How We Work - The Process

This section is a little long - it is meant for those who are actively searching for a studio to help them with their project.

Almost every town of size has a stained glass studio of some sort. There, you can have a door light, side light, transom, etc. made for your home, kitchen, bathroom or other location - ones that can feature peacocks, parrots, flowers or other wildlife and will match your wallpaper or latest upholstering fabric. You can get your broken "Tiffany" lamp shade that you bought at Sears or Costco repaired there. You can also buy "suncatchers", kaleidoscopes, jewelry boxes and even stained glass ceiling fan pull ornaments! But do you might not feel comfortable considering that studio for an important, large, complex, involved, and/or complicated project.

     I don't intend to sound condescending or arrogant. There is a proper place for these studios, (it is sorta the way we started!) They may do what they do well. But it would seem that you might not want a significant project, be it church, school, hospital chapel, airport terminal, etc, in the hands of a studio with little or no experience with any significant projects. The artist that designs architectural stained glass windows, especially for a religious setting, needs a combination of skills, education, experience, taste, sensitivity, and resonsibility. And, for a church or other religious setting, at least a basic understanding and appreciation of the liturgy is also important.

     We work in both liturgical and non-liturgical spaces. Commissions can come to us in a variety of ways. People learn of our studio by having seen some of our work in person, maybe even published, but by far, most of our projects come through our website and by word-of-mouth recommendations of past clients. Our advertising budget is, well, minimal.

     For those projects of a religious nature, sometimes committees will have already defined a theme prior to contacting us. Some committees though will have no idea what they want their windows to say to the viewers , and how they want it said. They rely entirely on our suggestions and recommendations to make a window project interesting, beautiful, capture the feeling of the space, perhaps tell a story, or perhaps just serve as decoration. Compare a large, symbolic, “Ascension” window behind the altar of a church, to a purely decorative stained glass dome in a courthouse - these are examples of the different directions we can take in our work.

     The best projects evolve after the committee has had a chance to meet us and view a presentation of some of our past projects. During this presentation, we try to describe what our design parameters and limitations were for many of the shown projects; the specific liturgical and architectural requirements we had to address; as well as other special considerations. In putting some of the text together for this site, we realized, almost every one of these projects had something interesting going on, be it the site, the committee, architectural forms, lighting conditionas, etc. - they all have a story. (that is why the “Favorite Project” portion of this site is so lengthy). At these meetings, there are literally dozens of questions that committee members might ask, and they are encouraged to do so. For us, that is the reason for the meeting - we will attempt to provide answers that will not only inform and help educate the committee but most importantly, make them feel comfortable in selecting our studio for their commission.

HERE IS A POSSIBLE WAY TO GET A PROJECT DONE.

This section might get a little involved, but it comes from over 40 years of interview experience with various owners on all types of projects. If you get bored reading it, then just take a little break and, look at the pretty pictures!

If you are reading this, you have ended up on a committee whether by volunteering , being appointed or elected or proded or cajoled, etc! The committee is likely charged with defining the scope of a stained glass project for a church or some public (or private) space. So now what do you do? Of course, all committees differ, but they should also have the same goal: not only to get the stained glass that is the best suited for the space but also to find someone that they feel that they can work with and best handle the project. Realize that this project will take time and money for both of us, so it is best not waste either.  Of course, being asked to serve on a selection committee is an honor. Surely I don’t want to make you feel pressured or anything like that, but you will dealing with, sometimes, a large amount of money (often that of someone else) and you will be selecting art work that will last for decades (and decades). I mean, your grandchildren will be influenced by what we ultimately will achieve, together. But, amid all of this responsibility and seriousness, we feel that part of our job is to help make the project, well, fun (?) Some of our significant project have lasted for years so it is best if we all enjoy the proecess.

Obviously, by the time you are reading this, you have found J. PIERCEY SUDIOS. So, you can stop your search right now! But, if you feel it necessary, then do some additional due diligence and research to find if other artists also meet your needs. You should be able to get a good feel for this by looking over the various artist's website, and/or other media.

If this is a significant project, then you might consider speaking with studios that are Accredited Members of the Stained Glass Association of America. Surely, there are some good studios that are not members, but your best choice is to speak with studios that have actually been "vetted" by other member studios as to their artistic and technical skills, experience, education and reputation. In reality, all of we members are competitors, but at the same time, some of us are best friends!  

