Carnival of Light

The Rose window

The Saint William window

Saint William

Angels in the Lantern Tower

Entering the Choir

One of the Five Sisters

Another of the Five Sisters

The Rose again, so pretty.

The Nave looking at the West Facade

The West window.

Saving the best for last. A detail of the West window.

Fixing a Hole

Wow! Can't believe a whole month has gone by, but I've been so busy working full time, its just whizzed by! I finished up my time with the York Glaziers Trust in spectacular fashion; I was given the opportunity to make and install a tiny window in York Minster! They don't get new windows very often, so you can imagine what an honour it is for me. Mind you its a tiny window, high up in the south east spire, which has had some major repairs recently,  but it will be visible from below once the scaffolding comes down. Here's a few photos of the project.

 18th century bullseye glass and lead came samples.

Finished window on the work bench.

 Installed in York Minster!!!!

Me and my window.

I also spent several days learning the art of glass painting.

This paint is fired in a kiln at 630 degrees celcius.

These are my finished pieces, which are copies of actual pieces from York Minster's Great East Window.

Its designed to look old.

An Angel with one of the Four Winds

A Winged Lion

1950's unpainted glass with a new painted backing plate.

My time at the York Glaziers Trust was a dream come true. I loved every minute of my time there, especially our forays up into the Minster, which Nick made sure I got my fill of before I finished. Here are a few more photos from the top of the scaffolding.

New carving

 The view out from the scaffolding, while installing my window.

The view out from installing my window; notice the Minster roof below us?

Looking up at new carvings; The Afflictions: Bad Back

Tooth Ache

Your guess is as good as mine!

Another view out.

 

Looking out from inside

"Clare's Turret"

Stay tuned for a new post about my new adventure at the National Railway Museum,

which has started with flying colors.

A Day in the Life

I've now been at the York Glaziers Trust for 5 weeks. The time is flying by and I have been completely immersed in the Great East Window Conservation. I've now taken the head panel that I am working on through glass cleaning, creating a new cut line for the placement of the glass after conservation, and edge bonding and infilling broken pieces.  Here's what it looks like after cleaning.

This is the new "cut line" with the areas blacked-in where there are spaces that will need to be filled with the lead. This takes into account the space created when the glass is repaired, as well as the original intent of the windows creator, which is considered in light of the written evidence and original paint and grozing marks.

These are pieces of medieval glass which will be bonded with resin. The missing pieces will be in-filled as well. The pink at the top is wax molded to create a re-newed edge for the lead to wrap around.

Tools of the trade. These are some of the tools we use. I do a lot of work with a scalpel. This silicon is sometimes used in place of resin, where a softer approach is needed for fragile glass.

These pieces have been edge bonded with silicon and are set upright to dry. Tape is used to hold them in place. The glass is meticulously cleaned beforehand to ensure a good bond and appearance.

I tried my hand at glass painting. This is a copy of a little bird panel found in the Zouche Chapel of York Minster. This process really makes you appreciate the skill of the medieval painters. Its a lot harder than you'd imagine to paint those fine thin lines.

I just like this photo of the glass :)

Everything that is done to the glass is meticulously recorded in a series of

diagrams and a written report.

These cracks have been repaired with resin and areas missing glass in-filled.

A protective glazing design for the panel that will go in front of the medieval window,

to keep the weather off the window and protect the newly conserved glass.

The glass that I have cut to fit the pattern. Not all of the pieces of the original

panel will be cut for the protective glazing. But enough of the pattern is

copied for the view of the window from the outside to be harmonious with the original glass.

Its not all hard work. Sofia and I went to Blackpool,

 for Sofia's football (soccer) tournament.

Next up is a small window that I will be creating for a tiny window in one of the Minster's spires. It's not often you get the chance to put a new window in the Minster, so I am quite lucky to have this chance. Stay tuned for more details! 

From a Window

     Its been a Hard Days Night and I've been working...at the York Glaziers Trust, henceforth referred to as YGT! Wow! I can't begin to express how awesome these last two weeks have been! It probably seems silly from the outside looking in, but for me this is a fulfillment of a goal set eight years ago. I wanted to work in glass professionally, and here I am working in one of the most prestigious conservation studios in the world, AND getting to work on one of the most famous windows in the world. I can't believe my luck!

     I have to say, I haven't written sooner, because I have been falling asleep in my chair after dinner. Its been several months since I worked a full week of 8 hour days. I have been walking to and from the studio as well, which is 3.2 miles round trip, and I have been exhausted. Happy to be exhausted though!

      A little background on the Great East Window of York Minster: The window was first created between 1405-1408 by John Thornton a well known glazier of his time, and what must have been a huge team of craftsmen. To put it into perspective, the conservation is estimated to take 8-10 years, while John Thornton completed the original in just 3! The window is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world, and is about the size of a tennis court.

     And I am working with it! Can you see why I feel lucky?! The window itself is amazing, especially when you see the individual panels. It tells the story of the begining and end of time. How timely considering the Rapture is supposed to be happening today, in about 9 minutes! What I find really fascinating about each panel is how J. Thornton was able to include multiple interactions within one scene.

This is the description from the Minster's webstite,
     "The window is an Apocalypse window, which follows the theme of “I am the beginning and the end”.  In its apex is God the Father holding a book stating “Ego sum alpha et omega” (“I am the alpha and omega”, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, which was the language of the New Testament). 

The top panels in the window depict episodes from the beginnings of the world as described in the Old Testament books of Genesis through to Samuel.  The rest of the window shows the end of the world in graphic detail, as described in the Book of Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse.  The bottom nine panels illustrate historical and legendary figures, including kings and saints, as well as donor figures who gave money for the work." 

So onto some pictures of the fascinating work I have been doing for the last two weeks...   

This is a panel/scene that I was puttying. The glass was originally all hand made,

and has varying thicknesses. The putty is inserted between the lead and the glass,

to keep the glass secure, to strengthen the panel, and originally for weather proofing.

The putty is scraped away to form a 90 degree angle to the glass, so the lead does

not appear any wider than it is, and as much of the glass can be seen as possible.

The first step after documentation is to dismantle the panel, to remove the glass from

the lead net. The lead breaks down over time, and the result is a highly toxic dust.

All safetey measures are taken to minimize exposure to the dust as you'll see.

In addition to face mask and hair net, I also was covered in a full body suit and apron.

I also used a high powered air extractor and true hepa filter vacuum cleaner during the process.

This is what the glass looks like once the lead has been removed.

The glass is fumigated to loosen the old hardened putty for safe removal from the glass.

And then the manual cleaning begins.

Each and every piece of glass is hand cleaned, under a microscope with a scalpel

 and water/ethanol solution. The microscope is used to minimize any damage

 to the paint or glass, which after 600 years is quite fragile.

These small faces are only about 3 inches tall. The attention to the details is exquisite.

Imagine, these are in the 12th row up from the bottom, and are as fine and lovely as the first row,

even though hardly distinguishable to the eye from the ground.

These have not been cleaned yet.

Its surprising what you can find under the microscope. Can you see the finger print here?

The brown paint is original, so this is a 600 year old finger print!

After cleaning, any broken pieces are temporarily taped, to hold in place.

Some of these may be edge bonded, rather than run mending leads through each break.

Edge bonding can only be done on clean breaks and can not be done on new

glass to old glass. Removing the mending leads will help make the individual

window panels easier to "read".

These have been cleaned, taped, and put into place on the design diagram.

Its so very satisfying to take a dirty broken jumble of pieces and to clean and reassemble them.

Its sometimes like working on a great big jigsaw puzzle. I love it!