There has been a resurgence in restoration overseas, and the home market continues to grow. The hobby market also appears strong, with one publication serving this market having a circulation of 15, It is clear that stained glass is now recognized as a true art form no matter where it is used, and innovative designs using this medium will continue to flourish. Clark, Willene B. Syracuse University Press, Clarke, Brian, ed.
Architectural Stained Glass. McGraw-Hill, Plowright, Terrance. Stained Glass Inspirations and Designs. Achilees, Rolf and Neal A. Stained Glass in Houses of Worship. Inspired Partnerships Inc. The Story of Stained Glass, Toggle navigation.
Other Achilees, Rolf and Neal A. Other articles you might like:. Also read article about Stained Glass from Wikipedia. User Contributions: 1. Excellent article. Great overview for the user wishing a basic understanding of information. Sheets of glass both blown and cast have been used architecturally since Roman times. Writers as early as the fifth century mention coloured glass in windows.
Around AD Europe became less war-like, and church building and stained glass production began to flourish.
However, these churches were Romanesque in style with massive walls and pillars to bear their weight and so had only relatively small windows. But by the 12th century the pointed arch and flying buttresses of the Gothic style were allowing builders to insert "walls of light" , giant windows that filled the church interior with the perfect light of God. A common misconception is that the glass in these ancient cathedral windows has flowed over time, now being thicker at the bottom than the top.
This is not true and the explanation goes to the atomic heart of glass. So what is a glass? Why can we see through it when other materials are opaque?
Glasses exist in a poorly understood state somewhere between solids and liquids. In general, when a liquid is cooled there is a temperature at which it will "freeze", becoming a crystalline solid eg. Most solid inorganic materials are crystalline and are made up of many millions of crystals, each having an atomic structure which is highly ordered, with atomic units tessellating throughout.
The shape of these units can be observed in the shape of single crystals eg. Glass is different: it is not crystalline but made up of a continuous network of atoms that are not ordered but irregular and liquid-like. This difference in atomic structure occurs because the liquid glass is cooled so quickly that the atoms do not have time to arrange themselves into regular, crystal-like patterns.
If cooled fast enough almost any liquid can form glass, even water. However, the rate of cooling must be very fast. Fortunately for us, liquids composed primarily of silicon oxide can be cooled slowly and still form a glass.
They get gradually stiffer during cooling until they reach the "glass transition temperature" below which they are effectively solid. This transparent silicate material is what we know as glass, and despite its liquid-like atomic structure it is to all intents and purposes solid, only flowing over billions of years — much too slowly to be noticed in the hundreds of years cathedral windows have been in place. Cathedral windows are sometimes thicker in one place than another because forming glass into perfectly flat sheets is a very difficult process that has only been possible in the last 60 years.
Glass's liquid-like structure is one of the main reasons it is transparent. However, transparent does not necessarily mean that all light passes through. For example, some obsidian glasses are so darkly coloured that they are effectively black and opaque. This is because electrons of some elements in the obsidian are arranged in such a way that their energy is the same as the energy of visible light.
This means they absorb either some visible light, giving colour, or all visible light, making the material opaque. Later, a chemist named Gerber discovered how to change the color of the glass in a very precise manner.
He found that different metal oxides resulted in different colors. Today, a variety of different metal oxides, sulfides, and compounds are used to make colored glass. Here are some of the most commonly used additives for making certain colors:. In addition to these, sometimes artisans add other compounds, such as Manganese Dioxide and Sodium Nitrate.
However, this is usually done to remove impurities, in an effort to produce clear, or colorless , glass. Learn more about the art of glassmaking or obtain a quote on stained glass in Dallas by calling our office today.
Today we often use computer-aided design to create the patterns, but many stained glass artists still use only pencil and paper. We will then typically print this pattern at full size to use in building the window. We can also use prints of the design to help visualize and adjust the final project. See our Services page for info on printing patterns for your own designs. The glass pieces are individually cut to fit the pattern.
A collection of tools are used to do this, from cutters and pliers to diamond grit grinders. The came is cut and bent to fit tightly around each piece. The ends of the came are then soldered together. Finishing the piece may include cementing the glass to the came — to produce a more sturdy window — and possibly treating the came and solder with chemicals to tint them.
Once the window is completed, it must be cleaned. Due to the remnants of the soldering and cementing processes, this can take almost as much time as building the window. This involves sandwiching it between two pieces of clear glass, with sealed spacer around the edge.
The result becomes an insulated glass unit IGU.
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