A new home calls for new stained glass. This one is for Anne and Pat.
A tall window in our living room looks out onto a fence and a wall. Replacing that view with a piece of stained glass was an obvious way of making our new home feel more like ours.
A number of ideas were considered that would fit naturally into the tall and thin shape, One of these was a variation or development from an earlier window of this shape which featured a Heron. Indeed the folder on my computer is actually labelled 22KP Heron.... so sure was I that this is the way thinking would evolve. Other thoughts included a galloping horse - a nod to Anne's early passion for riding - leaping salmon - a reference back to the glass in our former front door - and something inspired by the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh - reflecting three past projects.
In the end we settled on a design inspired by a picture of an Iris, The design was developed from a photograph, but I cannot trace it now so I cannot show the development of the design.
Choosing the Glass
Quite a challenge! The panel is to fit in an opening 1265mm tall by 398mm wide. Given the relatively simple concept of a few blooms and leaves with a background, the leaf parts are quite long - one is over54 cms long - so large sheets were going to be needed. This limits options for buying because of the shipping challenge. The second big challenge was to find a glass that would give the right impression for the blooms. Nothing already in our studio was quite what we wanted, so the internet search was on. In the end almost all the glass came from new purchases because of piece size and quantity, though two of the glasses were just larger sheets of glass we already had in stock. Choice was not helped by Anne and I being in different towns at the time.
Another big debate was on the choice of back ground glass. I preferred a relatively recessive background - proposing a colourless but textured clear glass, or a white and clear streaky Spectrum glass, or Kokomo light amber or just maybe a very pale blue. Perhaps the choice was not helped by using pictures to compare rather than the actual glass. Anne was insistent it needed to be zingy and hence in the end we opted for a stronger blue.
The biggest challenge remained that of a glass for the purple of the petals. In the end, the choice fell on a Bullseye streaky glass, Cranberry Pink 2311. Having chosen this we needed to find a supplier who could supply all we wanted or pay multiple shipping costs or expensive journeys to collect. For better or worse we chose a visit to a supplier in Glasgow that meant I could look and be sure and/or look at other options we were unaware of and change the plan completely, if justified. This decision was helped by the assistance of Peter at Stained Glass Supplies who provided pictures of sheets of glass - green options as well as the Bullseye sheet - to offer encouragement that the visit would bear fruit. The trip was duly made 23/10/2024 and I returned with four sheets of glass, one of which had not figured in the pictures that Peter had supplied but which emerged from the visit.
The yellow glass was a Spectrum glass from stock. The background blue glass was chosen based on a hobby cut in the studio, but for size and quantity reasons we needed a big sheet - Wissmach Streaky Blue W87LL. The light green glass was V6-327 Green/White Opal, one of the options Peter had pictured. Finally, the dark green glass was a Spectrum glass (S329-6SF Dark Green White Wispy Transparent) that I had in my studio - though in too small a sheet - and which Peter only fished out while I was in the shop. Fortunately big enough for my needs.
Another big debate was on the choice of back ground glass. I preferred a relatively recessive background - proposing a colourless but textured clear glass, or a white and clear streaky Spectrum glass, or Kokomo light amber or just maybe a very pale blue. Perhaps the choice was not helped by using pictures to compare rather than the actual glass. Anne was insistent it needed to be zingy and hence in the end we opted for a stronger blue.
The biggest challenge remained that of a glass for the purple of the petals. In the end, the choice fell on a Bullseye streaky glass, Cranberry Pink 2311. Having chosen this we needed to find a supplier who could supply all we wanted or pay multiple shipping costs or expensive journeys to collect. For better or worse we chose a visit to a supplier in Glasgow that meant I could look and be sure and/or look at other options we were unaware of and change the plan completely, if justified. This decision was helped by the assistance of Peter at Stained Glass Supplies who provided pictures of sheets of glass - green options as well as the Bullseye sheet - to offer encouragement that the visit would bear fruit. The trip was duly made 23/10/2024 and I returned with four sheets of glass, one of which had not figured in the pictures that Peter had supplied but which emerged from the visit.
