DC Studios LLC

Doris uses her artist’s eye to mold the client’s ideas into beauty that lasts more than a lifetime! We discovered the very talented Doris in our internet search for stained glass artists near us. We interviewed two artists, one in Woodstock and Doris at her studio in Germantown, NY. Compared to the Woodstock studio which was dusty and in total disarray, Doris’ studio was clean, professional and orderly so we immediately knew that she was the artist we would hire. She was a pleasure to work with and a true professional in every aspect of her work. She was patient and generous with her time, helping us select the gorgeous peacock design we wanted, the stained glass with colors and texture that transformed the design when seen in background illumination versus natural light. Thank You Doris! We love our exquisite peacock cabinets and have received awesome compliments from everyone that has visited our home.

We were a little nervous commissioning a stained glass window, as we did not have any recommendations, and did the research ourselves. With our first contact with Doris, we knew we were a match. She cares so much about what her client wants, and takes a lot of her time to explain both the process and the options. She showed us all the different types of stained glass, how they are different in various light conditions, and her suggestions about which colors work well together. We relied heavily on her opinions and aesthetic, as we were basically novices with no artistic abilities. Even though we knew very little about stained glass, she always cared do much along the way if we were happy with the direction the piece was taking. She was so accommodating to our ideas, and at the end of the installation, we feel like we made a real friend. And the piece is gorgeous and a show stopper! We have it in our lake house, and it is very impressive.

We had a wonderful experience working with DC Studios to replace a damaged glass pane for our front door. Doris is professional energetic, and patiently worked with us to develop a new design from scratch - from selecting the exact shade of cranberry red, to explaining the different types of glass, to trialing new patterns. Doris helped guide us toward a final design and style that was consistent with the original 1925 door. We couldn't be happier with the final product. Finally, Doris gave such clear, insightful guidance for installation, that we were able to successfully replace the window ourselves. We absolutely recommend DC Studios!

Doris Cultraro is a brilliant artist who transformed my badly damaged, warped and muddied stained glass double hung window into a vibrant, alive work of art. She is a highly skilled craftsperson with a commitment to excellence that is unsurpassed in my experience. I live in a city with more Tiffany stained glass than any other. Doris' work is every bit as impressive as any Tiffany window I've seen. She is masterful and has my highest endorsement.

DC Studios was great to work with. Doris is very pleasant and professional. I really enjoyed helping picking out the pieces of glass for my window. Doris would explain each step of the project and if I had any questions she always took the time to explain how and what will be done. My bathroom window came out beautiful!!! The window came out better than I expected and it was the perfect window to complete my bathroom.

Doris is absolutely amazing and a one of a kind in her trade. She is creative, easy to work with, extremely knowledgable in stained glass work and very talented. She doesn't cut corners, and is very fair given the finished product. I would highly recommend her.

Doris was great to work with, very creative, energetic, friendly and absolutely professional. Doris worked with us to design a large stained glass window for the front door of our 1880 historic brownstone. She visited the house and incorporated design features from some of our existing stained glass windows and architectural features of our house in the new window design, working within our budget. We visited her studio twice to finalize the design and pick out the exact glass, which she made into a fun experience. She installed the finished window in our door to complete the project. The window looks amazing and like it could have always been there. We love it as do all our neighbors. We would be thrilled to find another opportunity to work with Doris and recommend her highly to all our friends.

I hired Doris to restore a stained glass window taken from my wife's childhood home. The window was about 32" X 21" with approximately 100 pieces of stained glass, some of them tiny slivers. The window was over 100 years old, badly bowed and buckled, dirty and covered with paint splotches. Some pieces were cracked. Lead was dried, cracking, and falling out. The frame had been painted over many times in it's history. This would be a challenging restoration, that became a collaboration between Doris, myself, and her husband. I knew this would take plenty of time, and I allowed that for the job, which took almost 6 months from start to finish. For my part, I wanted to do the restoration on the window frame. Doris removed the glass, and gave me the frame. She then had to clean each piece, match some rare glass that had been broken, come up with innovative solutions to several problems which arose, and then piece everything back together the way it originally was. Her husband did the fine woodworking to put it back together, and making the backer pieces which held it in to conform to a slightly different shape than the original. This was due to the old backers not being salvageable, and the new glass and leading being a flatter, squarer version of the bowed out mess that they started with, as well as Doris correcting "mistakes" and "shortcuts", the original artist did. I think this came out as a truly beautiful restoration, that restored this window to a better version than it first was. It is now stronger, and more beautiful, as certain tiny pieces of glass that were originally covered by too much lead, now became little highlighted jewels, poking deep rich colors into the overall window. I think as long as you allow the necessary time to complete whatever project you are considering, DC Studios can handle the job. I saw other projects Doris was working on, and they looked equally impressive. I highly recommend them!

A custom stained glass window for a new addition that replicated a 19th century window on old part of house. Doris combines highly skilled abilities of historic renovation and reproduction with very rigorous creativity. Inexhaustible resources and patience. Willing to work with different ideas to arrive at the best result. Excellent selection of new and vintage glass, exquisite colors and flawless execution.

I hired Doris Cultraro to design and make a glass lampshade for my 15' glass i base filled with seashells. Her expertise and knowledge of her craft is evident, and it was a pleasure learning about glass making and design when i visited her studio in Germantown, NY. The finished glass lamp shade is a joy to behold, the colors and shades of glass complement the base perfectly. I am thrilled with the finished product.

DC Studios created a transom for above a pair of new custom-built historically accurate front doors. The process working with Doris was a lot of fun - she has great enthusiasm for what she does! The final result was beyond my expectations - it was exactly what I wanted! I learned a lot about the process of making a stained glass piece. It's quite fascinating!

Restoration of "morning" by Elihu Veder. We had been searching for someone to restore our antique window acquired many years previous and found a reference to DC Studios from HV Magazine. Doris at fist sight was interested and acknowledged that it would be a great challenge and to our relief it was carefully brought to her studios. It took quite awhile for Doris to prepare for the work designing a framework to handle the weight of the glass. Doris brought me into the process as it progressed and kept me apprised of every step along the way. Doris's preparation was extremely thorough with every fragment of glass accounted for. As each panel was worked on a special type of glass replacement some times needed to be sought. I was able to visit the studio during the process and always was apprised of the status of the project. In the midst of this exacting work Doris also reached out to others to find out more of the history regarding this window. Because of her meticulous attention to detail the window will bring enjoyment to the family for another 100 years. I highly recommend Doris for any restoration work.