Happy Christmas 2021

 Wishing You A Very Happy Christmas and All Best Wishes for 2022

Detail from The Miracle Windows, Canterbury Cathedral

More close ups of these amazing windows to follow... 

Surface Texture

 Often overlooked in the rush to choose colours but it can be just as interesting...

Sparkle

 I recently completed this job for a glazing company. The brief was to make new fanlights to match the door panel and original panels elsewhere in the house. Also to restore an existing side panel and make the set 'work' as a whole. Using my contacts I was able to source the original background glass  which is no longer made and had in stock good matches to the other glasses. 

New Cross - New Door Set!

 I have written about the beautiful panels of this area previously here Apollo Stained Glass: Space Age New Cross! One of the lovely aspects of matching the street style is the opportunity to change both the colours and painted centres making the panels both traditional and unique.

Before

Bespoke artwork for the painted centres by Flora Jamieson.

After!

Charlton Slopes

 It's always a pleasure to work on these houses in South East London. Much of the original stained glass exists along these streets and it's possible that all the houses had house names painted across the white scroll of the fanlight, though these were also left blank so that people could add the name of their choice. Originally just the central panels appear to have had stained glass but the hallways, which are very wide, look amazing and much larger when the door set is completed with sympathetic designs. 

Original door set - on-site repairs completed.

Matching up glasses / colours for the new panels, using original stock of background glass.

Complete door set with new side panels.

Photo courtesy of Ben Andrews.

Lee Green Conservation Area

 It's always a pleasure to complete one of these panels in the Lee Green Conservation area. When the panels are installed the houses seem to say ''that's what I've been waiting for'! This panel keeps the asymmetrical character of an earlier street design.

Before

Checking glasses / colours.

Leading up.

Leaded panel - detail. Original old glass used for clear textured area.

Entrance complete again!

Wood Street Tabernacle Calvary Church of God in Christ

I recently completed a set of panels for COGIC Wood Street in Walthamstow, London. The idea behind the design is that 'life is a journey', we weave our way through and can be held in the net of love and support of a strong community. The wavy lines represent both the journey and the net. The side panels show the Church logo; strands of wheat held together in a sheaf, young and old, showing the welcoming side of the church with ministries across the generations. The central fanlight shows the holy dove, symbol of hope and promise and also a tribute to the hard work of the NHS in this difficult time.

Choosing / checking glasses for the ears of wheat. 

Leading up shots. 

Glasses used were a mix of handmade and machine made glasses.

Side panel in situ close up.

Wheatsheaf detail.

Mix of glasses in the borders. 

Detail of fanlight.

Photo courtesy of Pastor Douglas Wallace.

Side panels fitted by Apollo Stained Glass and fanlights fitted / photo courtesy of John Mahony.

Beautiful Birds on the Charlton Slopes

 Charlton slopes in London SE7 have some of the most lovely stained glass door panels. Built in the Edwardian era many of them still have the original glasses intact. The panels below were made new but to the street design and building back in original Edwardian glasses from the area. It was great to be able to use these glasses as although the Muranese pattern is still made now and looks great it has slightly less embossment than the original pattern that really catches the light. 

Original glasses; deep plum (below) and green Muranese.

Beautiful birds painted by Flora Jamieson

 

A Touch of New Zealand in New Cross

 I recently completed these New Zealand bird panels showing Kiwi and Tui birds. It was great fun to make these panels which the customer designed with great flair. The colours in the design were bright and strong and luckily a new range of Florentine glasses with a fantastic range of colours has just come on the market. Florentine glasses really sparkle when they catch the light and bring out that tropical feel! The idea behind the colour scheme was night and day with the moon roundel above the Kiwi and amber roundel as the sun above the Tui bird. 

Photo courtesy of Robert Gale 

 

Corbett Estate Eltham

 Archibald Cameron Corbett inherited his father's property business in 1880 and through the late 1800's and early 1900's he built large estates in South East London. His houses were aimed at the skilled working class and middle class market and the standardisation of many components allowed for quality at a large scale. This was also true for his stained glass and luckily there are many original panels left to copy.

This house is in the Eltham Corbett Estate. New panels were made using some original period glasses from my stock of old glasses, keeping as close as possible to the original lead pattern, and colour layout. One small change was the incorporation of roundels instead of discs of coloured glass. Typically this style of panel would have had roundels but I suspect on a large scale cutting discs of glass was massively cheaper than using roundels which are hand spun.  

With thanks to Callum Wells for the above photos 

Beautiful hand painted birds by Flora Jamieson

Corbett owners are quite rightly very proud of their heritage and it is always a pleasure to put in new or restored work into these houses. More information can be found on Corbett click here and here!

Clearing the white noise!

These beautiful panels weren't quite at full glory with the safety glass, Georgian Wired behind them. As the name suggests Georgian Wired is manufactured with a wire mesh built in, it's often used in industrial areas which need fire safety rating. In a front door it's not ideal as it detracts from the pattern and textures of the glass. This lovely set of panels was probably put in after the Second World War when safety considerations were uppermost....

With safety glass

Removal of safety glass from door panels and clean-up.

 A glaziers joke?

This Georgian 'Umbrella' style fanlight is carefully painted (complete with drop shadow) onto Georgian Wired in a Georgian house!

Transformation!

 Recently completed this classic Victorian design. These shaped apertures were made to take stained glass which emphasizes the carpenters skill. It is also a design which converts well to different shapes. It is such a pleasure to reinstate a door set like this.

With thanks for photos - courtesy of Kevin Donegan