I thought I should provide some pictures of the setting. The first picture is the entry door that my windows are going into. The stained glass you see is in bad shape and really close to falling apart. The bottom picture Linda won't like but it is standing in the same place as the first picture and just turing slightly to the left. You can ignore the snow it NEVER snows there, especially in April when this was taken. However all those flowers peeking out of the fresh snow were pretty..............what a wonderful relaxing place!

I am going to take you through an overview of the process in designing and building a window.
This project is for the Dershams at Eagle Rock Lodge on the McKenzie river. If you ever want to get away to an absolutely gorgeous relaxing place with an incredible breakfast you should head to this place. It is beautiful!!!!

The design is drawn to full scale and two copies are made.
One is to provide the layout of the glass to make sure it is fitting the
desired size. If you get this wrong boy do you have troubles. It
is not good to build a window that will not fit the opening!
The other sheet is the actual pattern. Each piece is cut out,
layed on the glass and marked then the piece of glass is cut
and layed out. The steps before reaching this point are actually
quite time consuming, meeting and discussing ideas, doing
research on the topic of design, sketching out ideas, then
drawing up a design from the sketches. I then discuss this with the client
to get input, make changes, and get a basic color selection.
Pricing is decided and agreed upon before I draw up the full
sized design and purchase supplies.

After I have the design finished to scale I purchase the glass
and supplies. I go to Portland to select my glass from among
thousands of pieces of glass. The pieces shown here are about
four square feet each so they are large pieces of glass. Notice
the difference in these pictures. They are the same pieces of glass
but in the top I tried to photograph them so you see the glass
without the backlight or as they would be viewed at night.
The bottom picture is with the sun behind them lighting
them up. It is an example of why I tell people that the windows
can change colors depending on the light and type of glass.

Here is the window in the process of cutting out the glass.
I have started at the bottom of the window and I'm working
my way up and observing the overall design. Each piece of
glass I cut I consider how I lay it out on the large sheet of
glass I cut it from. You'll notice an example here in the blue
violet background color. I am considering the "flow" of the glass
in this case wanting the colors to be flowing horizontal and
swirling in the background.

Taking the full sized pattern I cut out each pattern piece.
I then lay each pattern piece on the piece of glass I have
selected. I take the glass cutter, the yellow handled thing
laying there and I cut around the pattern. When I lay the
pattern on the glass I choose the color variations and swirls
in the colors to fit the overall design and desired effect.
There is apporximately a 25% waste factor of the glass in
doing this but worth it. Well worth it if I have done my price
calculating accurately. As my wife will gladly testify I have
certainly not always done that in my desire to pursue this
passion of mine.

Here is a view of the begining stage of soldering. I have not included a picture of the foiling process before this which is quite time consuming. Each piece of glass has the outer edge wrapped in copper foil. You can see the copper foil in this picture. It has to completely cover the edge and be flattened to the glass all the way around and on both sides. This is why the per piece price! Each piece cut out of glass and then hand wrapped with foil, well lets just say time consuming and can you spell "patience"? In the soldering process I lay
the pieces out and start around the exterior barely tacking
the pieces together. Then I carefully move each piece around
to get them fitting together before soldering.

Soldering the foiled pieces together. The spool of solder is on the left.
The soldering iron I'm holding melts the solder to the copper foil.
Metals need to be compatible in order for them to melt together.
Not just any metals can be soldered and melted in to one solid.
Hey it's chemistry! Don't ask me I'm an artist, I just use science
I don't understand it!

This is applying flux to the copper foil. It basically prepares the copper
foil so the solder, a mix of tin and lead, will stick together to bond
it into a solid metal that holds the whole work together.

This is always a fun but worrisome part. The first time I pick it up to view it
with the light behind. It is really unfinished at this point. Greasy, dirty,
soldering to finish and the edge unfinished but I always look forward to this to
analyize and critique my work. I realy try to picture the setting it will
eventually go in and in this case another window to go along side. I think
it is going to fit really well into the setting. A main entry door to a room
at Eagle Rock Lodge on the McKenzie river.

Calla Lilly

The newest window corner a Calla Lilly 9/2008

Picasa Web Albums - rick - Stained Glass...

Picasa Web Albums - rick - Stained Glass... This is a web album of my work. This has pictures that are included in my blog but I thought having them in one location is easier. I do have comments in my blog posting with each piece of work so if you see one you like you might go to that posting to get further info.