32 Facts About Stained glass

The coloured glass is crafted into stained glass windows in which small pieces of glass are arranged to form patterns or pictures, held together by strips of lead and supported by a rigid frame.

The term stained glass is applied to windows in enamelled glass in which the colours have been painted onto the glass and then fused to the glass in a kiln; very often this technique is only applied to parts of a window.

Much of modern red Stained glass is produced using copper, which is less expensive than gold and gives a brighter, more vermilion shade of red.

The centre of each piece of Stained glass, known as the "bull's-eye", is subject to less acceleration during spinning, so it remains thicker than the rest of the sheet.

Lightly coloured molten gather is dipped into a pot of molten red Stained glass, which is then blown into a sheet of laminated Stained glass using either the cylinder or the crown technique described above.

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Many new types of glass have been developed for use in stained glass windows, in particular Tiffany glass and Dalle de verre.

Primary method of including colour in stained glass is to use glass, originally colourless, that has been given colouring by mixing with metal oxides in its melted state, producing glass sheets that are coloured all the way through; these are known as "pot metal" glass.

In medieval Stained glass flashing was especially used for reds, as Stained glass made with gold compounds was very expensive and tended to be too deep in colour to use at full thickness.

The most common method of adding the black linear painting necessary to define stained glass images is the use of what is variously called "glass paint", "vitreous paint", or "grisaille paint".

The way the Stained glass is heated and cooled can significantly affect the colours produced by these compounds.

The chemicals actually penetrate the Stained glass they are added to a little way, and the technique therefore gives extremely stable results.

These are the colours in which the Stained glass itself is made, as opposed to colours applied to the Stained glass.

Ordinary soda-lime Stained glass appears colourless to the naked eye when it is thin, although iron oxide impurities produce a green tint which becomes evident in thick pieces or with the aid of scientific instruments.

Each piece of Stained glass is selected for the desired colour and cut to match a section of the template.

Method used for embellishment and gilding is the decoration of one side of each of two pieces of thin Stained glass, which are then placed back to back within the lead came.

Once the Stained glass is cut and painted, the pieces are assembled by slotting them into H-sectioned lead cames.

All the joints are then soldered together and the Stained glass pieces are prevented from rattling and the window made weatherproof by forcing a soft oily cement or mastic between the Stained glass and the cames.

Skilled Stained glass cutting and leading in a 19th-century window at Meaux Cathedral, France.

One of the region's earliest surviving formulations for the production of colored Stained glass comes from the Assyrian city of Nineveh, dating to the seventh century BC.

The tradition of stained glass manufacture has continued, with mosques, palaces, and public spaces being decorated with stained glass throughout the Islamic world.

In Europe, stained glass continued to be produced; the style evolved from the Gothic to the Classical, which is well represented in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, despite the rise of Protestantism.

From 1839 onwards much stained glass was produced that very closely imitated medieval glass, both in the artwork and in the nature of the glass itself.

Much 19th-century German Stained glass has large sections of painted detail rather than outlines and details dependent on the lead.

German stained glass found a market across Europe, in America and Australia.

Art Nouveau or Belle Epoque stained glass design flourished in France, and Eastern Europe, where it can be identified by the use of curving, sinuous lines in the lead, and swirling motifs.

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God the Creator by Stanislaw Wyspianski, this window has no Stained glass painting, but relies entirely on leadlines and skilful placement of colour and tone.

The use of slab Stained glass, a technique known as Dalle de Verre, where the Stained glass is set in concrete or epoxy resin, was a 20th-century innovation credited to Jean Gaudin and brought to the UK by Pierre Fourmaintraux.

One of the most prolific Stained glass artists using this technique was the Dominican Friar Dom Charles Norris OSB of Buckfast Abbey.

Important 20th-century stained glass artists include John Hayward, Douglas Strachan, Ervin Bossanyi, Louis Davis, Wilhelmina Geddes, Karl Parsons, John Piper, Patrick Reyntiens, Johannes Schreiter, Brian Clarke, Paul Woodroffe, Jean Rene Bazaine at Saint Severin, Sergio de Castro at Couvrechef- La Folie, Hamburg-Dulsberg and Romont (Switzerland), and the Loire Studio of Gabriel Loire at Chartres.

In Germany, stained glass development continued with the inter-war work of Johan Thorn Prikker and Josef Albers, and the post-war achievements of Joachim Klos, Johannes Schreiter and Ludwig Shaffrath.

Styles and themes for synagogue stained glass artwork are as diverse as their church counterparts.

Chapel stained glass showing the Resurrection of Jesus, All Saints Cemetery Community Mausoleum, Des Plaines, Illinois.