"After 28 years, I am closing my workshop" - Margaret (63) is selling her last glass kingfishers at a special price. Her best-loved design is retiring for good.

Margaret Ellis (63) in her Cotswolds workshop. After 28 years, she is closing the doors on her life's work.

Cotswolds, January. The small workshop smells of warm glass, solder and years of devotion. On the shelves are rows of bird sketches, coloured glass offcuts and half-finished kingfishers - some still rough, others already carrying delicate outlines and shimmering wings. Margaret Ellis bends over one of her final kingfishers just as she has done since 1998. But this winter is different. It is her last.

"I'm 63," she says quietly. "My eyes are not what they were. The fine work gets harder every year." She runs a hand over her fingers - decades of glasswork have left their marks. "But that is not the only reason. The world has changed. Fewer people are willing to pay for real hand craft. Everywhere you look, it is mass-produced decoration."

28 years, more than 6,000 glass birds - a life in colour and light

Margaret has counted them: over 6,000 glass birds made in 28 years. Every single one passed through her hands. "At first they were simple window pieces," she says. "Then customers began asking for something special - something with expression, something with soul. That is how my kingfisher was born: a glass artwork that lights up as if it were alive."

Every piece of glass is selected by hand - a single kingfisher can contain more than 40 separate pieces.

What makes Margaret's glass kingfishers so special

What makes her kingfishers special is not only the vivid play of colour. It is the way each bird is built: assembled from real pieces of glass, joined by hand one piece at a time - not pushed down a production line.

Each glass piece is chosen, cut and placed until the bright blue, warm orange and fine details feel right. The result is a piece that changes with the light - deep blue at one moment, turquoise the next, then flashing with golden reflections.

In sunlight, the kingfisher comes fully alive - the glass breaks the light into rich, shifting colour.

The end of an era - and one last chance

At the end of February, Margaret will close her workshop for good. "I have no successor. Hardly anyone wants to learn this trade now - it takes years before you can really do it." Around 200 kingfishers are still stacked on the shelves. Her life's work. The final collection that will ever pass through her hands.

To find them good homes before spring, she has made an unusual decision: a clear special price on the remaining kingfishers. "It is not about the money now. I want them to go to people who understand what is behind a piece like this," says Margaret.

What real customers say about the glass kingfisher

"The perfect gift for someone you truly love"

What makes Margaret's kingfisher such a meaningful gift is not only the delicate glasswork. It is the story behind it. "When you give someone this kingfisher, you give them a piece of real craft. A small artwork for the home - and something that will never be made this way again," says Margaret.