It’s been a while, to be sure.
Heart’s Desire started making artisanal stained glass in the Texas Hill Country in the first decade of the millennium–and we’re back, and better than ever!
We’ll keep stuff coming, of course, but for now and always, welcome! And, if you could:
Come on back and see us!
Well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? There’s a reason we’ve been quiet, though. It’s that we’ve been hard at work on a special project, one that was meant as a surprise gift. But the gift has been given, and it was gladly received–which means … Continue reading A Special Surprise: The Steele Window
Happy birthday to our own Kevin Elliott!
We look forward to many more!
We’re happy, always, to do custom work for our clients, creating new pieces to suit their needs and wants. We’re happy, always, to have you reach out to us so that we can make your heart’s desire come true. But we’re also happy to restore the works of others that have suffered from time and rough handling, such as the piece we did most recently.
Not long ago, a client came to us with a panel that had been taken from a more-than-century-old barrister cabinet. True to the name, the cabinet had been moved several times in its lifetime in Mexico and the United States, traveling as circuit-riding attorneys used to do. In its most recent move, however, it didn’t fare as well as in the past.
Admittedly, a barrister cabinet needs to show what it holds. Clear, rather than colored and textured, glass is desirable therefore; it’s hard to read book titles through swirling opalescence. Fortunately, we tend to keep clear glass on hand, and so it was no difficult thing to separate the pieces of came, remove the broken glass, cut new pieces to fit, and reassemble the panel. Backed by our guarantee, the repaired piece went back to its owner–and the owner, by all accounts, is delighted with the work!
It’s always a pleasure to make people happy with our work! And if you’d like us to make you happy with it, reach out at the form below or give us a call at 830-890-1509. We’d love to hear from you!
And, for your writing needs, get in touch with Elliott RWI!
Last time, we reported, happily, that the MK Panel had been assembled. In the time since, we’ve gotten it sandwiched between two sheets of Lexan (for superior resistance to damage from the elements and the occasional kicked-up rock), framed (using a rough cedar), and installed!
Every indication we have is that the client is happy about the work we did–and we’re pretty pleased with it, ourselves! We’ve got every expectation that the piece will stand up to what the Hill Country might throw at it–and if it looks like something’s coming in that might put that to the test, or if the panel needs a good cleaning, it’ll unhook from its housing with ease!
Now, with the MK Panel done and in place, we turn to other projects. Perhaps one of them might be yours? If you’d like that to be the case, give us a call at 830-890-1509, or message us through the form below!
And, for your writing needs, get in touch with Elliott RWI!
Work has progressed on the MK Panel–quite a bit of it, as it happens. Last week, we noted having gotten the panel fitted together, the pieces laid out and set where they need to go. The next step from there is to solder the came … Continue reading The MK Panel: Ready for Installation
The process of putting together the MK Panel has progressed since last week. Where we left off, Kevin had cut all of the pieces of glass and done something of a dry-fit to ensure that they would all lie together as planned. The next step was to fit the came–the metal channels that hold the glass in place–to the panel, work on which is shown below.
The panel is surrounded by a zinc came, a harder metal that adds significant strength to the panel’s structure. Within the panel, a lead u-channel is used to allow the glass to settle in on both sides of the lead. We stretch the lead before applying it, narrowing and straightening the channels and making the ductile metal even easier to work with. And that flexibility matters; it allows for the window to shift ever so slightly against changes in temperature, without which the glass might well break under the strain of being in the Hill Country sun. We don’t want that to happen, of course; we stand by our products, so we make sure we make them right!
If you like what you see and would like to see it for yourself, please, give us a call at 830-890-1509, or message us via our “Contacts” page or the form below to see what all we can do for you!
And, for your writing needs, get in touch with Elliott RWI!
Last week, we went over cutting and laying out the pieces for the MK Panel. We also said we’d be talking about assembly this week–so here we go! In talking about this piece to start with, we noted that it will be installed outside. This … Continue reading The MK Panel: Putting It Together
Last week, we noted getting started on another piece: the MK Panel. In that note, we described the site where the panel will live and out overall plan for construction, as well as noting the formation of our window plans. We’re pleased to report progress … Continue reading The MK Panel: Layout
Yes, it’s been a while since we’ve updated here. But we’re back again, and we’re glad you’re here, too!
At the moment, we’re at work on a piece for someone we’ve known for a long while, now. And what we’re doing for him is setting up a panel that will be on display outside–which makes for some interesting design challenges that we’re happy to address.
Broadly, we’ll be putting together a panel to fill the frame. The panel frame itself will be rough-cut cedar, and the glass-work will be sandwiched between protective layers to help keep things from breaking. It’ll hang on a system that will allow it to be removed, too, in case one of the Hill Country thunderstorms that pops up now and again will be a bit more…intense than normal and would be a bit more of a threat to the panel. (We’ve seen baseball- and softball-sized hail come through these parts, and one such hailstone’ll ruin your day quick.)
As might be guessed, the client we’re working with at the moment’s a musician. The panel reflects that profession, and we were happy to put our own art to work representing that art:
We’ll be updating with progress on this as we can–and if you’d like us to compose a panel for you, give us a call at 830-890-1509, message us via our “Contacts” page, or use the contact form below. We’d love to hear from you!
And, for your writing needs, get in touch with Elliott RWI!
We don’t just do windows, you know!
Recently, we were contacted by a client who wanted us to take a look at and repair some lanterns in their possession. There’s a lot of damage to address, both to the glass and to the structures of the lanterns themselves, as the pictures below show.
What’s really interesting with these is that they are clearly oil lamps, and the smoke and soot that will inevitably come from using them will impose some things on the repairs; whatever we do has to be something that can be cleaned easily, for one thing. Too, while getting glass to match what’s in place should be relatively easy–while textured and colored glass gets made in individual batches, the plain glass of the lanterns’ panels is often mass-produced and thus easier to replicate–the etching will take some time and attention. Fortunately, we’ve got the tools and techniques on hand to make it happen–as we’ll show in the coming weeks!
We love a challenge. If you’ve got one, please, give us a call at 830-890-1509, or message us via our “Contacts” page or the form below and see what all we can do for you!
And, for your writing needs, get in touch with Elliott RWI!
Heart's Desire Stained Glass 