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Progress on the restoration of the Great West Window

Gilroy Stained Glass

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June 24th, 2015 - 03:04 PM

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Progress on the restoration of the Great West Window

We’ve had the West Window from First Presbyterian Church in our studio for a few weeks now. We’ve been going through the messy first restoration stage which is comprised of several steps:

The windows are examined for condition of glass, lead came, solder joints and tie placement for saddle bars.

Rubbings are then taken of each individual panel to record shape, width of lead came and the individual position of each piece of glass.

After concluding the windows suitability, they are then placed into a ‘bath’ of water and Ph neutral cleaner to loosen dirt, and soften the ‘cement’ to aid removal of the lead came from the glass.

The windows are carefully dismantled, and each individual piece of glass cleaned and placed on the rubbing to the exact location in the panel it was removed from. A record of placement is made, and the glass removed to storage.

In some sections of the window there is evidence of damage and replacement of whole areas, necessitating sourcing a glass that will match the original as closely as possible. Samples have been sent to the largest suppliers on the East and West Coast of N. America who stock glass from the largest makers of mouth blown in Germany and France, as well as all of the American manufacturers.

The next stage will be creating new structural drawings - watch this space!

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