How Was Stained Glass Made in Medieval Times Art History Quizlet

Stained Drinking glass

Background

The engineering for making glass dates back at to the lowest degree 5,000 years, and some course of stained drinking glass was used in European Christian churches by the third or fourth century A.D. The fine art of stained glass flowered in the twelfth century with the rise of the Gothic cathedral. Today merely 10% of all stained glasses are used in churches and other religious buildings; the rest are used in residential and industrial architecture. Though stained drinking glass has traditionally been used in windows, its employ has expanded to lamp shades, Christmas ornaments, and even unproblematic objects a hobbyist can make.

Stained glass has had various levels of popularity throughout history. The twelfth and 13th centuries in Europe take been designated every bit the Golden Age of Stained Glass. Yet, during the Renaissance period, stained glass was replaced with painted drinking glass, and past the 18th century information technology was rarely, if e'er, used or made according to medieval methods. During the 2nd half of the 19th century, European artists rediscovered how to design and work glass co-ordinate to medieval principles, and big quantities of stained glass windows were made.

In America, the stained glass motility began with William Jay Bolton, who made his first window for a church in New York in 1843. Just he was to be in the business for only six or seven years before returning to his native England. No other American proficient the art professionally until Louis Comfort Tiffany and John La Farge began working with stained drinking glass near the finish of the 19th century. In fact, the art of stained drinking glass in the United states of america languished until the 1870s, and did non undergo a true revival until the turn of the century. At this time, American architects and glassmen journeyed to Europe to study medieval drinking glass windows, returning to create similar art forms and new designs in their own studios.

A leaded stained drinking glass window or other object is made of pieces of glass, held together by lead. The pieces of glass are about 1/8-inch (3.ii mm) thick and leap together by strips, called "cames" of grooved lead, soldered at the joints. The unabridged window is secured in the opening at regular intervals by metallic saddle bars tied with wire and soldered to the leads and reinforced at greater intervals by tee-bars fitted into the masonry. A faceted glass panel differs slightly from traditional leaded stained glass in that it is made up of pieces of slab (dalle) glass approximately 8 inches square, or in large rectangular sizes, varying in thickness from 1-2 inches (two.5-5 cm). These slabs are non held together with lead; rather they are embedded in a matrix of physical, epoxy, or plastic.

Raw Materials

Glass is made by fusing together some form of silica such equally sand, an alkali such as potash or soda, and lime or pb oxide. The color is produced by calculation a metal oxide to the raw materials.

Copper oxide, under different conditions, produces ruby, blue, or greenish colors in glass. Cobalt is normally used to produce most shades of dejection. Green shades can too exist obtained from the addition of chromium and iron oxide. Golden glass is sometimes colored with uranium, cadmium sulfide, or titanium, and at that place are fine selenium yellows as well equally vermilions. Ruby colored glass is fabricated past calculation gold.

The Manufacturing
Process

Stained glass is still fabricated the same way it was dorsum in the Middle Ages and comes in various forms. For the glass used in leaded drinking glass windows, a lump of the molten drinking glass is caught upwards at ane finish of a blow pipe, blown into a cylinder, cut, flattened and cooled. Artisans also vary this basic process in guild to produce different effects. For example, "flashed drinking glass" is made by dipping a brawl of molten white glass into molten colored glass which, when blown and flattened, results in a less intense color because information technology will be white on i side and colored on the other.

Then-called "Norman slabs" are fabricated by blowing the molten drinking glass into a mold in the shape of a four-sided bottle. The sides are cutting apart and form slabs, sparse at the edges and as much as 0.25 inch (0.6 cm) thik) at the eye. Another form of glass, known as cathedral drinking glass, is rolled into flat sheets. This results in a somewhat monotonous regularity of texture and thickness. Other similarly made glasses are referred to as marine antique, but have a more bubbly texture.

Processing the stained glass

• 1 Large manufacturers of stained glass mix the batch of raw materials, including alkaline fluxes and stabilizing agents, in huge mixers. The mix is then melted in a modern furnace at 2500°F (1371°C). Each ingredient must be carefully measured and weighed according to a calculated formula, in order to produce the advisable color. For cathedral drinking glass, the molten glass is ladled into a machine that rolls the drinking glass into 1/eight-inch (iii.2

  

  mm) thick sheets. The sheets are then cooled in a special furnace called an annealing lehr. The glass is then inspected, trimmed to standard size, and packed into cases.

  At a typical factory, eight to ten different colour runs are made per day. Some manufacturers cut a modest rectangle of glass from each run in order to provide a sample of each color to their customers. There are hundreds of colors, tints, and patterns available, as well as a number of different textures of cathedral glass. Different textures are produced by irresolute the roller to one having the desired texture. Glass manufacturers are continuously introducing new colors and types of glass to meet the demands of their customers.

Creating the window pattern

• 2 Though some of the tools to make stained glass windows accept been improved, the windows are all the same hand crafted as they were centuries ago. The first pace of the procedure involves the artist creating a small scale version of the final design. Subsequently the blueprint has been canonical, the craftsperson takes measurements or templates of the bodily window openings to create a pattern. This design is commonly drawn on paper or cardboard and is the actual size of the spaces to be filled with glass.

