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!

Trade Catch up!

 I'm lucky to work for a variety of glaziers. carpenters, builders and architects. Here's a catch up of some recent jobs...  

Rebuild both above panels replacing cracked and mismatched pieces of glass with better matches from my stock of old and new glass.

Replace cracked pieces and re-blacken and clean up the above panels.

Replace broken glass with old stock matches, replace broken painted pieces (with painted work by Flora Jamieson), re-set borders and clean up fragile painted fan and re-blacken / polish up complete set of 13 panels.  

Restoration of a full set of 5 panels including this beautiful fanlight.

Collaboration with artist Jonathan Cowell

 Jonathan Cowell is an artist producing beautiful works in watercolour, oils, acrylic and collage. He wanted to see how one of his works could look in stained glass. It's always a pleasure to work with artists and to see just how different their work can appear in a new medium. 

Jonathan chose this lovely pastel of Wendy Reading to translate into glass;

First I create a cut-line which we adapt for the glass to be cut;

Then we chose an assortment of coloured and textured glass which is cut and pasted up;

Then Jonathan painted the glass (which is kiln fired);

Then the panel was leaded up;

Then soldered and cemented;

The finished work which changes in different lights.

You can see more of Jonathan's beautiful work here

Peace and Smooth Sailings in 2024

Wishing all my customers, colleagues and casual visitors a peaceful and creative 2024

Photo from an original set of magic lantern slides, 'Gulliver's Travels'.

Back to work!

 Detail from one of the first jobs after a short break...

Am greatly looking forward to seeing this panel transform a beautiful original Georgian door in Peckham. The design is a classic Victorian one but with some strong Georgian colours. Glasses include, pale pink German Hammered, English Muffle, pale amber sparkle, a selection of Muranese, Waterglass, handspun roundels and an original antique cast glass jewel.

Later....

Quirkery!

 Recently completed repairs and restoration work on 5 beautiful porch panels made (possibly!) in the 60's or 70's. The quirkiness of these panels really endeared me. The centres had some unusual handmade glasses with painted and etched elements. The diamonds were an assortment of roundels, ends of bottles, painted fragments, coloured glasses and globs. One of the great things about stained glass is that it can be recycled in this creative way and someone had clearly had fun using up their odds and ends!

Original leadwork.

I thought I had found a makers mark until I found out that F M F stood for Food Marketing Federation!

Corfe Castle?