieter than a lawnmower.

Since Kyle cannot harvest his own trees, he searches on Facebook Marketplace for logs to mill. The majority of what they mill is black walnut. Kyle finds it easy to work with and it makes gorgeous lumber. He doesn’t seem to have any issues sourcing it either, since the couple have over 1000 board feet of lumber in storage on their property.

Built together, sold together

The couple sell their pieces online and in person at school and craft fairs. While many of the pieces that Kyle and Crystal create are for sale, others end up finding a spot somewhere in their home. “Emotional attachment is real” according to Kyle.

After spending so much time envisioning, designing, and then creating a piece with your own hands, it can be hard to say goodbye. Not to mention the time that it takes to create some of their designs makes it difficult to put a low enough price tag on it.

What started as “Kyle’s workshop” is now a creative space that the two share. Filled with tools, glass, sawdust, and a whole lot of love. Whether they’re lighting up a stained glass octopus or milling their next batch of walnut slabs, Kyle and Crystal are the real deal. A couple that builds together and brings beauty into the world, one glowing cabinet at a time.

To see more of Kyle and Crystal, check out their Instagram or YouTube channel!

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