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Recently I was asked to provide some testimonials from some of my students who attend my stained glass window making courses.

I was so moved by what one of them sais I simply had to share it with everyone.

I am 57 years old and am not particularly ‘arty’ but have done some dressmaking and also made cards using paper quilling in the past.  I watched Kirsty Allsopp’s programme about a ‘Homemade Home’ a year or so ago and saw her on there making a stained glass panel.  I mentioned at the time to my husband that I quite fancied doing that.  He must have been listening to me because he tracked Amanda down from the Channel 4 website and bought me a taster day making a stained glass panel.  That was in March 2010.  I really enjoyed the day and was very pleased with the result which now hangs in my kitchen window.

I was so enamoured with all things glass that I decided I would try a glass fusing day too and went this year in October.  This was even more enjoyable!  You don’t have to be so precise and you never quite know how things are going to turn out because some of the colours and textures change in the kiln.  I made a wall panel to hang in our new conservatory (photo below) and some coasters and these also is much admired.  I am now intending to return for another day in the new year with my sister-in-law.  This time I think I will make something to go in the bathroom. I have no skill at drawing but I am quite good at copying things.  Once I had decided to put a poppy on my fused panel, Amanda produced a book of British flowers that I used to create my version.

I am really quite hooked and could possibly see myself buying my own kiln in the future (my husband says I’ll be wanting my own shed soon!).  One of the reasons for my enthusiasm is the way Amanda teaches. I have quite a long journey (about 1.5 hours) to get to her studio but it is worth it. She is obviously very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and guides rather than tells you exactly what to do - makes you think everything is your own idea!  As far as glass fusing goes it seems the opportunities are endless - you can have wall panels, dangly decorations, plates, bowls, coasters, pendants… and it is the experimentation that attracts me too.

Thank you Frankie!

Well this week has been another eventful one! Never a dull moment in the life of a hard working glass artist! A project I have been working on for months came to a glorious end on sunny Monday when my Silver Birches window was finally fitted. There is a view towards Reigate Hill in Surrey and my customers were keen to keep that but to have some privacy. There are fused elements within the panel and loads of different pieces of lovely glass. Some are even made in England! Yes we are still (again) making mouth blown glass. These windows have been fitted into a newly built green oak building and all the colours of stained glass I selected are sympathetic to the oak. There is an nod to the oak in the top right of the middle panel! The windows have been encapsulated into sealed units to preserve the heat and to comply with all the latest building regulations. 

I’m just finishing the leading up of the last of three panels depicting a Surrey landscape and silver birches. These panels are going to be encapsulated into sealed units which will comply with all the latest building regulations. 

I have cut the glass in a very rich mixture of fabulous glass, mouth blown German and English streaky glasses! Yes English!!! From the English Antique Glass company in Birmingham.

Also lots of lovely textured streaky glasses and fused elements will hopefully make it an interesting window! 

I gave fused and cast pieces of glass for the foreground depicting grasses and seed heads.

The silver birch trunks are achieved using a Spectrum (American make) whispy White opal glass and adding traditional glass paint which is fired in the kiln. The leaves are painted on the same way and them I have used a lovely spring green translucent enamel.

Can’t wait to see it in, probably mid to late June.

Stained glass is unique in the world of art in that it is the only medium to fully exploit the relationship between glass and light. Light is an intangible phenomenon and since the dawn of time has been associated with philosophies and religions. It symbolizes life, goodness, revelation and beauty.

The desire of the early architects to bring this light to life and to educate a mostly illiterate congregation brought about the golden age of Gothic architecture and stained glass.

 
 

The Medieval Christian Church used coloured glass deliberately, aware that colour and light are both spiritual and sensual.

We still look in amazement at the beauty of a rainbow and marvel at the pureness of its colours. The rainbow, according to the book of Genesis, was Gods covenant with man after the Flood.

At the end of the Dark Ages there was a boom in church building and these churches and cathedrals were filled with colour and light.  Difficult to imagine what the people thought of this as they gazed at these pictures and stories brought to them in this way. They would have never seen any thing so beautiful or spiritual.

It is hard to trace the exact origins of stained glass. It does have some similarities in materials and techniques used by the goldsmith for cloisonné enamelling. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloisonne 

Its not beyond imagination to think that the first stained glass artists saw the goldsmith running his band of gold around glass or filling it with enamel and decided to try it with glass. Using a cheaper alternative, lead, and with the advent of the invention of lead milling and casting, it was then possible to hold the glass together in large portable panels.

These artists then discovered that iron filings ground together with flux and powdered glass could be painted onto the surface of the glass pieces. When fired in a kiln to melting point and cooled they were able to produce glass pieces with detail on such as faces, hands and drapery.

The earliest surviving examples of painted stained glass are the head of Christ from the abbey church at Wissembourg in Alsace from around 1060AD

 

and the famous five prophet windows in Augsburg Cathedral Middle of 12th Century.     

                    

These windows show us that there are already styles and techniques being used that one would expect from a practised artist.

This is a detail from a 16th century window in St Marys Church, Fairford and depicts a two headed Satan illuminated by the glow of hell. Love these windows!

There was a revival of stained glass in the nineteenth century. With the advent of the Gothic Revival the artists and architects of the time designed using forms and patterns that had been used in the middle ages. They combined serious study with romantic visions of romance and chivalry.  Two major artist of this time were William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones.

Edward Burne Jones was the most influential stained glass designer of the late 19th Century.

The link below will take you to a brief history and some pictures of his work.

 http://www.visitcumbria.com/edward-burne-jones.htm

The techniques and materials I use differ very little from those used by the earliest stained glass artists and craftsmen. There is a larger colour range of glass available, the tools have been improved with time and designs and styles change year after year but the basics are still those of an ancient tradition.  That being the case I feel honoured to be following in their footsteps. We stained glass artists of today are taking stained glass to a new dimension.  Adding fused and textured detail and also by encapsualting the panels into sealed units to save energy. As with any craft it is evolving year on year and we embrace change with great enthusiasm, as it will bring yet another way of working or another style to our work. And like all artists it is this that keeeps us awake at night designing!