Kingsbridge Revisited

          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.

Taking the old window apart.

The old lead removed. It also shows the painting on the old glass which still needs to be cleaned.

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.