Stained glass
I have always loved stained glass and decided to do an evening class in 2011 to learn how to make my own. My first two projects were the windows either side of the front door of my house. I imagine that there would've been glass panels there originally but when we bought the house there were only painted plywood panels and these made the hallway extremely dark.
These panels are made using the 'Tiffany' method of construction. This involves cutting all the pieces of glass and grinding the edges to enable a strip of copper foil to adhere to them. the foil edges of each piece of glass are butted together and a flux is applied so that they can be soldered using lead and a soldering iron.
My third project was the bathroom window. This design was inspired by the Autumn wind blowing through the trees and once I had drawn out the design I decided to make it using the 'Tiffany' method combined with traditional leading.
The traditional method involves slotting the glass sections into H profile lead came. I used different widths of the came to suggest the branches and I think these work well with the 'Tiffany' sections that have a twiggy appearance.
I had the whole panel encapsulated in a double glazed unit by a local window firm and as I wanted the design to be uninterrupted by glazing bars, opted for a one piece tilting window.
