Hermiston glass artist Pola Galindo shows a bucket full of broken glass pieces, which frequently happens when she is creating her wearable art.

Hermiston glass artist Pola Galindo has perfected a technique to make cowboy boot jewelry that, as far as she knows, is unique to her.

Galindo created her own tools and developed her own process to mold the molten glass.

Through the years, with no teacher or lessons to aid her, she has spent countless hours perfecting the shape and style. She learned through trial and error and has buckets full of broken glass from failed attempts at working with the brittle material.

Now, after years with an artist’s dedication, Galindo has a collection of sterling silver-adorned glass boots featuring intricate designs and images — and a patent pending for the custom jewelry she developed in her Hermiston studio.

“Each piece is unique because they’re individually done,” she said. “No two pieces can be alike, so they’re one of a kind, which makes it really nice.”

Galindo has been perfecting her craftsmanship as a glass artist for 17 years.

“I’ll never forget the first time I got involved with glass,” she said. “I did it for a stress release. I worked in the medical field for 22 years in the (San Francisco) Bay Area, and I was always stressed out.”

After deciding to become a glass artist, she searched for classes, but the only one available at that time cost $4,000 and was in Washington, D.C. Galindo couldn’t afford the fee and travel expenses, so she decided to learn on her own.

She started by designing and creating glass beads for jewelry and was inspired to design the boot after moving to Hermiston nine years ago.

“Moving from a big metropolitan city to a little town, I had to find my niche,” she said.

Galindo said people in the area were interested in cowboy-themed items and sterling silver, so she began perfecting her signature process about seven years ago.

“I’ve never seen anybody make a boot,” she said. “I’ve looked so many places, and I’ve never seen work like mine. I knew I had something.”

Galindo has sold her work at local rodeos for the last several years and is a full-time artist with ever-expanding glass and silversmith studios.

“I’ve always wanted to be an artist, but my family said, ‘No, you’re going to go to school and do something different,’ ” she said. “Now, I’m doing what I want to do, and not very many people in life can say that they’re doing something that they truly enjoy.”

Galindo melts and molds glass to create the shape for her pieces and then melts and adds in different colors of glass to create different designs and images.

“It’s kind of like my canvas: I’m taking glass and painting glass on glass,” she said. “A potter can touch his clay. A painter can smudge his canvas. Most artists can touch their work. When I’m working with glass, I have to use prosthetics.”

With a torch, Galindo melts a rod of glass onto a metal rod, which she has to constantly spin so the molten glass does not drip off. She then uses special pliers and graphite pads to shape the glass, which hardens as it cools.

She melts and applies glass canes with multiple colors twisted together to add unique patterns. She uses dentist-style tools to manipulate the cane. She “paints” images on the boots by melting and manipulating thin strings of a different type of glass. She also places crystals inside some of the pieces. Intricate designs require hours of delicate work.

“One time, I’ve actually worked on a piece for seven-hours straight,” she said. “I’ll crank the music up and just kind of get lost.”

When the design is complete, she places it in a preheated kiln, which slowly reduces the temperature of the glass, and hopes the piece does not crack. Despite Galindo’s best efforts, many pieces break, and she is forced to make dozens of boots to create one she believes is perfect.

Once the glass art is complete, she performs a variety of tasks to turn it into a piece of wearable jewelry.

“It takes several days to make a piece from beginning to end,” Galindo said. “It has to cool overnight, over 24 hours. Then I basically do other stuff to get the boot ready, and that’s day two. The third day, you’re putting all the silver on it, and the fourth day, you’re polishing it.”

Galindo creates other glass pieces, but she is best known for her custom cowboy jewelry.

“I have other glass artists come up and tell me, ‘Wow, how’d you make that? I can’t believe you made that,’ ” she said. “When I see somebody with one of my pieces on (a necklace), people will say, ‘Are you looking at this? An artist here in town made this.’ ”

Galindo said she doesn’t tell people she was the local artist who created the jewelry through hours of work after years of experience, but she enjoys seeing her art on display.

“It’s nice to have a gift and to be able to take that gift and turn around and make people happy,” she said. “When I’m long gone and I leave this earth, I’ve left my footprint. It’s kind of neat, and it will go on forever.”

Galindo’s work can be purchased at Alexander Daniel Jewelry Works, 245 E. Main St., Suite C, and Cottage Flowers, 1725 N. First St., in Hermiston. For more information, visit polagalindosglassart.com.