Red Hand of Ulster

Thought I had better just pop these two pieces on; both finished and only need to package them up for transit. 

They both look fantastic, sadly photo's never do justice to the glass and the way light moves through it. The greens and blues of the "comet" are all beautifully textured and just the slightest change in light brings it to life. On the Ulster shield, the stunning translucent yellow makes the ruby water glass really stand out and the opaque white inner shield actually makes the red hand leap out as almost three dimensional. The black solder lines also beautifully emphasise the red cross.

More paint

Coat of arms almost finished, just in for the second firing. Only a few white lines and dots but they make a big difference and I didn't want to risk problems firing it with the black at the same time, it needs a crisp separation. Started another project whilst the kiln is clicking away, hopefully should have it cut tomorrow and then I can copper foil them both together.  

Nearly there

After spending all day slaving over a hot light box, all four pieces are painted and the first two just out of the kiln. Happy with the results, no blistering which is always a relief when there are large dark flooded areas. I normally only fire each piece once, no matter how much work has been done to them, but these will all be going back in again tomorrow because I will be painting some white highlights on. 

Stained glass Ulster crest

Just a lot of painting and firing to go now, probably three days in total. The green will appear quite a bit darker on the whole, with the light colour as seen here only remaining as highlights. 

Beautiful isn't it. 

Ulster Coat of Arms

The Ulster Coat of Arms is progressing nicely; glass cut and shaped and it looks superb. The camera just can't quite catch the real beauty of the glass, the wispy opal yellow is just stunning the way the light plays through it and is brilliantly set of with the Red Cross in water glass. 

I don't normally deviate much from the original plan and the simplicity of the shield with its bold colours and shapes is its strong point, it does seem to miss something. So I have drawn up a reversible small cartoon of some heraldic mantling which will be in green cathedral glass and have the detailing painted on and fired. This will also stabilise the finished article increasing the scope of its display. A mother load of extra work though. 

New projects

Below are two basic proof of concept sketches for new projects, both intended to be copper foiled. The Red Hand will have the detail painted on for a realistic hand. The blue "comet" is intended for greens and blues, brighter colours central going to deeper colours as it radiates from the jewel. Both are close to A4 in size, much larger and it becomes too heavy to hang in a window. 

Sweet pea window continues

The sweet pea transom light continues, the next step is painting the rope effect pattern on the blue centre surround. Traditional stained glass painting is completely unlike any other form of painting. The paint is very finely ground glass with pigments and other noxious substances in. It is mixed with water and gum Arabic and is kept either as a dry powder or ready to use in a foul looking lump of paint. Little bits of the lump are then cut off to mix into a useable paint, varying the ratio of paint to water depending on the effect required into a pool of working paint which is carefully re-mixed and tested every time the brush is loaded. 

First we paint a very thin undercoat onto the glass piece, this is then very quickly and gently blended with a special badger hair brush to an even coat. When this is dried, the piece is put over the cartoon and onto the light box. The basic lines of the pattern are the copy traced onto it using a fairly light paint. When dry it is removed from the cartoon and the trace lines are then strengthened with a darker paint and finer details are also painted in. When dry, paint is selectively removed to add shape, shadow or highlights. It is then fired in a kiln, this paint at 680 degrees, the firing cycle taking around four and a half hours which includes annealing time. 

Sounds like a lot of fuss, but the paint is now fused with the glass and is permanent. 

Sweet Pea Window

This project has been a while in the preparation, there have been issues with the frame and I still don't have the complete measurements, if you look closely at the cartoon you will notice the edging pieces are not yet completely drawn. Had to get started thought to get it moving, the jobs are stacking up and some are on a time deadline. 

It is going to be a fusion of techniques, the house number and infill will be copper foiled to retain the very fine lines. It will be surrounded by a royal blue ellipse which will have a rope effect painted on then fired in the kiln and the whole panel will be leaded. It is going to be quite a long project for a relatively small window. 

Beautiful Welsh Dragon

Here he is, finished in all his glory. The real beauty of stained glass is the way light plays through it, every minute as the light changes it looks different; comes to life. 

Enjoy the pictures, hope you enjoy him. 

Welsh Dragon

Thought I had better do a quick update. It's been a busy week so didn't progress as much as I would have wished. Was hoping to have him finished by now, there is only about a days work left to do so should have him finished Wednesday. 

This week we ran a stained glass course, which went well; but sadly my kiln has broken down which is causing a few problems. New one being delivered next Tuesday should put us back on the rails. In the mean time have a look at our lovely dragon. 

On Terra Cotta

Had a couple of spare hours so cracked on with the green. It's very tricky getting even the simple looking pieces to fit; one curve just a fraction too tight and everything moves. Very accurate cutting of both templates and glass is the key, but eyes like micrometers helps. Looks good standing on terra cotta. 