Make a short list of (please, no more than 3-4, otherwise the process becomes unwieldly) of studios whose work you feel may be appropriate for your project. Contact them to set up a studio presentation. Of course, it is always better to schedule the presentations on different dates but sometimes this is just too inconvenient. However, interviewing 2-4 studios, all on the same date, and especially if you try to do this after work, something that should be relaxing and fun, can become a real drag for everyone involved! But, it’s only a one day drag! - it often happens. If a studio has to travel a great distance and is allowed only an hour to present its work – well, that is not quite fair - for everyone involved. For the studio because they might have to skip over something important, and for the committee, because they might have missed something important. Making the proper studio selection decision is critical, so the interviewer generally needs to know a lot more about the interviewee than can be learned in a short meeting. JPS really prefers to have about 2 hours available – we may not need all that time but once questions and discussions begin, we might not even make it through the 5th slide before our first hour is up. For a very large project we did in Kentucky, the committee of about 14 members (!), decided to meet with their 4 short-listed studios, all in one day. (apparently some of them had jobs that would permit this!). I was scheduled last. They started at 1 pm, would interview a studio, then take a break (where they had snacks and of course wine, salami, brownies, etc.), then go on to the next studio (take another break) and then then next. So, since I was last, at around 7pm they came wearily dragging into the meeting room. BUT I WAS PREPARED. With great foresight (!) gained after having experienced this situation a number of times (for 20+ years at that point) I had a method to keep them from drifting off - I gave a killer presentation (but I also had a water gun, unloaded mind you- but they didn’t know it) handy for those I might find were drifting off! I also had a starters whistle, very loud, which I only had to use one time. Turns out, I got the project which turned out lasting about 15 years because we did multiple windows, and some of them were quite large. It was a very satisfying project, for all concerned I think.

At this meeting, most any studio is going to show you examples of their past work, especially for similar projects, and they should answer most all questions you may have. But remember, if the studio is allotted only 1 hr, too many questions can eat up any studio's presentation time. JPS uses PowerPoint. OK, PP presentations were very popular back when they were new, but now, unless the PP is very well done and interesting, they can become a bore. Ours are not boring! The only other workable alternative would be to bring my heavy, noisy, slide projector that shows underexposed and out-of-focus slides. (sidebar) A year or so previously I had a presentation in Texas. Since I was flying out there I asked if the church had a slide projector. They said they did so all I had to pack for the meeting was my carousel full of slides. When I got there, the slide projector they had was about the size of a small window unit air conditioner - and it was planted drab olive green (Army surplus?). My carousel did fit however, but the images were very, very blurry. Thinking one of the iternal lenses might be dirty, I took the thing apart - there was NO internal lens! So, a committee listened to me tell stories, without photos, for the best part of an hour, then I left. So, I learned a lesson. And, to top this, the committee chair had told me over our first phone call that they had already decided, solely from our website, that they wanted our studio to do the work! Turns out, a friend/competitor/colleague got the job (a fellow SGAA member!). (next sidebar) – the first PowerPoint presentation I ever did was for the Kentucky project. For it, we had to buy a new LAPTOP as well as a projector. I practiced setting it all up and going through my presentation, etc. at the here at the studio prior to the trip. But when I got to the meeting, I could get the presentation to show on my laptop but could not get it to project onto the screen. I panicked! I was afraid that the 14 committee members were going to have to stand around behind me (I had visions of Lubbock Texas flashing from the year before). Keep in mind, this was the committee that had already had 3 other presentations that day! Very luckily, the church IT man was present. But he couldn't figure out the problem either. Then I remembered that I had bought PowerPoint for Dummies and actually had it with me. And I promise this is true, the IT man and I opened the book, and right there, on the page we opened it to, was a section entitled something like "What to do when PowerPoint shows on your computer but not from the projector". It said to hit the "Fn" button and "F11" at same time, on the laptop. I had never heard of Fn! - surely nothing like that was not on on my desktop? We looked. Where is the Fn button? Remember, this was also the first time I ever used a laptop/projector/PowerPoint in front of anyone other than our office manager (you know how you get when you are under a little pressure the persperation, the shakes, etc?).  But we found it. We did what the book said and, Amazing! OK, that was just a, well a couple, of short diversions.

