Brenda Little of Jupiter, Florida has always loved stained glass. She'll even go so far as to say that she's "addicted to anything made out of glass". Having always been a "crafty person", Brenda took a night course in stained glass at a local high school 10 years ago that got her hooked.
She has slowly upgraded from a small personal kiln to a much larger, professional kiln to complete her fused glass projects. Having watched Kenny run their five Labradors in field trials over the past 6 1/2 years, it didn't take long for Brenda to apply her glass expertise to designing Labrador pins in honor of the five who inspire her: Whoa Nellie- a 7 year old black Lab, Molly a 6 year old black Lab, Windy a 6 year old black Lab, Elsie a 3 year old black Lab and Dreamer a 1 1/2 year old black Lab.

As Brenda recalls, “I first made a black Lab pin that I always wore when we were running Nellie. I then thought ‘well, I’m going to need a pin for Molly, Windy and the rest of the crew. I always wore my three Lab pins at all the field trials, they were my Lucky Labs.” What first started as a celebration of personal pride in her pups, spread like wildfire throughout the Lab community as people approached her asking, “where did you get those wonderful pins?” Already a busy woman, Brenda got even busier producing her signature Lab design for her many fans.

To make these gorgeous glass creations, Brenda first traces the Lab head pattern on a 12 x 12 inch sheet of glass using a gold marker. She then cuts out the image using a glass cutter and a glass saw and grinds the sharp edges. Next, she adds little slices of millefiori (fused rods of ornamental glass, Italian in origin, that have the natural appearance of flowers) or pieces of dichroic glass. These glass pieces give the pins their brilliant color patterns. She melts these pieces together in her kiln at 1500 degrees and then lets them cool for about 8 hours. If the glass is taken out of the kiln before it cools, it will crack due to the rapid temperature change. Because the piece melts and loses shape after firing, Brenda re-shapes the piece with a glass grinder. She then cuts out little ear and nose glass pieces, adds these to the Lab profile and places the piece back in the kiln at 1500 degrees for another 8 hours or so. She signs the pin with an etching pen and glues the pin attachment to the back side. Due to the cooling process, each pin takes several days to make. And because of the unpredictable nature of glass and the firing process, each piece is completely unique-no two Lucky Lab pins are exactly alike!

With Brenda and her fiancé, Kenny Neil, on the road about 9 months out of the year, she has managed to find a way to make the process entirely portable as well. She brings her smaller kiln along in their motor home which allows her to fire 12 pins at a time- significantly fewer than the 60 that her larger kiln can accommodate-but still enough to fill orders and satisfy her "addiction" to glass.

Brenda wasn't kidding when she called herself a "crafty" woman. She not only works in glass, but has applied her creativity to crafting Lab-themed bracelets and hand-beaded lanyards. The inspiration for the lanyards came from a fellow Lab lover who saw Brenda working on a beaded sunglass holder at a field trial, loved it and suggested she make lanyards. Brenda took the idea, along with the skills she'd picked up in a beading class, and fashioned lanyards out of seed beads woven in a circular Peyote stitch. The elegant lanyards can then be finished with an adjustable Lucky Lab glass lanyard slide. Each one of these lanyards consists of about 6000 beads put on individually by Brenda, this takes her almost a month to make. Brenda works on these lanyards while they are traveling to trials every weekend in there motor home. To get on the list for a custom beaded lanyard contact Brenda directly by phone or email.

Her pins, bracelets and lanyards practically sell themselves. Between dog trials, dog shows and word of mouth, her glass pieces have developed quite a following. “Many people I haven’t even met receive my pins as gifts and it’s neat to run into them with the pins on. I receive orders from as far away as California, Idaho and Canada, so it’s fun to see how far the pins travel and where they end up,” Brenda says.

As for Labs, she can't say enough. When asked what gets her so bubbly about the breed Brenda says, "Well, what isn't there to like about Labs? They just have the best personalities. They are so smart and they always make you laugh. And it's amazing to watch them work at field trials." Amazing indeed, as Brenda lists the accomplishments of her five Labs like the proud parent that she is: "This year has been a spectacular year !! Our little girl Nellie (with Brenda, right) won the National Amateur Retriever Championship that was held June 17 – 23, 2007 in Castle Rock, Utah. The Amateur National is held once a year and only the best dogs in the country qualify to compete. This year there were 111 dogs qualified. The National consists of 10 series or tests over seven days. At the end of the week there were 14 dogs in the 10th series and Kenny had 2 dogs, Nellie and Windy. There is only one placement for the National and that is the Blue ribbon which is 1st place. Nellie and Kenny got the Blue ribbon!!! WOW what a thrill that was!!

So I guess you can now say that those Lucky Lab pins are truly Lucky!!!

Nellie was a Field Champion at age 3 and a Amateur Field champion at age 5. She was on the Derby list with 16 points . She has now run 5 Nationals and was a finalist in 3 of them.

Nellie’s sister Molly from a subsequent re-breeding also made the Derby list, she is all aged qualified and has gotten numerous placements in the Open and the Amateur stakes.

Windy made the Derby list, was a Field Champion and a Amateur Field Champion at the age of 5. She has run 2 Nationals and has finished both as finalist.

Elsie made the derby list, is all age qualified and has just started running all age stakes.

Dreamer who is Nellie’s puppy is just starting to run Derby’s.