COMPARISON OF STAINED (leaded glass)
WITH FUSED GLASS
For your convenience we have included this page to help you make a comparison of the basic glass media in with which we work. This should be a helpful tool for those in a decision making position.
STAINED GLASS and LEADED GLASS
Traditional fabrication method developed in the 12th century.
Designs can be either traditional or contemporary but all are fabricated with centuries old techniques.
Glass averages 1/8” thick
Generally, pieces in the panels are held together with 1/4” wide H-shaped lead strips (came) usually with 1/2” lead on the perimeters. This of course vaires with the design and installation requirements.
Has a “coloring-book” feel to some people because most of the separate colors are separated by a black line (the lead came).
Most of our work is fabricated using mouth-blown glass, usually from Germany.
Over 3000 colors and textures of glass are available
Highly intricate and detailed designs are possible using glass painting, etching, layering (plating), etc.
Usually the best choice for realistic figurative representation.
In many contemporary windows, the lead came matrix becomes one of the major design elements.
Cost dependent upon intricacy.
Cost comparable to fused glass, maybe a little less.
Fragile and subject to breakage. Repairs are doable but sometimes costly and replication is possible.
In many parts of the country, stained glass windows, that are actually used as windows, must be set into code approved frames. We do not manufacture or install frames but we will work with the architect or contractor to design them so they work with the artistic design of the windows. The various codes may require exterior protective glazing “hurricane glass”, insulated glass, etc. Yes, this type of glazing sorta reduces the exterio appearance of the window in the daytime, but it helps protect the glass, as well as the entire building, during a catastrophic event. It is important for the glazing subcontractor to follow our installation guidelines or problems with the stained glass can develop relatively quickly.
You will hear the terms “stained glass” and “leaded glass”. They are often used interchanbely but technically speaking, stained glass is leaded glass, taken a little bit further with various painting techniques being used, then the paints are fired into the glass until the paint fuses with it - this produces a product that will not fade for hundreds of years - if ever! Silver staining is another similar technique.
Although the glass (and painting) is practically archival, the lead is not. These types of windows need periodically inspected and maintenaned ( maybe 5-10 years). And usually, every century of so, they will need to be re-leaded.
We are talking about stained GLASS windows here but glass is actualy a pretty tough material. A piece can break, but in most cases, it can be repaired or replaced. .
JPS does repair, and even restoration, of stained glass. It is time consuming and can be more expensive than creating a new window. However, keeping this in mind, if a window has significant artistic, historical or sentimental value, or for any other number of reasons, an owner may elect to repair or restore before replacing. A good consultant can help make the decision.
FUSED GLASS
A newer medium and fabrication method (for windows) made commercially available, really only since the 1990’s.
Tends to favor more contemporary design styles.
Usually, there is no lead came involved as part of the design - but sometimes it is placed only around the perimeter as an aid to installation into a framing system. However, there are some hybrids.
One of the artistic benefits of fused glass is that there are no lead lines or reinforcing bars. Since leads tend to be the boundary lines of color - if we have no leads we do not have to be restrained from using color - no more having to “paint within the lines” (coloring book rules)!
In a nutshell, these panels/windows consist of a base layer of glass, usually clear, which has layers of colored glass stacked, artistically, on the top, then fired to around 1,500 deg F, until all the glass melts, and flows together. When the glass is very slowly cooled, it fuses. What goes into the kiln of maybe hundreds or thousands of pieces but hopefully comes out of the kiln as one piece.
Usually these panels average 3/8” thick but can often be thicker (thus heavier). The thicker the final piece becomes, the greater the firing times increase (logarithmically I think?)
Hundreds of glass colors are available, as well as powders, frits and stringers, etc. that help produce a painterly use of color. When layered for fusing, these hundreds of various colors can lead to thousands of shades. Sometimes this is referred to as “painting with glass” or “painting with light”.
Can also be painted to achieve heightened detail
Capable of abstracted and stylized figurative representation - with a good painter, very recognizable figures can be achieved. But fused glass is very limited when it comes to doing a highly rendered figure with correctly colored faces.
Cost dependent upon intricacy. Cost is comparable to higher-end stained glass.
It is also glass so is fragile and subject to breakage. In most all cases, repair of fused glass is virtually impossible - replacement is advised. And due to the unpredictable nature of fusing, all replications are only approximate.
Fused glass does not follow a cartoon as precisely as stained glass does - it is usually has a more loosy-goosy feel. (organic might be a better term
Most of all the structural frame requirements for stained glass apply to fused glass as well.
A Word About Faceted Glass
We loved designing and fabricating faceted glass and for years, that was about 90% of our work. But installation was not a lot of fun because the panels were so heavy! Then we had the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. First In Florida, and then around the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, most building codes were strengthened. (maybe you have heard of the Miami-Dade Building Codes?) It the became much more difficult to get faceted glass approved without exterior protective glazing. That made the project even heavier, a lot more expensive, as well as creating problems that affected the windows. Plus, there were some terribly made faceted glass windows out there, which all needed restoration. Unfortunately, there are really no remedial restoration techniques for faceted glass, so, if a client had a set of bad windows, the only practical alternative was to completely diasssemble, then recast them. This became an expensive proposition. Around that time, my work with Ludwig Schaffrath, a very prominent German artist, starting showing his influence more and more in our glass and mosaic design. So many years ago we shut down our faceted glass prodction in favor of leaded glass and mosaics. However, many beautiful and well fabricated 50-60 year old faceted glass windows still exist because they were made by qualified, professional studios and some of our favorite projects have been faceted glass windows. But, for the reasons listed here faceted glass windows are rarely commissioned these days, and are no longer offered by J. Piercey Studios, Inc..
Faceted Glass windows (also known as dalle-de-verre) were a popular option from the mid- 1960’s through the 1990s. They had a great deal of aesthetic appeal during that era, owing to the trend for highly stylized artistic abstraction and many of the then current architectural styles. They themselves, were very architectural in design style. Faceted glass windows are made from glass dalles, most domestically produced hand-cast glass slabs approximately 8 x 12 x 1 inches, that were cut, chipped and shaped into pieces which would subsequently be held together by a poured epoxy matrix. These newer methods and materials for window making, though extremely heavy, were less costly and time consuming than traditional stained glass fabrication. Because of the thickness of the glass, they could be very artistically powerful. The epoxy matrix, which holds all the glass pieces together, created a strong amount of negative area which could be a dominant design feature.