Fanlight

Most of the coloured glass for the fanlight is now cut. I still need to choose a yellow for the large Inverted moustache, but finally with the stronger colours in proportion I can find one with the right balance. The clear infill pieces are still to do, but as usual I have offered the client the opportunity to visit our studio and have a go at cutting some of the glass, which has been enthusiastically accepted. ClearCathedral glass is reasonably straightforward to cut, so is ideal for a first attempt, it's just fitting the session into tight timetables which may not be easy. 

This is also a first fix with the glass, there is still some minor grinding to do (on the greens in particular which is brittle and difficult with concave curves), so I will save that till its all complete. Hope you like it. 

Victorian fan light

The Victorian fan light (technically a transom light) is now well under way. The vidimus (a scale coloured drawing representative of the finished product) has been approved and glass samples selected so its time to crack on.

First we need to finish the cartoon. I have previously made a cardboard template and fitted into the intended aperture, this confirms a good fit and highlights any anomalies, saving a lot heartache later on. So, the dimensions are all good. I will be using a 12mm flat lead came for the border, so need to add this to the cartoon. From this I can plot the inner face of the heart, which is the line (in red in the photo) up to which the glass will be cut, and just for ease of lead up, I also pencil in the inner flange of the came. 

Drawing these lines in is easy if they are straight, but the semicircle is a bit more tricky, you can't buy a compass big enough so we use a piece of timber with carefully drilled holes; remember we are looking for an accuracy of line and glass of less than 1mm. 

Once that's done, it's just a case of cutting the glass.