Rutherglen Door

I just got a photo of a door installed just before Christmas. This had a large number of broken pieces and a lot of lead with broken joints. The ties had come off the glazing bar.

The objective was to make the repairs look as much as possible as though they were original. The main concern was to get the large central piece which was badly broken look as near the original as possible, given that the texture of the original glass has been unavailable for many decades.

I chose a roughly textured clear granite, although it was more finely textured than the original, for its similarity to the original. Then I had to change the colour. Simply adding a silver stain would have made the piece too bright. Instead I matted the piece with an sepia umber on one side and stained the other. This gave the bronze colour wanted. As the original was not evenly coloured, I took the liberty of allowing areas of more intense colour to remain.

I am pleased with the result in that my additions are not obvious, and the central emblem has the character of the original.

Lamp Repairs

Months and months ago - it must have been early autumn - a person brought in three lamps of sentimental attachment which had been damaged. The pair of wall lamps below were damaged in moving. They probably are of 1960's vintage. The one on the left had most of the front panel dissasembled, but without being broken and was presented in pieces to be put back together in the correct arrangement. The one on the right had only a few pieces at the bottom displaced.




The one that was most interesting was the one below. It had been disassembled at some time in the past as it was presented to me with six curved panels, sometimes with the blue and orange pieces attached sometimes not. So this was a process of seeing which "petals" fitted the curved panel best, and then seeing which panel fitted best beside which one.





Finally they are all back together and will be be picked up on Friday.

Open Access

While I am posting information about workshops, it occurred to me that this might be a good time to tell interested people about the Open Access Studio concept that is operated here.



The open access concept is to allow people without the space or facilities to expand their skills without having to take numerous classes. This allows the individual to take things at their own pace. Of course, the open access is offered by appointment only. It is expected that the people coming will have basic skills and are looking to develop those skills within a working studio environment. The also should have basic hand tools, although more expensive and less used tools can be accessed from the studio. Some assistance with problems is available.



The basic bench hire can be used for leaded glass and copper foil work and other projects that do not require major equipment resources.

Costs: £5 per hour, or £25 per day, by appointment



The open Kiln offers you facilities to develop your interest in kiln forming. The studio facilities are made available to you to create your work. Stephen or an appointed person will be on hand to answer questions and give guidance with your projects and in the firing of the kiln if necessary. It is possible to schedule brief consultations on projects or methods you wish to investigate.



You can use your own glass or buy at the studio. You will need to have your own hand tools. Firing fees and mould rental charges apply. At least one class in kiln formed glass is a prerequisite.

Costs: £5 per hour or £25 per day, by appointment

Kiln firings: £5 for the small kiln (500mm square), £25 for the large kiln (2200x1000mm)



The open torch offers you the same facilities as for the open kiln to develop your skills in torch working. You can use your own glass or buy at the studio. Firing fees and gas charges apply. At least one class in torch working glass is a prerequisite.

Costs: £5 per hour or £25 per day, by appointment

Gas: £10 per bottle of propylene gas, £1 per hour of propane gas

Kiln annealing: £5