This doorway had a significant buckle, despite being re-leaded previously. We removed the panel to the workshop, and soaked it for several days to loosen the cement, before dismantling, making good the damaged sections and re-leading.
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Work started today on the restoration of the stained glass windows in the Royal Waiting Room, Ballater Railway Station. The first phase of the project involves the removal and archiving of the existing glass.
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Morning Glass Designs recently completed the stained glass restoration and installation of 6 new windows at Elim Pentecostal Church. The Lottery funded repairs involved the cleaning and renovation of the circular and lancets at the front of the church, the construction of 13 new lancets at the rear and the restoration of the zinc-framed tracery panels at the head of the lancets.
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I've been experimenting with a couple of new drawing apps over the last month or two. I find it easier to draw with a stylus, except when I'm adding leadlines to a drawing. I'd always tried to do everything on the Mac (in Sketchbook Pro and Illustrator) but freehand drawing was always a bit of a challenge...
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Work is slowly starting to pick up, as the days lengthen and the prospect of outside repairs is less daunting. We have been fairly steady in the studio over the winter, working on a number of smaller repairs and restoration projects.
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Last week I installed a set of three stained glass windows in a property in Aberdeen. The windows were designed for a former doorway - the occupants had knocked two buildings into one, and converted the entrace of one property into a window and vestibule.
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Our weekend workshops are designed for anybody interested in learning traditional stained glass techniques. The small class size, friendly teaching environment and timescale will allow a complete beginner to produce a small, simple panel over the two days, and to leave the course with enough experience to carry on stained glass as a hobby. For more experienced participants, the two days should see the completion of long-standing projects and plenty time to devise and begin new projects, or learn new techniques.
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Work has is now almost complete on the stained glass renovations at 64 Queens Road. Morning Glass Designs, working closely with the the client and architect (Graham Mitchell Architects), removed, stripped, rebuilt and reinstalled 30 original stained glass panels as part of the wholescae renovation of the building.
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Morning Glass Designs have been announced as the Specialist Stained Glass Contractors for the refurbishment of this office conversion in the West End of Aberdeen. Work on this C-Listed building (built in 1901) involves the removal and restoration of 30 stained glass windows.
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Morning Glass Designs has been chosen as the specialist Stained Glass contractor for restoration work at Elim Pentecostal Church, Aberdeen. Work on restoring 5 lancet windows, including almost 150q ft of new glazing and restoration of tracery in timber frames, will commence in April.
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The in-situ repairs we carried out on this large Victorian geometric panels were tricky because of access, and the corroded state of the lead. Located on the third floor landing of the old Strathbogie Hotel in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, access was only possible from the inside. The upper 2/3 of the panel were in good condition, but the lower part of the timber frame had rotted and, as a consequence, there had been a bit more movement in the lower panel.
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The wing of the house in which the door is located was destroyed by fire in the 1930's, and subsequently rebuilt. I suspect this window is a remake of an original, because the leading varies slightly from another, clearly older panel with a similar design. When it was remade, 3/16" lead was used and, as a result, the panel had simply stretched over the years.
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These two front door lights were badly damaged prior to removal and releading. The trickiest part of the process was finding a match for the heavily textured clear glazing - it's amazing how many variants of Flemish glass there are...
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Our weekend workshops are designed for anybody interested in learning traditional stained glass techniques. The small class size, friendly teaching environment and timescale will allow a complete beginner to produce a small, simple panel over the two days, and to leave the course with enough experience to carry on stained glass as a hobby. For the more experienced participants, the two days should see the completion of long-standing projects and plenty time to devise and begin new projects, or learn new techniques.
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Our Open Studio Sessions are designed to provide a stepping stone for students who have already completed a course (or two!) and want to work on a personal project with a bit of assistance.
Sessions run on Monday mornings from 9:30 to 12:30 and cost £30 per session. The fee covers bench time and use of equipment - you can bring your own materials, or purchase what you need as you need it. I'll be on hand to offer support and advice when required, and you can work at your own pace. As the studio will be working normally, you may also get to see techniques not taught on the Beginners or Intermediate One Day and Weekend courses, including glass painting and gilding.
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These relatively simple-looking panels caused me all sorts of grief in the studio. First of all, despite their handmade glass and small flemish quarries typical of neighbouring properties, they had steel-cored lead all through them. The main difficulty, however, was that the handmade coloured glass ovals were extremely variable in thickness, being almost 10mm thick in some sections. In the end, I had to split wide heart lead around the widest sections, ensuring the original chipped borders were covered to hide any distracting conchoidal fractured edges.
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After a good summer break, I was straight back up the scaffold to carry out an exterior survey of the East Window at Haddo House. The windows in this fantastic National Trust property (which was designed by William Adam and dates from 1732) were restored in 1991, but recent water ingress meant they need to be resurveyed to identify potential leaks.
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Almost all the original tie wires had failed on this stairway panel and, as a result, the window had buckled in the frame and cracked several sections of glass at the base (including two painted squares). Removal (and reinstallation was made slightly awkward by the size of the lowermost panel (approximately 4ft x 5ft).
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