Stained Glass

Introduction

The term Stained glass is nothing but the all form of glasses which can be used in a decorative manner. Today, it refers to a glass that has been colored.

The glass is colored by adding metallic salts during its manufacture.

For example, using the metal copper would produce green or blue glass.

Early stained glass artists were limited to a very few primary colors, but today almost any color can be produced.

Stained glass is described all colors and painted glass when used in a decorative or architectural setting. There is one important & interesting aspect about stained glass that the origins of the first stained glass windows are lost in history. This technique was generally used in jewellery making, making of church buildings and mosaics. Stained glass windows as we know them seemed to arise when substantial church building began.

By the 10th century the evidence of stained glass were found in depictions of Christ and biblical scenes and in French and German churches and decorative designs found in England.

In 13th century Stained glass windows are often viewed as semitransparent pictures. If it is viewed from the ground, they appear not as a picture but as a network of black lines and colored light.

In the mid of 1800, glass studios in England made their versions of old-fashioned windows for ancient revival buildings.

Stained glass was used only in church windows and it loss the strength up till the post world war second era but the theory of glass and art of painting influenced a new group of artists to explore their natural skill in the medium of glass.

The development of stained glass design and production was not even throughout the middle Ages. Constant war, extreme shortage, destroyed much of the original glass .The rise of new national identities also tended to create strong regional differences in philosophy to beauty.

At the same time church window that are made by these artists may in some ways be closer to those of the early period of 12-15^th centuries. In these windows there is difficult to identify scenes, they again create a pure atmosphere of light and color, inspiring a devoted attitude through the transformation of the ordinary into the spiritual.

To understand how stained glass is prepared there are a number of construction techniques available to the stained glass artist - lead came for traditional leaded windows, copper foil for finer, more defined pieces such as detailed panels, lamps, etc and appliqué for a modern variant on stained glass that uses adhesives as opposed to lead or solder seams. If fine details such as shadows or outlines are required, the artist paints them on the cold glass with special paint made from metal oxides. The piece is then fired in a kiln. This process is, in itself, an art. The oxides permanently fuse with the glass to produce the painting. This is where we have derived the term "stained glass".
There is one belief that stained glass today is not of the quality seen in the cathedrals built in times past. This unfortunate misunderstanding no doubt by checking from what people often encounter that false show of stained glass. While it is possible to see quality stained glass at the great number of craft shows and fairs across the country, one will just as often see some scrap of colored glass with a gray alloy of tin in the shape of small statue of one or another mythological creature glued to it and passed off as stained glass.
The second great falsehood is that simulations that can achieve the same result as actual glass have replaced stained glass. This unfortunate misunderstanding stems from the simple fact that people want to save money, but they do not understand what the stained glass can do?
Though nobody knows the history of origin of stained glass,there is an explosion of interest in the last 30 years has give rise to many new and imaginative forms of this art. The rise of the individual artist, new technologies and the growing interest in stained glass as a hobby craft have all lead to what is being called a new golden age in glass. New homes are frequently used beautifully crafted spectacular horizontal glass entryways, stained glass bathroom windows and stylish lampshades, which increases the aesthetic values of their houses. Decorative panels are purchased just to hang in a sunny window. Marvelous hot-formed glasses pieces decorative tables, walls, and shelves and fill windows.



Courtesy of  site web ieftin firma