About this app
Stained glass windows are the most predominant works using stained glass. Of these, the leadlights are the smallest stained windows using lead cames as the material to join the small pieces together. Lead was replaced in the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany with copper plates because it was way much lighter than the traditional lead came improving the finished product's strength.
Aside from the traditional stained glass windows, the innovative intuition of the interior designer in Tiffany caused him to apply his craft on three-dimensional projects, most of which were ornamental artifacts such as his famous stained glass lampshades. He also designed blown glass, ceramics, enamels, jewellery, metalwork and mosaics.
Glass was available since centuries ago. Factories are set up where there is abundant supply of silica which does not occur in its free elemental state but as silicon dioxide (the principal constituent of sand) or as complex silicates in various minerals such as quartz.
Stained glass making was practised since ancient times. The Egyptians and the Romans were excellent manufacturers of coloured glass which they used as raw material for small ornamental objects such as the Lycurgus Cup in the British Museum which is of a hazy mustard colour but turns into a glowing purple-red from behind a light source.
Colouring or "staining" is a process which involves adding metallic oxides while yet in its molten form or state at high temperatures. Different metallic oxides produced distinctive effects, the most common of which are copper oxides to produce green-coloured glass, cobalt for blue and gold which produces red glass. As gold is expensive, research led artisans to find copper to produce a brighter red glass with a more vermilion shade.
These "coloured" glass productions were enhanced with the innovations of Tiffany resulting in artful iridescent effects on the mostly opalescent stained glass he produced from his Tiffany Glass Company and Tiffany Studios, founded in the late 1800s and early 1900s, respectively. His glass staining processes covered the following techniques:
· Streamer glass- glass strings patterns textured for effects that represented branches, twigs and grass.
· Fracture glass- with an effect of thin glass wafers in irregular shapes to project an effect of foliage viewed from a distance.
· Fracture-streamer glass- a combo effect of the two techniques described above.
· Ripple glass- textured with marked surface waves for illusions of water or veins/striations in leaves.
· Ring mottle glass- texturing developed to fit artwork to different motifs.
· Drapery glass- textured heavily folded glass for a three-dimensional effect of fabric folds as in the flowing robes of Biblical personalities and wings of angels.
These innovations eliminated much of the hand painted glass windows style in earlier eras. Until the present, churches and cathedrals are the architectural homes of most stained windows, normally of immense sizes, along with some public buildings and a few synagogues and mosques for its calming and hallowed effects.
All homes need a little something to create a feeling of enjoyment and comfort, one way to do that has been used for hundreds of years and that is stained glass windows.
Traditional leaded windows are made with colored glass and lead came, though currently zinc is popular due to the fact that is is less damaging to the environment and the creators health. Other then these small advances in the materials used in the creation of leaded glass, the methods has ultimately remained unchanged.
With the comforting connection to the past any home with stained glass windows installed is a beautiful sight that every person would comment on. Colored glass is a beautiful art form that has captured many peoples attention. With the rising interest in stained glass windows now is the perfect time to buy your stained glass to improve your homes value and beauty.
