Late in 2021, we started working on the Smith Panel Combination–and posting about our progress on it. We’ve worked to bring you into our work on the project, showing you some of what we do along the way, and we hope you’ve enjoyed coming along with us. But this particular journey’s over; the work is done, and the combined panel has been put in! Placed into the window frame the client selected, and secured inside the existing glass with clips that facilitate removal for cleaning both the panel and the window. The setup lets light in through it and around it, the work blends in with the home while providing a marked point of visual focus for it–one that will hold up for years to come!
The site of the installationThe combined panel in its placePhotos by Kevin Elliott
We were pleased with how things turned out–but then, we wouldn’t have delivered the panels to the client without liking how they look. We’re happier, though, that the client was well-pleased with the work, who made the following comment on our Facebook page: “Thank You! I love my finished and installed Deer and Tree stained glass piece! I highly recommend Kevin!” It’s the kind of thing we love to read–and we’d love the chance to make you happy, too! Give us a call at 830-890-1509, or message us via our “Contacts” page to see what all we can do for you!
We noted last week that work on the Smith Panel Combination had proceeded, with the repairs to the glass and its joints handled and the two panels framed together. We’ve got the finish on the wood framing done, staining it to a lovely red cedar–as you can see below!
Assembled, stained, and ready to go! Photo by Kevin Elliott.
Even though the panel is ready, there’s still a little left for us to do. We have to get it in! As we do–because we often do our own installations–we’ll work to give you a glimpse of how we make it happen!
We’d love to hear from you. Give us a call at 830-890-1509, or message us via our “Contacts” page to see what all we can do to make–or repair and refine–stained for you!
Late last year, we started reporting on work on combining two formerly independent panels of stained glass into a single larger installation. We’ve continued to work on the project, if with a bit of a break to spend time with family over the holidays, getting the figures and designs done before moving on to take care of the actual work of the job. So far, the work’s gone well, with such component repairs effected as needed doing–and we’ve got the initial framing of the combined piece done!
Photo by Kevin Elliott
The project isn’t done, of course. The framing in place is mostly to test the design and its tolerances; as presented, it’s some 32 inches wide and 65 & ¾ tall, with the framing consisting of 1×2 cedar. There will be a fair bit of sanding and staining before the combined panel is ready to be assembled and installed. Once it’s in, though, it will hold up for years to come and, with regular care and cleaning, it’ll look good the whole time. We look forward to showing it to you ready for the installation and once it’s in place!
We’re taking orders for custom projects even now; we’ve got a couple in queue, but give us a call at 830-890-1509, or message us via our “Contacts” page, and see what all we can do for you!
Last week, we noted getting started on a new project: the Smith Panel Combination. We’re excited to be working on the project, and for several reasons. For one, it’s always good to have work to do. For another, the panels really are quite pretty, and it’s always a pleasure to work with beautiful things in the shop; really, it’s one of the reasons we work with stained glass to start with!
One of the other reasons we’re looking forward to working on the project is the challenge it presents. We noted last time that we’ve got to find a way to combine the two panels into a single installation, and we have to find a way to strengthen the construction so that it will hold up over time. If you look at the picture of the project above, you’ll see that, although the panels are framed in came, they are composed of individual cut pieces of colored and textured glass; the edges of those pieces are wrapped in a copper foil and soldered over to join them together.
The advantage of the technique is that it allows for great detail in the work; cutting glass in curves and small parts is a skill in itself, as is fine solder-work, but deploying those skills allows for more complex pieces to be made in smaller spaces. The weakness, of course, is that there are a lot of joints, and they are not very strong; came is a more robust joining technique in no small part because it occupies more space and can provide more structure therefore. At the same time, the came takes up more space, so it doesn’t allow as much detail per square foot or yard.
Addressing the issue, for us, means integrating the two techniques: foil-and-solder and came-framing. Working out how to do that is where we’re at at the moment. It’s not enough to just slap some copper on some glass and cram it into the frame that exists; we’re going to be resetting some of the pieces and reinforcing the frame with additional came-work. That means we have to work out where the new came will be minimally intrusive, allowing for the most strength to be brought in while still keeping the most detail possible. That begins with sketches, such as are showing up as preliminaries already.
It also involves some complex calculations. Each kind of glass we use–and we use lots of different kinds!–has its own strength, as do the various solders and cames we employ. Figuring out what needs to go where to have the maximum effect takes no small amount of pencil-pushing; it’s not the kind of thing that can be leapt into with abandon, not and have it work well over the long term. And since we mean to build (and repair) to last, it is the kind of thing we take seriously.
We take it seriously with all of the work we do. If you’d like some of that to be for you, please, give us a call at 830-890-1509, or message us via our “Contacts” page. We’d love to hear from you!
We’re proud of the work that we do, and we want to share that work with you! So, as we’re getting started on a new project, we figured we’d bring you along for the ride and show you something of a work-in-progress view of things as a new repair and alteration job gets started. This’ll be the first in what we hope is a series of posts that’ll show you how we go about doing what we do–and what we can do for you!
The project, which we’re calling the Smith Panel Combination, is a fairly typical project for us in some respects. Our client has some older stained glass pieces that need some repair. In the photos below, taken in our shop after we got them home, a few bits of glass that’ve cracked show up. Too, the panels, done almost entirely in Tiffany-style, show some bowing where the glass has clearly been subjected to flexion and other pressures–and where it will break if something’s not done.
The lower panel. Note some cracking in the tree, as well as some evidence of flexion along the edges
The upper panel. Note the way the came is twisted in the one corner and how it seems to wave around the whole border.
Photos by Kevin Elliott; click them to enlarge them.
A couple of complications are already evident. One is the sheer size of the panels, given their construction; they’re large pieces, and the technique used to build them in the first place is one we’d normally only apply to smaller works or smaller components of larger pieces. We’ll be addressing some of that as we move through the work; we want to be sure that the piece we return to the client will hold up over time and be something that the client’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren can look at and still see the beauty of the light coming through the class.
The other major complication is that, although the panels are akin, they are currently separate pieces–and the client wants them combined into one larger window, framed in cedar, for installation. Again, the pieces are akin; they clearly already belong together. However, they’re not designed, in themselves, to be two pieces of a single whole; harmonizing them to fit together will be an artistic challenge. But we’re ready to face that; indeed, we welcome the chance to show what we can do!
Please, give us a call at 830-890-1509, or message us via our “Contacts” page; we’d love to talk about meeting your stained glass and art glass needs!
Read about the continued progress of this project here!
Heart's Desire Stained Glass 