Often commission requests come with a story. In this case the client wondered what might be done with a box of architectural glass samples that they had been saving for many years. Their family had owned a local hardware store, a multi-generation business. When they retired and sold the business, they had saved these samples of clear textured glass with a view to "doing something" with them. 

My proposal for them was a simple one -- a grid with a square in a subtle pale colour at the corners. Hanging at the top of a fairly large window in a vintage home, it would appear like a transom window. While simple in design, there would be visual interest in the way the variously patterned glass broke up the light. 

Textured architectural glass is manufactured with a wide variety of patterns. It was interesting to me that the samples provided came from two British companies that I had never heard of, Chance and British Glass. Some of the pattern types are still being manufactured today by Pilkington Glass, but others were new to me. I made a list of all the patterns used for the client's benefit in case they were interested in this historical aspect of the project. 

You never know what is going to come your way. Recently a new client came to me with a very distressed old gothic window frame. In fact it was only the top portion. It arrived with a story. Rescued from a barn on the family property which was soon to be sold, the client wanted to have a design made for it as a reminder of the old homestead.  Naturally the first order of business was to repair the frame and refinish it. Once that was done it was possible to move ahead with creating templates for the irregular shaped openings.

Working from photographs of the intended space where the panel would hang, we arrived at a rich colour scheme. The pattern itself was derived from Art Nouveau themes and used glass globs to create interest and a classic painted element for the round focal point in the top section.

The completed panel.

The panel installed.  I quite liked how the panel in the window framed the view outside. 
The client was very happy with what they felt would become a new treasured family heirloom.

          This project involved taking an old, very broken window and creating something new.

When I was first approached about this project, the client told me about a piece of stained glass that they had salvaged from a decommissioned church in our area. The church was finding new life as a community center. The stained glass was a partial, broken window rescued from a basement storage area. Initially I didn't hold much hope for restoring the window, but when I saw photographs of it I realized that the painted glass was interesting and worth saving. Additionally, because the glass came from the client's home church, it held particular sentimental value. I agreed to look at the glass and consider what might be done. The window itself was incomplete, only a partial, so there was no question of restoring it. Instead the plan was to rescue what I could and create a new window with the pieces.

With the window in pieces, it was time to evaluate the possibilities. There were at least 4 unbroken squares which were enough to make a complete center square. I used new green glass strips to color match the original. The tricky part was creating the border. There were very few unbroken border pieces and some of these, from the arched part of the window, were not square. With some care and creative re-working, I got enough for two sides. For the rest of the border I used pieces of the broken squares mixed with yellow, which worked well with the silver stain. Two red round pieces remained and were incorporated as well.

The completed leaded window was framed in cherry wood. It has become a treasured family memento. Originally commissioned by a well known local singer, she presented it to her husband as a 40th anniversary present. The gift had particular significance for them because both had attended the original church. As well, they had also been involved in transforming the building into a community center and performance venue.

This project kept me busy for most of the fall, both with the design and the construction. It challenged me in many ways but was ultimately very satisfying.

A residential project, the west facing windows were high up on the wall and relatively large, each 30" x 18". The clients only request was for a 'sunset over water'. Fortunately they did not ask for sailboats or seagulls! Living on the shores of Lake Huron, the first thought was to design with our own shoreline in mind. But I felt the design needed a few vertical elements. By adding the trees and rocks, the scene became more reminiscent of Georgian Bay.

Part of the challenge was to create a design which extended over all three windows, with each window also being a fully realized composition in its own right.

I was very familiar with doing water, but had never done a sunset before. I spent a lot of time looking, really looking at sunsets. Fortunately I live in a place where sunset viewing is easy to do. An evening walk to the bluff overlooking the lake was already a familiar routine. I also looked at many photographs of sunsets. They varied so much. I was paying particular attention to the transition of light and color from where the sun went down to areas further away. There were often clouds, the edges illuminated from the setting sun. These were all elements which I thought I could use.

In terms of composition, the clients and I decided that the middle window should be the main focus of the sunset, with the colors fading to softer tones moving away from the main show. I was very happy with the sense of movement within the panels. Each window to the right and left had a strong vertical element. The pine trees formed a bracket around the center. The pine trees were sandblasted on painted glass using a photo resist. These,and the other painted elements were some of the first things created. Next, I cut the glass for the rocks and the water. Finally I chose and cut the colors for the sky.

 Every stained glass project is a series of decisions. So many choices to be made. Installation day is when you discover if those choices were good ones. The ah-ha moment! Placing the windows in the openings utterly transformed the room. The clients were thrilled!