Nice Dragon

That's the easy part done, all the tricky little bits. Nice dragon though. The hard part now starts, cutting the big white and green background pieces. Made a few minor changes to his back right foot to improve the look, drew a new part cartoon which I will include with the main one as a Mk2 modification. He does look good with his big claws and spikes though. 

Tomorrow we have a stained glass course on so I doubt there will be much progress till next week. 

Half a Dragon

Didn't get quite as far as planned today, my knees gave up early afternoon so took the opportunity to watch a bit of the History Channel. Reworked his tail a bit to slim the lines down and look more serpentine than canine and it worked a treat. The great thing about doing this as an appliqué picture is that we can create fantastically vicious looking spikes spurs and claws, a dragon should look formidable. 

 

Welsh Dragon

Coming together nicely. We have used a rough rolled glass in the end, there is a better range of reds and the texture is still good for scales. Should have him finished tomorrow with just the background to go. 

How to make a Dragon

I've been asked by several people how you go about designing something as complicated as the stained glass dragon. It starts with the idea and a clear vision of what you are aiming to achieve, in this case a glass flag. An interweb search gives clear images, I never look at similar stained glass projects, I need inspiration not imitation. I then do a blobby sketch to get layout, orientation and scale right; at this point you need a vivid imagination to see a dragon. 

I then draw in a clear outline and basic shapes. A lot of rubber gets used at this stage but it leaves me with a good working drawing. 

Now we start to convert nice sketch to stained glass cartoon. The detail is drawn in very gently, and then I sit back and stare for a while, looking for shapes that won't work in glass. An adjustment is drawn and I sit back again. When happy, it goes up on the wall for a day or so until I am entirely happy with it. The detail is then overdrawn in bold black felt tip pen. 

After more pondering it goes onto the light box under a sheet of tracing paper. With a fine marker pen I then trace what will be the final shape, we can still make adjustments at this stage. The sketch is then removed, leaving the master cartoon on which the remaining cut lines and the border are drawn in. 

I then make four copies and file the master. 

Simples. 

I will put a PDF copy on my website if anyone wants to copy him; if you do make money out of him please make a donation to one of my charities. 

Cartoon drawn

Cartoon drawn and ready for glass. I have made the flag slightly bigger so he sits in it rather than on it. Will use a slightly textured muffle glass for the scales to give a scaly look and probably cathedral glass for the wings. Background will be semi opaque to make the dragon stand out, hope you like him. 

Sent from my iPhone

Stained glass Welsh Dragon

Next project is a Welsh Dragon. The photo is a previous example which was completed with copper foil and was shaped entirely by hand. I have since entered the technical age and added electric grinding machines to my equipment inventory, these allow very tight concave curves to be achieved and so I am changing the design slightly to make the most of this. I will also enlarge it a bit and will assemble it as an appliqué project, if the client is not to happy with that it is simple to copper foil him. 

Magnificent beast isn't he (dragons not too bad either).  

Stained glass red panda

Here he is, all finished. The photo doesn't do him justice and its not helped by the colour of the lime wash or the light bulb. He is being delivered in the morning, but will try a daylight photo before he goes. He does look really good though and I  very pleased with him. I hope you like him. Next project is a Welsh dragon, they are very popular and my design is really good (so I've been told). Watch this space. 

All Copper Foiled

Two full days to get all the pieces copper foiled. A strip of very fine copper is wrapped around each piece, then burnished and finally trimmed. Technically you don't need to trim them, but with such small and intricately shaped glass pieces you can loose a lot of the shape and delicacy with bold lines. So I painstakingly under a large magnifying glass trim each piece with a razor blade to restore fine lines. The time spent was well worth it, he looks great having lost none of his character. When we finish him the copper will be lovely black lines and will stand out a treat. Next job soldering it all together. 

Glass all cut

After a bit of effort all the glass is now cut and shaped and he looks good. It's surprising how difficult it is to get the expression right, just a couple of degrees out with the eyes and he has a prominent squint; eyebrows or cheeks just a bit off and he looks like a badly drawn Disney character. Get it just right though and he comes to life. The really difficult part though is repeating it with the solder. After a final check each piece has been carefully ground smooth on the edges, a thorough wash in piping hot water to degrease it then onto the copper foiling table. I'll cover that inure detail next time. 

Cute Red Panda

Nearly all cut now, just a few more pieces of his face. It's incredibly time consuming shaping the very small pieces and making them all fit neatly without loosing the shape, after a full day on it we still only managed half his face. There is a small hole in each eye which will hopefully give a nice glint when the sun shines through and really bring him to life.  Hope you like him. 

