Seattle's Architectural Glass Design  Studio and School

SHOW AND TELL:

We are going to restore a 100 year old oval stained glass door lite. Using sharp razor knives we carefully remove the glass from the inside of the door. We immediately see that the lead came of the panel is almost crumbling.

When an historical panel's lead/zinc is too far gone to repair but the glass is still intact, what are the steps to take to bring it back to it's original beauty?

Good question. First make a rubbing of the panel. This authenticates the original piece.    Then carefully take the  came away from the piece leaving all the original glass. We brush the putty off using alcohol and a wire brush.Then we clean the glass and place it into the original rubbing pattern, to reassemble the piece.
We're careful to use matching lead came to reassemble the piece back to its original shape. Note that assembling an oval requires many nails to keep the exact shape intact.
The final step is to assemble, solder, putty and match the patina of the original came.
This particular piece came out of a 100 year old entry door. It was reinstalled using fiberous putty and looked like it did 100 years ago.
The door is still being restored. After it is finished and repainted I will download the final picture.

It is our intent through the use of this technical section to eventually have many different aspects of art glass design, fabrication, restoration and repair processes laid out for our many clients, students and interested craftsmen out there. Any comments, questions or ideas will be appreciated. Let us know what you think. Send us an email to info@glassiqueseattle.com