Lettering

 I'm lucky to work for a lot of trade customers and I recently restored a stained glass house name panel for a glazing company. The panel was unusual in being glazed into the front door and not the fanlight. In a front door thinner pieces are more likely to break and this panel had it's fair share along with bowing. Matching up and replacing old white glass can be tricky, white glass often looks different in transmitted light and then again in reflected light. It's hard to get a good balance but I was lucky to have access to a very good match! I kept the leads on the grey side of buffed to match in with the remaining door set.

More examples of lettering...

This panel originally read 'Welcome to the drum and monkey'. It was purchased by a drummer who didn't like the monkey part so the panel ended up cut down!

 

BAR panel available for sale via Richard Cann A1509g. “Bar” new lead – old glass – Richard Cann (leadedstainedglass.com)

There are some beautiful shop fronts with stained glass lettering....

Crewkerne

Llandudno

Llandudno

Whitstable

It's not just lettering that looks good in stained glass but company logo's look great too, below is one I made for Row Pinto. Row is a knitware designer and makes a range beautiful, colourful knitware items from hot water bottle covers to blankets, scarves, hats and much more. The items arrive beautifully wrapped and are perfect for gifts.

To visit Row's shop click here House - Row Pinto Knitwear.

   

Beautiful New Cross!

 This fanlight was created to fit in with 2 very different existing panels with one set of painted panels surrounding a different central panel. Some original Victorian painted panels had just come into stock and we re-used these including the original pitted red border that matched the existing outer panels.

Butterflies and insects painted in the central panel.

The two original Victorian painted pieces re-used in the fanlight.

The simple Victorian design kept the glasses and roundels as close as possible a match to the panels below and kept the street style of leaded number. 

The central door panel had an unusual streaky red border glass and we matched this in the fanlight with some old streaky red border glass from a restored / cut down panel. 

Beautiful Bromley!

 This striking door set transformed a house in Bromley... 

Smart Corbett!

 For this Corbett house in Eltham we did something different. A smart modern look for a beautifully restored house.

Original Art Nouveau panel for sale

 I am selling this beautiful original Art Nouveau panel which has been adapted from a larger panel. It has a background of old Flemish, a lush streaky red border and typical whiplash leafy shapes.

The panel has new border leads and has been re-cemented so is suitable for fitting into a window but would also look good leaning against a window. It has one old repair which has been well done in the background glass of old Flemish. The panel size is 562mm wide x 332mm height. The price is £80 for collection from my Woolwich (London) studio only. 

Transformation!

 I recently completed this collaboration with the wonderful painter Flora Jamieson. The customer had a clear vision of what she wanted and I think you'll agree it's quite a transformation...

Before

After

Photos courtesy of Tessa Morrison with detail below.

To watch a video showing the process of painting the birds click here

What to do when large panes of rare old glass break

 Many front doors were built with stained glass in mind but as one of the last stages of building work the doors were often left glazed with textured coloured panes either through money running out or simply just left up to the new home owner to choose their own designs. Often in unusual and beautiful glasses in various tints these panes remained through the years, people liked them and saw no reason to change them. The problem occurs when one of these panes breaks and large pieces of the glass are impossible to get hold of and there is really nothing similar. This is what happened with the job below.  

Below the large broken door pane...

This door was glazed with the glass Oceanic which was designed by T and W Farmiloe in 1903 with shells and starfish pattern. 

Farmiloe info courtesy of Sash Window Specialist  

The options are you could replace one or both panes with the nearest more readily available old match, Muranese, which is not close at all and as a large pane of 4mm glass doesn't meet current building regs...

Muranese (large pattern)

 Or by removing carefully both panes and preserving as much of the old glass as possible you can re-use the glass in new stained glass panels which is what we did below.

Beautifully glazed by Alan Tyfa

Keeping the design very simple but using the addition of hand-spun olive roundels and using an inner border colour match with the above panes to help link the panels together. It is very satisfying to show off the ornate door and emphasis the beautiful shaped carpentry with the borders.

Here is another similar idea below.

Before

After!