  Side by side a full-sized drawing chosen the cartoon is prepared in blackness and white. From the cartoon, the cutline and pattern drawings are

  

  made. The modern cutline drawing is a careful, exact tracing of the leadlines of the cartoon on heavy newspaper. The leadlines are the outlines of the shapes for patterns to which the glass is to exist cut. This drawing serves as the guide for the subsequent placing and binding with lead of the many pieces of glass.

  The pattern-drawing is a carbon copy of the cutline cartoon. It is cut forth the black or atomic number 82 lines with double-bladed scissors or a pocketknife which, every bit information technology passes through the middle of the blackness lines, simultaneously cuts away a narrow strip of paper, thus allowing sufficient space between the segment of glass for the core of the grooved lead. This core is the supporting wall betwixt the upper and lower flanges of the lead.

Cutting and painting

• 3 Colored drinking glass is then selected from the supply on hand. The blueprint is placed on a slice of the desired colour, and with a diamond or steel wheel, the glass is cutting to the shape of the pattern. Afterward the glass has been cut, the main outlines of the cartoon are painted on each piece of glass with special paint, called "vitrifiable" paint. This becomes glassy when heated. The painter might employ further pigment to the glass in society to command the lite and bring all the colors into closer harmony. During this painting process, the glass is held upwardly to the low-cal to simulate the same conditions in which the window will be seen. The painted pieces are fired in the kiln at to the lowest degree once to fuse the pigment and glass.

Glazing and leading

• 4 The next footstep is glazing. The cutline cartoon is spread out on a table and narrow strips of woods called laths are nailed down forth two edges of the drawing to class a correct bending. Long strips of grooved atomic number 82 are placed forth the inside of the laths. The piece of drinking glass belonging in the angle is fitted into the grooves. A strip of narrow lead is fitted around the exposed edge or edges and the next required segment slipped into the groove on the other side of the narrow lead. This is continued until each piece has been inserted into the leads in its proper place according to the outline drawing beneath.

Finishing

• v The many joints formed past the leading are and then soldered on both sides and the entire window is waterproofed. Later on the completed window has been thoroughly inspected in the light, the sections are packed and shipped to their destination where they are installed and secured with reinforcing bars.

Faceted glass

• 6 For faceted drinking glass windows, the process begins the same manner, with the cutline and pattern drawings being made with carbons in a similar way. The pattern cartoon is then cut to the bodily size of the piece of glass with ordinary scissors since there is no core of atomic number 82 to allow for. The thick glass slabs side by side are cut with a sharp double-edged hammer to the shape of the pattern. To requite the slab an interesting texture, the worker then chips round depressions in the glass with the same hammer. This is called faceting.

  Instead of glazing with lead, a matrix of concrete or epoxy is poured around the pieces of glass. The glass pieces accept first been glued to the outline drawing, which is covered with a heavy coating of transparent grease so that the paper can exist removed after the epoxy sets. The whole is enclosed within a wooden class, which is the exact size and shape of the section existence made. The worker must wear gloves during this process, since epoxy resin is a toxic material. Later hardening, the department is cleaned and cured prior to shipping and installation.

  The process for making an unabridged stained glass window tin can take anywhere from vii to ten weeks, since everything must be washed by hand. Cost tin can vary widely depending on complexity and size, though some windows can be created for a price equally depression as $500. The client tin can choose an existing pattern rather than create an entirely new ane to minimize costs. In this case, the pattern can exist customized past altering shapes or by changing the placement of the central image.

The Future

In the terminal 20 years at that place has been an explosion in growth of drinking glass studios in the United States and it appears this growth will go on. For example, in Ohio alone the number of studios has increased from a mere half a dozen to at least 100. The Stained Glass Association of America membership includes 500 studio owners and 300 manufacturers. The circulation of its quarterly publication totals 6,000. There has been a resurgence in restoration overseas, and the home market continues to grow. The hobby marketplace too appears strong, with 1 publication serving this market having a circulation of xv,000. Information technology is clear that stained glass is now recognized as a true art course no matter where it is used, and innovative designs using this medium will continue to flourish.

Where To Learn More

Books

Clark, Willene B. The Stained Drinking glass Art of William Jay Bolton. Syracuse University Press, 1992.

Clarke, Brian, ed. Architectural Stained Glass. McGraw-Hill, 1979.

Plowright, Terrance. Stained Glass Inspirations and Designs. Kangaroo Press, Commonwealth of australia, distributed by Seven Hills Book Distributors, 1993.

Other

Achilees, Rolf and Neal A. Vogel. Stained Drinking glass in Houses of Worship. Inspired Partnerships Inc. and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1785 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036.

The Story of Stained Drinking glass, 1984. The Stained Drinking glass Association of America, PO Box 22642, Kansas City, MO 64113. 800-888-7422,816-333-6690.

— Laurel M. Sheppard

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