The yellow glass was a Spectrum glass from stock. The background blue glass was chosen based on a hobby cut in the studio, but for size and quantity reasons we needed a big sheet - Wissmach Streaky Blue W87LL. The light green glass was V6-327 Green/White Opal, one of the options Peter had pictured. Finally, the dark green glass was a Spectrum glass (S329-6SF Dark Green White Wispy Transparent) that I had in my studio - though in too small a sheet - and which Peter only fished out while I was in the shop. Fortunately big enough for my needs.
Spectrum white and clear streaky - blue tinge is lighting impact seen in all the paler options
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Kokomo K181 light amber (honest!)
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CX100 colourless clear
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The in-stock options for green are compared
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The in-stock options for blue are compared to the preferred dark green
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Yellow option 1
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Yellow option 2 - the chosen one
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Options proposed by Peter
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Cutting gets underway with the blue background
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Cutting the Glass
While the blue glass could be cut conventionally, that is by laying the glass on the printed design and cutting while following the inside of the line, all the rest had to be cut by making tracings, printing, cutting them out and then tracing back onto the glass. This multi-stage process inevitably results in inaccuracy and a lot of time is going to be required to fine-tune the fit of the pieces and avoid "growth". Initially prints were to heavy weight paper, but it was found to be easier to trace on to the glass if printed on thin card.
Cutting the blue conventionally
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Tracings for cutting opaque glass
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Most of the blue cut gives a first impression
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Cutting plan for the light green glass
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First cut of the light green glass - cut plan top right and tracing at right
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Developing the cut plan for the dark green glass
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Different approaches were taken in planning to cut the light green glass and the dark green glass. Both plans, however, were developed to try to minimise waste. For the light green glass the plan was developed on the computer as the streaky texture was relatively uniform and straight. The tracings derived from the master drawing, for ultimately cutting the glass, were arranged on a plan of the sheet taking account of the required grain through the piece. Having done this and arranged for maximum economy it was determined that a piece 310mm long and full width was required and so this was the first cut for economy. From that point on strips were cut utilising the edges of key pieces to reduce effort and waste and then the strip subdivided. The first strip cut is illustrated above.
For the dark green glass the approach was different, Initially the same approach was taken (see picture below) which gave confidence that all the required pieces could be cut from the sheet, However, with more variable streakiness including some with significant curvature, it was felt necessary to lay the tracings on the glass, on the light table to get the best fit of glass grain to leaf grain. This allowed the most curved element to exploit the curviest part of the glass grain. Aside from the layout approach, the same goal of compact layout, exploiting the actual piece edges to reduce waste and effort were again used. Judging from the sizes of remnant pieces to what the base plan suggested would be the case greater economy was achieved with this approach rather than less.
For the dark green glass the approach was different, Initially the same approach was taken (see picture below) which gave confidence that all the required pieces could be cut from the sheet, However, with more variable streakiness including some with significant curvature, it was felt necessary to lay the tracings on the glass, on the light table to get the best fit of glass grain to leaf grain. This allowed the most curved element to exploit the curviest part of the glass grain. Aside from the layout approach, the same goal of compact layout, exploiting the actual piece edges to reduce waste and effort were again used. Judging from the sizes of remnant pieces to what the base plan suggested would be the case greater economy was achieved with this approach rather than less.
The first cut through the dark green glass, piece to right removed
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The second cut through the dark green glass, with product
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Detail of the main part in picture to left showing piece 81 aligned to curvature in the streaks of the glass
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The initial cut plan for dark green that demonstrated it was possible to get all the pieces out of teh 610 x 610 mm sheet
Cutting the Bullseye glass followed a similar approach to the dark green glass, without the initial master plan stage. The two big petals were carefully laid out, the second one being changed on reflection, then the other tracings were placed around and about more focussed on the zingiest bits of the glass rather than economy, despite the huge cost of this sheet of glass.
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Cutting the yellow glass was very straightforward so then we moved on to saw work and trial assembly.
Achieving a fit
The spaces within the big petals which were to have a yellow piece inserted, along with many other details around the blooms would have been impossible to very difficult to cut conventionally, so all the work requiring the saw was saved up for a final cutting effort, as part of getting each piece to fit with its neighbours. Having done this a full trial assembly was possible to get a full first impression. Much work remains!