Stained Glass Creations - Part 1

Viv's Sidelights

My oldest sister, Vivian, and her family recently bought an old Victorian house in Owensboro, Kentucky. This is a house that is just aching for stained glass. And since this is pretty much my passion at the moment, I have started building windows for her house. These sidelights were made with purchased bevel clusters, clear granite glass, and cobalt textured glass. Four cobalt "jewels adorn each sidelight. I have not done that much lead construction and although it goes quicker than copper foil, it sure is a lot messier when the panel has to be puttied. Above shows the sidelights before installation.

Sidelights mounted with mirror clips, front door

Jerry and I hung the new sidelights over the existing glass with mirror clips. Vivian's husband, Dick, plans to stain moulding to match this gorgeous oak woodwork to properly install the windows. The main window in the door is "Gallery Glass", a plastic concoction with fake lead that the former owner had decorated the house with in many places. We scraped off the existing "gallery glass" from the sidelights and found nicely beveled plain glass underneath. One of my future projects is to get rid of the "gallery glass" on the front door and do a beveled door glass that will complement the sidelights.

My sidelights

Earlier this spring, I finished the sidelights for my house and Jerry and I installed them with wood moulding over the existing plain glass sidelights. These sidelights incorporated some bevels but mostly colored glass with a clear background glass that distorts the view for added privacy. Most folks don't have colored glass in their sidelights so mine are a little different in that respect. However, I think they are very pretty. When the sunlight hits them at various times of the day, they are gorgeous. At night, when the light is on in the house the sidelights glow with beautiful summer flowers all year long.

Another view of my sidelights

Unlike Viv's sidelights, these were constructed using copper foil. They are mirror images of each other, so took a little more work than the "geometric" sidelights I did for Vivian. These are, so far, the biggest projects I have made. In future posts I will share some suncatchers, lamps, and panels that I have made previously.