Déjà vue

It is strange how if you keep practicing in one area for a time, you get to see things a second time.  This happened to me with South park Avenue and now it has happened with a door in Scotstoun.

I first saw this door about 15 years ago as a result of pellet damage.  Approximately where the masking tape crosses below the left hand side of the central medallion, there was a hole probably caused by a pellet gun.  I did not have the expertise to fill this hole and so asked Linda Cannon - who is now part of Cannon MacInnes - to see if she could repair this with resin, which she did to great effect.  

Unfortunately during the windy weather we have been having recently, the builders working on the house left the back and front doors open.  The wind did the inevitable and blew the front door shut, breaking the glass.  As this seems to be the last of these doors in the locality, the owners are keen to have a reproduction made.

The whole window has an arts nouveau feel about it although the central image seems to come from an older time.  It is certainly worth reproducing as faithfully as possible.  Linda and are placing bids for the work.

Old into New

A while back a client was given an old panel by a friend to enliven their new house.

As you can see there is some interesting and no longer available vaseline glass included in the panel. The varying light between the bottom and the top shows some of the difference in colour caused by the level of light striking the glass. It is also a better example of arts nouveau than many and so seemed to be worth while keeping.

These same people who gifted the panel recommended me as a person who could arrange the mechanisms to hang the panel. The client brought the panel to me and we discussed the proposal to hang this in the door. I was unhappy about hanging a panel in a door for reasons of safety of the panel and of the clients.

I also was unsure of how the size of the panel related to the size of the door and arranged to go to their house to get a better idea of what was being proposed. The door is considerably larger than the panel and of different proportions.

So I said that the minimum required to keep the panel and people safe was to mount the existing panel in steel bars which would be fixed to the sides of the door. This wiould give two strong horizontal lines across the door opening. The client (and certainly not me) was not happy with this. So I quickly went on to say that the panel could be remade into a larger one for the door, removing the deep flemish glass that existed. This was difficult to envisage, so I agreed to devise a setting (for a fee which would be incorporated into the whole cost if they agreed) for the panel and bring it to them for approval.

In the end, I developed a full size cartoon which I took to them and placed in the door for them to consider. As the proportions of the two were so different, I needed some way of lengthening the image contained in the panel. This extension needed to be sympathetic with the original. My decision was to extend the acorn shaped buds at the bottom and add two formal elements - the half circles - at the top and bottom to draw the whole together. It also provided a "base" or cradle at the bottom and gives an overall oval appearance.

The image was approved and after some discussion about colours of glass, light loss and other aesthetic matters, a price was agreed.

The disassembly began. I removed the perimeter glass so the panel would not have an appearance of being inserted whole into the surrounding glass. Various repairs were made and decisions taken on the placing of the grid lines. The cartoon you see here was modified from the one shown to the clients in the detail of where the verticals and horizontals were placed.

The glass was selected to match as nearly as possible to the existing glass where relevant, and clear glass was chosen to surround the main image.

In the leaded up state, you can see that exact matches for the vaseline glass was not possible. Instead a translucent white glass was chosen that transmits amber in sunlight to compliment the way the vaseline glass changes its colour.

Finally, it was cemented and had its ties for the glazing bars attached. After some hesitation I went for two instead of four glazing bars. This was on the grounds that as a laminated glass sheet was to be placed on the outside, the two bars would be enough to protect the glass from bowing inwards if the door happened to slam into the wall.

The finished panel installed. I think the door fits well with the terrazzo tiling of the hallway.

Although the panel is a large one - 1140 by 850 mm - it does not appear to be out of place in scale. As soon as this was installed, the client began to think of how they could deal with the remainder of the large flemish glass. That of course, will be when funds are again available.

Community projects - Kirkintilloch

Among the community projects I have completed was one for the Hillhead Community Centre, Kirkintilloch just outside Glasgow. This picture shows the bleak setting for the work in the entry just the left of the wood clad structure.

The view from the inside is barely any better. It is not used as an access point to the paved area outside, but as a relaxing area outside the Relay area, as well as the creche to the right. It did not present a welcoming appearance, so a number of the group from Relay, consisting of people from 12-20 years old, prepared a number of ideas and came to me to help them realise the project of making this area much more welcoming and depict some of what the community centre does.

I took their ideas and worked them up into a unified theme on a large piece of photographic backdrop paper at full size. The picture below shows many of the ideas worked into a unified structure for the whole area. The astragals and door frame are represented here, so a flow can be obtained for the area as a whole.

The day of the presentation to the Hillhead Community Centre proved to be sunny. So the colours were vibrant for the community's first view of the glass. The central theme is the winged relay symbol spreading over the activities of the people of the area. A number of symbols are used to indicate some of these. The canal was an important part of the economic life of Kirkintilloch and still has a recreational use today. The houses of Hillhead overlook the canal. People of various ages and races live in the area and their relationships are indicated by the ribbons spread throughout the window. Among other images is one representing the musical interests of the people. The tune is represented on the amber ribbon and when played reveals the tune. There are a number of other symbols used to represent other activities also.

The completed glass on the day of presentation.

Community Projects - Queens Cross Housing Association

One of the community projects that I became involved with was for Queens Cross Housing association http://www.queenscrossha.org.uk/ where a number of groups provided ideas for the entryways to the houses shown below:

A vew of the houses on Maryhill Road, Glasgow

There were a variety of themes from the various groups which ranged from school children's groups to adult groups of various kinds. The suggestions were arranged according to themes and styles. Some of these are illustrated below:

This entry has a transport theme

This entry has a theme relating to children and is done in a simpler style

For this entry a theme of buildings was used

For the final entry, the QCHA wanted a Mackintosh theme, so one of the banners he and his wife designed, was used to fill the sidelights of this entry.