Nice log

Was on a roll today then was called out. Money is useful and is good for getting cider, but it doesn't advance the art. I had some lovely dark brown semi opaque glass which was perfect for the log, but when cut and viewed at a distance, it wasn't quite right; it needed more contrast with the dark red legs. So we re-cut the log using a lighter shade, but kept the bottom strip to make a shadow and add a bit of depth. Happy with it now, it almost looks like a real log. At a distance both his tail and the log look textured and three dimensional. I'm out on the job Thursday and Friday so won't finish his face till the weekend. 

Stained glass Red Panda

Spent most of the morning re-shaping his full back leg. It was really beginning to grate on me, looking more Long John Silver than cute little tree panda. Unfortunately the very dark red (almost black) glass, whilst being the perfect colour, is expensive and difficult to cut. It really only wants to go in straight lines and I only had enough left to make one more piece, so took my time over it and used the grinder more than usual. I think you will agree though that the time was well worth the effort and the colours just about perfect. 

Red Panda

First cuts made and he is looking quite good. The colours are just about right, the glass is very characterful with lots is seeds (bubbles) and a gentle texture which whilst not mimicking fur, breaks up the light well enough to "fuzz" it a bit. We are using large bold shapes for the body which should help to focus attention on the detail in his face. The trick will be to get his expression right.  Glass pieces with multiple compound curves are very time consuming to complete, requiring many small individual cuts to complete just one facet. It then needs careful grinding to remove sharp edges and leave a good surface for the copper foil to bond to. Should have most of the glass cut tomorrow. 

On hold

Sadly encountered problems with the window frame for the sweet pea transom light so have had to put the project temporarily on hold. It has put me 6 weeks behind schedule so must crack on. 

The next task is a sun catcher depicting a Red Panda. A bit of research reveals a very cute little animal full of character if a little lazy and laid back. Found a terrific photo of one lying on a branch, did a quick sketch a put it to the client; she loves it. 

I need to go and find the right glass though, I have many different reds in stock but none "rusty" enough, and I need three shades of it. 

Photos are the initial sketch and a close up of its face on the cartoon. 

Next project

OK then, next project is a transom light (the window above a door) for a very nice lady in East London. The house is late Victorian, South facing and traditionally decorated. The only brief was fairly light, traditional and incorporating pink sweet peas. The initial proof sketch is below, going with a fine ruby border, stylised leafs and pretty flowers. 

The measurements are a little odd, there is a 5cm difference on the diagonals (which usually means the frame has moved and is "out of square"). So to accurately draft the borders, I use a string computer with map pins at the correct distance for the edges, then move the top corners until the diagonals correspond. Simples. Just waiting now for confirmation of the angles from the client before going firm on the cartoon. 

Fitting windows

My one sop to modern materials is when fitting windows. I tend to shy away from using conventional putty on external and opening units, using a silicone based sealant instead. The trouble with putty is that it sets rock hard, which transmits shock and movement directly to the glass, and it does not weather well and will crack over time. The first two photos below show a wooden frame and a cast iron frame, both where the putty has failed. In the wood frame water ingress has rotted the frame, and you can see rust in the iron frame. If left untreated the rust will blister and crack the 200 year old glass. 

Silicone on the other hand forms a permanent (but easily removable should you need to) waterproof bond, which remains flexible enough to absorb shock and movement. The bond is strong enough to hold the glass by itself, but I always use a second mechanical fixing as a failsafe measure. Copper tacks are best as they can easily be bent onto the glass/lead to secure it and will not corrode as easily in damp timber or react with the tannins in oak. 

Lead lights installed

After a week for the putty to set hard and a good vigorous polishing with grate blacking, it's time to fit. The old glass came out easy enough and the new ones fitted like a dream. Each one was set onto a bead of silicone sealant and secured with small copper nails into the jambs and bent over the came. A further bead of sealant was then run around the frame and hey presto. I will explain this fixing method later, but it looks absolutely fantastic in situ. 

Nearly done

Almost there, the two plane flanking panels are finished and the centre panel is assembled. Had a slight change of tack with the centre pattern, even the thinnest lead came looked a little chunky and we couldn't quite achieve the delicate elegance the client was looking for. So we copper foiled the centre piece and set it within the lead came of the blue oval. Looks a treat. As always my photos don't do justice to the subject, but you get the idea; they will look beautiful fitted. 

Lead lights

After a bit of a lull whilst some rot was put right in the frame, we now continue apace. All glass cut and the first panel finished. Photos show it once leaded and ready to solder, and after soldering and puttied waiting the big cleanup. I should have the other two panels finished this weekend, but if the weather is good might go sailing instead. 

Lead lights

Next project came as a bit of a bit of a rush job, the client is changing the bathroom colour scheme and really needs new windows to complement it. Currently three small pieces of textured glass with stick on lead strips and some yellow paint. Replacing with three lead lights, each with a dark blue border and the centre panel with a simple oval design reflecting room colours. Collected materials and drew the cartoons today.