Historically, design for early stained glass
windows, was drawn out on a whitened table top. The design
artist would map the outlines of his drawing, the shape
and color of the individual pieces of glass to be used,
and the position of lead strips (calmes) that would eventually
hold all the pieces of glass together.
From the early fourteenth century a range
of colors varying from a pale lemon to a deep orange could
be achieved on one piece of glass through the discovery
of 'silver stain', a silver compound painted on the back
of the glass and then fired in a kiln. By the mid sixteenth
century many different colored enamels were being used.
As a result, windows began to be painted like easel pictures
on clear glass of regular rectangular shape, with lead
calmes no longer an integral part of the design. These
methods prevailed from the seventeenth to early nineteenth
centuries.
In Victorian times the earlier methods were revived..
For more information on painted stained glass window
manufacture and design.click here.
To brows the stained
glass window photo galleries click below
As the Victorian to Deco gallery,where most of
the deco glass is displayed, is getting rather large.
It is intended to divide this in to separate Victorian
and Deco galleries in the near future.
Stained Glass
Gallery Of Painted Masterpieces
Victorian to Deco Leaded Windows
