subject: Chinese stained glass | Stained Glass Design [print this page] Chinese stained glass | Stained Glass Design
The practice of making stained glass has been around for quite a long time. Stained glass windows and churches seem to go hand-in-hand, and you will find some of the earliest samples of stained glass artwork in churches on the European continent. Nowadays, stained glass is not confined to only churches and other such religious places; you can also see stained glass art in homes, offices, hotels, restaurants, hospitals and so on. We now have stained glass installed in windows, doors, ceilings, room-dividers, mirrors, lampshades, sun-catchers, gift boxes and many other items. Used properly, stained glass artifacts can transform the look of a place from commonplace to something quite extraordinary.Tiffany Stained Glass, Ltd. is has been manufacturing decorative glass products since 1975. This company is known for the best quality, customized designs, and restoration of decorative glass projects. Tiffany Stained Glass history is much longer and relatively unknown. Louis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who founded the Tiffany Glass Company in 1885, which no longer exists. He was a famous painter and interior decorator who promoted the copper foil method of stained glass construction and commonly used it in his work. Louis Comfort Tiffany is widely credited for this method which is highly popular even today and this method carries his name.This company has a number of experienced craftsmen in design and fabrication of glass products. The company is known to work on many specialized projects and historical stained glass restoration projects as well. The custom design process is very comprehensive and gives the best results. First the needs of clients are determined, design specifications are accordingly decided and the best output is delivered. The process also includes a proof drawing of Tiffany Stained Glass patterns which is made according to the client's requirements. Further this is submitted and only on its approval does the further process start. Once the product is ready, the trademark brass signature tag of Tiffany Stained Glass is affixed to the product. This tag helps identify a product as a genuine one. The last step is packaging which is also done perfectly with sturdy material so that the product inside stays safe while it is shipped.If you start searching for Tiffany Stained Glass, you can see a huge variety and range of products in this. Tiffany Stained Glass for windows and door is highly popular. You can have a mix of stained glass with your wooden doors, steel frames, wrought iron frames, polished steel and chrome doors. This can also be a part of glass windows. Usually these are placed at the center of the windows or cover the entire window area. Stained glass is popularly used in living rooms, dining rooms and arch windows. Use of Tiffany Stained Glass for church windows is also common with the amazing religious patterns done over it. Religious stained glass windows are amongst the must see products. Beveled Glass windows are also popular.Stained glass windows generally have long life spans after all we still have windows that are 80 to 100 years and even older - but often suffer from environmental damage, pollution damage, vandalism or from any accidental damage. So it is necessary to inspect the stained glass panels periodically and carry out any required maintenance repairs and restoration works. Usually, if we have a damaged glass pane in any regular window, we simply replace it with a new glass pane. With a stained glass window, this becomes slightly more complicated as you need to find the exact color and type of glass and finding it depends on whether it is still being manufactured and, in cases where the glass is 100 years old or older, the likelihood of finding that same kind of glass is rare and sometimes impossible, because, maybe, nobody makes it anymore.How do you know when you need to restore the stained glass?You will easily know your stained glass window needs some urgent repairs if there is any clearly apparent damage like cracked or broken glass or if the glass panels show an obvious bulging. Check if the window's reinforcing bars are broken or missing, or if the leaded framework is broken. Look out for window panes that have come loose in their leaded frames and for cracked solder joints. Press the window slightly and see if it gets pushed outwards. If it does, it needs to be repaired. All these repairs require some major and specialized work.How is the process of stained glass restoration carried out?Unless you have any personal experience in carrying out stained glass restoration, it is best to call in professional stained glass restorers to carry out any required reparation work on your stained glass windows. There is less risk of damage and more chances of a successful restoration if you leave it to the professionals. The restorers will visit your site and look over the window or windows in question and give you an idea of the scope and cost of the work. Before you finalize any deal, ask for credentials, references and past restoration work experience. Preferably, ask where you can see samples of their previous work. If these look in order, then your stained glass window is in good hands. They may either repair the window in its setting if the damage is minor they may just apply putty to fix loose glass or install protective glass covers to the window to protect it from vandalism or environmental damage - or they may decide to remove the framed window from its setting and take it to their studio for a more complete restoration. Here, they will remove the glass panes from the frame, and take rubbings of the scenes or designs on the glass panes. This is done by placing a paper over the pane and rubbing with a chalk, charcoal or crayon until the image is reproduced on the paper. A rubbing of the shape and size of the caming (the lines in the window that hold the panes together) too is made in a similar way. The restorers refer to these rubbings when repairing the window. They also take samples of the different caming sizes, which serves both as a record of how the window was originally constructed and a reference for putting in the new caming. The separated glass panes are cleaned and, if broken or cracked anywhere, taped together or treated with narrow caming. Often times the same kind of glass is not available for replacement, so the restorers try as much as possible to preserve the original glass. If the glass is beyond repair, they will try to find an approximate close replacement that will not detract from the original beauty of the stained glass window design.The restorers will also repair the window frame if this is necessary. Sometimes they may have to build an entirely new frame, but this is quite expensive and it is preferrable instead to repair the existing frames. Aluminum, Steel, Mahogany and Epoxy are generally used to repair stained glass window frames as these materials provide good strength and can withstand climatic variations.
