By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Summer in Seattle means one thing: outdoor festivals. And outdoor festivals mean you will likely see Veronica Wood out and about selling her stained glass creations.

Using glass she buys as well as scrap materials from blown glass that - well - blew -Wood creates all kinds of decorative objects for the home including candle holders, mirrors and wall-hangings. In addition to festivals and the Fremont Sunday Market, Wood, who lives in the Ravenna neighborhood, also hawks her wares at local shops, including Gargoyle Statuary in the University District.

It's not surprising that with big names like Dale Chihuly hanging around, Seattle is known as a glass mecca. But Wood didn't choose to start her 3-year-old company, Vro's Sculptic Glass, in Seattle for that reason - she came here for love.

After graduating from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1991, Wood pursued a career as a marine biologist. She traveled up to Seattle for months at a time to work as an observer on fishing vessels (someone who monitors what kinds of fish are being caught and kept).

While here, Wood would often indulge her long-time interest in fencing with a local club called Salle Wallingford, which met at Hamilton Middle School.

One day, an old college buddy, Michael Wood, recognized her with her fencing mask on, simply because of her unique stance. After that meeting the two struck up a friendship. Then, just like in a Hollywood movie, they fell in love - after Veronica Wood (then Veronica Yousoofian) had already committed to a taking a job in California with a heart research group.

Wood only spent a year in that job, moving back up to Washington in 1998 to be with Michael.

(The couple married in 2000.) However, while in California, Wood, who had long been interested in arts and crafts as a hobby, started making decorative stain glass items for fun. It was a technique she'd learned from a friend a couple of years before. Wood found that her co-workers and her roommate in California were encouraging of her new hobby - in fact, to her surprise, they wanted to buy what she made.

When Wood decided to move back to Seattle, she knew she didn't want to go back to working on fishing boats.

"That meant being away for months at a time," Wood said. "I saw so many marriages dissolve there."

So Vro's was born. Her husband accompanies Wood to all the summer craft fairs she does and helps her in the studio. But when it comes to the art, the work is hers alone.

"That's one of my pet peeves with the art world," Wood said. "There are so many production artists who just sign their name."

Wood believes she's carved out a niche with her crafts, melding sculpture and stain glass to make functional items. These days, she works full time as an artist and is able to make a modest living it at. While she thinks that some of her pieces turn out better than others she's happy that they all seem to find a good home. "In time, they all sell," she said. "It's just a matter of when."

Wood opens her studio to the public twice a year, in the spring and at Christmas. She also appears regularly at the Fremont Sunday Market. For details, call Wood at 522-7425.