More stained glass hearts

Continuing the Christmas present theme, and stained glass hearts, daughter No1 hit me with a request earlier in the year. One of her best friends absolutely loves hearts and has a massive collection which covers an entire wall in her house. Each year they make each other a Christmas present, and this year she wanted to make a heart in stained glass. It had to include a rose, her middle name and be in red. Okidoki, this would be a simple project, but would involve a short course in stained glass. 

The design was soon completed and would be a thin walled classic heart with a painted red rose hanging in the centre. I cut, painted, enamelled and fired the rose in plenty of time, this would be beyond a "crash course" and I wanted to get that bit ready in plenty of time. Meanwhile I had a visit from the husband of the heart lady with a design of his own. Unfortunately the rose design was on the board at the time and the cat was out of the bag. So we had two very similar projects for the same lady, how good us that!

Daughter No1 is a very busy teacher in Portsmouth, so the heart was left to the very last minute. It's testament to her abilities rather than my instructional skills that she was able to cut a complicated shape, copper foil and solder it all together in a single afternoon. The result is an absolutely stunning gift. Well done Em. 

Stained glass Christmas gifts

Now the dust and turkey have settled on Christmas, thought I would post a couple of our more interesting present projects. 

The customer came to see if it would be possible to make a glass heart and place some ashes from a much loved pet dog, sadly recently deceased and cremated, in a smaller heart in the centre. There are hundreds of different ways people deal with the ashes of a loved one, but a common theme is retaining a small amount as a keepsake, and this looked like a really beautiful way of preserving them. 

The heart was to hang on a wall with many other hearts, so we decided to back it with thin mirrored glass, the central heart would be cut out of the main red one, and a clear glass heart would be mounted proud, capping the central space filled with the ashes. The whole project would be copper foiled and left in a silver finish. 

It is a stunning and very personal way to keep a loved ones memory close to heart. 

Happy Christmas

We thought a festive post might be in order and have included a picture of one of my very favourite windows. It is a very modern window and sits at the west end of StMary's church in Shirehampton, Bristol. It depicts the traditional nativity scene but uses vibrant modern art glasses and a very modern style of design and painting. It is breathtaking to look at, the detail leaps out in almost 3D and the scene just comes alive. It is mesmerising to look at, as fine an example of modern stained glass as you will find anywhere. 

On the eve of Christmas, 100 years since the start of the First World War, we at Bishopstrow Glass would like to wish all our readers, followers, customers, friends, family, and servicemen and women everywhere, a happy, peaceful Christmas, and a safe and prosperous New Year. 

Per Ardua