Making your Window
THE FABRICATION PROCESS
Fabrication begins with glass selection and ordering--machine rolled glass from the US or mouth blown glass from Europe (or often a combination of both.)
Next the design will be translated to full scale through patterning (creating a matrix in Illustrator by which to cut the glass) and cartooning (drawing the individual elements at full scale.
Once the sheets of glass arrive and the pattern is complete, each piece of glass will be cut out of the larger sheet and laid out to see how the colors harmonize.
When all the glass is cut, each piece is laid on the cartoon and we "trace" the outlines onto the glass using a line brush and black paint (that is mostly ground glass and pigment). Each layer is fired in the kiln to 1215 degrees. After the lifework is complete we add values (shade and texture) by a process called matting (applying paint to the whole surface and stippling to remove highlights.) Once fired, the paint becomes permanently fused into the glass as you can still see in the old medieval windows.
Painting completed, we "wax up" all the pieces of glass to a regular clear piece of glass to see how all the glass color and paint density handle the light.
Next comes the actual "glazing." Each piece of glass is wrapped in lead and the entire window is built together like a jigsaw puzzle. The lead joints are soldered together, the panel is sealed with glazing putty, and brace bars are added for structural support.
