Stained Glass Process

My work stems from my skill in architectural stained glass restoration, repair and commissions.  The creative process for me in architectural stained glass has been focused on making or fixing glass that fills a hole in a wall:  doors and windows for residences, places of worship and commercial entities.  Starting from sketches, sheets of glass and strips of extruded lead, the finished work is made to withstand decades of weather and general use. 

Some of the things that make a window structurally sound for architectural use include the actual design of the window, like avoiding “natural hinge” lines; the type and width of lead used; the cementing; and reinforcement. Reinforcement traditionally is in the form of copper wires that are affixed to the window then twisted around steel bars, which are incorporated into a framing system.  Flat steel bars can also be directly soldered to the panel.  Another aspect of structural integrity of any window is the precision of cutting the pieces, enabling the artist to then glaze or assemble them tightly, since each piece of glass, when placed next to the other, will help retain the shape of the window. 

The Glass

The majority of glass I used in this group is European and American hand-blown.  Similar (in the early phases) to making blown glass art objects and vessels, this sheet glass is formed by gathering molten glass, blowing a sphere from it, then forming it into a cylinder.  While hot, the ends of the cylinder ends are cut off, then it is split long-ways and allowed to open as a sheet of glass.  After cooling slowly (annealing), it will harden and can be cut and used in leaded glass windows. 

The colors can be achieved in a number of ways.  One is by adding certain oxides of metals to the molten glass, and mixing it.  Gold, for instance, reacts to create anything from a true pink to a deep red.  Another method of adding color is during the blowing process.  The gather of glass is rolled in a powder or dipped in a pot of different colored glass, which sticks to the outside of the gather.   This second process results in what is called “flashed glass.”  The sheet ends up having a thick layer of the base color and a thinner layer of the second color. If the “thin” layer were not thinned by flashing it to the base glass, the “thin” layer would be so dense that very little light would pass through it.

“Now What,” “Whiteboard (I)” and Dragon Series No. 1 all contain flashed glass.

Light

Viewed in different light, the glass in each window will change.  Reflected light shows off “opalescent” or somewhat obscured glass when other glass will recede; transmitted light allows the hand blown, “antique” glasses to catch light and throw it across the room, casting long “light-shadows”.  Seeds, or air bubbles trapped in the glass, capture direct and indirect light, causing it to brighten a window. 

Direct sunlight has the strongest impact – and sometimes it can overwhelm a particular window.  The best light for photographing “There Really Is Just One Way” was during a sunny day, but in a shaded area. 

One night as I was working on “Whiteboard (I),” I had “The Way Is Clear” sitting at the window in the front of the studio.  When I glanced at it, the void of the motif struck me:  I could easily see the reflections of the clear glass, but the Chinese character was a pure, rich black – like ink.  I immediately knew how I needed to display this work.