The Lorain County Fair is synonymous with farm animals, amusement rides and delicious, guilty foods.

What you might not imagine are beautiful stained glass works, decorative candy dishes, funky votive candle holders, distinctive root beer mugs and fanciful fish bowls.

Eleven members of the Pitchfork Pals 4-H club entered self-determined projects in glass painting this year.

Each year, Amy Jackson, co-adviser of the Pitchfork Pals, gathers her members and asks what projects they would like to work on. In the past, they’ve done everything from cake decorating and candy making to creating pottery and doing card stamping. Next year, the group will be freezing and canning and learning to make jelly and jam.

Along with glass painting, the Pitchfork Pals also did self-determined projects of scrapbooking and candle making this year.

Kyle Kudela, 12, decided to take part in the Pitchfork Pals’ glass painting project because the Firelands Middle School student “thought it would be different and fun.”

He enjoyed going to the stores and comparison shopping for materials, as well as the actual painting. His favorite piece? The stained glass.

“We got to choose the colors we wanted to stain on there, and it made it really cool,” he said. “Mine has lots of designs like squiggly lines, boxes and squares.”

His favorite self-determined project was one he did two years ago that dealt with electricity, but this one gave him a charge, too. He said he may just have finished his Christmas shopping early.

Kyle said he might give his mom a few of the pieces he made as gifts.

Emma Northeim, 14, agreed that working on the glass pieces was a lot of fun. She particularly liked making the root beer mug, which has her name on it and “lots of polka dots.”

“We got to paint how we wanted and it didn’t matter what it looked like because it was our own,” Emma said when asked why she enjoyed the project.

The Firelands High School freshman has done a self-determined project just about every year she has been in 4-H. While she doesn’t have a favorite project, the mug is definitely high on the list, she said. She plans on keeping it to use after the fair.

Her other work may be gifted to some lucky family members.

Haley Strong, 14, also intends on keeping the mug she made, but she isn’t sure if she’ll use it. With pink, yellow and orange polka dots, the piece may just end up being a decoration.

Like Emma, Haley does a self-determined project every year. But unlike Haley, the Firelands High School freshman does have a favorite — scrapbooking.

“It’s just a lot of fun,” she says. “You can do whatever you want.”

Judging for the competition takes place Aug. 21. Winning items will be on display in the 4-H Home Economics booth and in another 4-H barn.

Other pieces also will go up for sale at the dairy auction held Aug. 28 and at the 4-H Endowment Auction held at a later date.

The money raised from the sales will go to the respective groups.

Contact Christina Jolliffe at 329-7155 or ctnews@chroniclet.com.