July 1996 through January 2004

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Vangie founded Aurora Colors as a sole proprietorship in 1996 and immediately purchased .com and .net urls, and trademarked Aurora Colors. Family and friends encouraged her to start the business after she made some unusual stained glass jewelry but lead free solder wasn't readily available at that time and so she 'let go' any ideas regarding foiled stained glass jewelry. Designing and building windows or sun catchers was much more interesting and fun anyway. Occasionally she did a repair, but her studio time was limited to weekends and evenings as she had long commute hours from Petaluma to San Francisco. 

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Back then her name was Vangie Becerra (maiden name) Trenchard. Vangie is short for Vangeleen.