TOPAZ STUDIO 2 STAINED GLASS FILTER WINDOWS

The paint used contains mineral elements and powdered glass the original glass melts slightly in the kiln, the paint melts, and the resulting painted piece contains the paint rather than supports it, so that an individual face held in the hand does appear a kind of miraculous. I usually begin with clear glass for a realistic face, and often paint and fire it several times, building richness of light and shadow with each layer.

When realism or other effect is desired, the glass pieces are painted, and then fired in a kiln. The most brilliant and beautiful glass, and that which I use almost exclusively now, is actually mouth-blown. (And what colors! Talk about magic!) The glass comes in sheets, and is cut into shapes. The colors are not painted but are inherent in the glass. The main event, of course, is the glass itself.

TOPAZ STUDIO 2 STAINED GLASS FILTER WINDOWS

Before I fill the pages which follow with pictures of the windows I love and detail shots of my favorite faces, I would like to conclude this introduction with a little background on stained glass making.Įveryone, even those of us not of religious persuasion, has seen stained glass, and yet the process involved is mysterious to most people, as evidenced by the fact that I have been asked the questions “Do you paint the glass and then cut it, or do you cut it first?” “What are the black lines?” “How do you make the faces? Are they really painted?” When I was first introduced to working with glass I had certainly never thought about it for a second either, as much as these questions may make my eyes pop now. I now work as head artist for a traditional stained glass studio, designing and painting new windows for churches and other venues in essentially the same way as did the artists of the Gothic cathedrals. It illustrates the essence of my own glass aesthetic, which might be described as Renaissance or Pre-Raphaelite realism combined with and deftly coaxed from minimally painted beautiful glass.

Here are some pictures of the window you can click on the detail thumbnails to enlarge them. I think the completed work in question did partake of the magic potential of stained glass, a unique art form in which the primary and indispensible medium is light itself. I have always treasured the above experience, and the memory of it gave me support and encouragement in my earlier glass endeavors. “That” he said, “seems to me to contain the elements of Magic.” I looked up sheepishly, only to see a lovely light in his eyes. Having been nurtured in an avant-garde art environment, and knowing my project could seem overly decorative, narrative, not “serious”, I felt suddenly kind of artsy-craftsy, and a little silly. As I wound down, I sensed a profound silence in the room. Inspired by his presence, I began to wax lyrical over a residential window I was designing, displaying my plans for combining a portrait of the client’s little daughter with a beautiful piece of streaky handmade glass I had bought, and excitedly arraying in the windows other Arabian Nights ruby, topaz, emerald, and amethyst colored glass I would use. Once when my brother was visiting me, a rare and to me very precious occurrence, I brought him into the treetop-surrounded loft room which was my glass workshop at the time.

Topaz studio 2 stained glass filter