When you view our presentation (or ayone else’s), ASK QUESTIONS. That is what the presenter, usually me, is there for. Take notes of the things that interest you - the title of the piece, where it is located, image description, etc.because you may want to refer back to the image later on, and these notes might prevent having to go through the entire presentation again! Maybe you do not like a particular window in its entirety but you do like some of the forms in it - the color palette, figures and other details, the movement, the symbolism, etc. Discussion of these items will give the designer a much better idea of which direction to take. If we (us, JPS) has access to a set of architectural drawings prior to the meeting, we might be prepared to give you a “ballpark” estimate for the price of your project. But be flexible here and understand that since this is your first meeting the studio has yet to learn what you are looking for.

Soon after (maybe the same day) the last studio has finished, the “jury deliberates”. Maybe they don’t actually vote at this point (maybe they are not even going to vote) – but often the commitee hangs out for a while to discuss and review what they have seen and learned while all the presentations are still fresh in their minds - or maybe they prefer to wait to vote until the next week or so. After evaluating the presentations, the estimates, etc., at some point the committee (or owner) will make a decision on the studio they prefer. Then, someone has to write the letter, email or make a call to the other studios!

Committees work differently but it is usually not fair of the committee to ask any of the sort-listed studios to bring any sort of conceptual designs for your project to their first interview. Firstly, would you work for free? Secondly, you are probably not going to get a studio’s best ideas (its hard to be creative when you know there is only a 1/3 or 1/4 chance of getting the commission.) Thirdly, the studio would not even know where to begin without seeing the space and meeting with the people that are going to use the space. Fourthly (and more) you know what something is really worth when it is free? and, Fifthly (?), our studio as well as some of my competitor/associate/friends have experience this same situation before - we have given a committee a conceptual sketch, then, the committee rejects the studio but gives the design done by them, maybe even to a studio that was not even originally short-isted , and said, “can/will you make this window for us?”

Now, that having being said, a studio, on its own, may decide to make a conceptual sketch if the plans, etc are made available. But do not let that become an advantage for the studio in the selection proecess. Maybe that studio was slow, had little work, maybe grasping for straws. Then again, maybe your project was so interesting and exciting that they could not wait to start designing! Yes, this happens, often with us!

Realistically, you might be able to make an informed decision just by veiwing a studio’s past work. We (JPS) never do the same window design in different locations but some studios do - they even have a catalog! They develop a semi-generic design onto which they can place different borders, backgrounds, use different color palettes, etc. but it still the same window you might find then next town over.

Soon after the studio is selected, an initial meeting should be scheduled. At this meeting, typically the discussion evolves around how to proceed by answering/asking more questions that have not yet been addressed. By now, after deliberation and especially after the presentations, the owner may have a better idea of goals they want their project to achieve. In other cases, the owner may still be at a loss, content and consept wise. This is where an experienced studio can be of help in being able to suggest general thematic and design possibilities. The goal of this initial meeting is to get the studio and designer on the right track (or sometimes, it is vice versa!). Around this time, the studio will probably send an invoice for an initial payment, usually a percentage (5 – 10% of larger projects, maybe 50% on smaller projects) to begin the design process. For most studios, this design fee is credited towards the final price. The result of this first stage, at least with us, will be a conceptual design. This is the starting point from which further design development will occur. Sometimes, the initial design from the studio is perfect. Other times is is only the beginning step in a design development process. Productive feedback is critical here or otherwise the design phase could last years. After the feedback, the designer might still have to make a few "tweaks" to the design but most of the “heavy lifting” is done, so hopefully the next meeting will be the night the design is approved. Once the design is approved, normally it is time for another invoice. Invoicing is a progressive thing.

After approval of the final design, the studio might still make minor changes for technical or artistic reasons, However, major changes will usually be accompanied by an additional fee. (sidebar) We had a large window, the design had been approved, then (and it was my brilliant idea) to add 4,434 names of all of the members on the church census at the turn of the millennium (we only get that chance once every 1,000 years, right?). They agreed with me that it was a “brilliant” idea, so I did it. You can see this window in one of the galleries of this website. The addition of the names looks great but since it was my idea, I did not charge for it. But I should have! What a bit of extra work that was! But it made the window even more special, both artistically and sentimentally, and, I learned another lesson! 

After the final design has been approved, there is really no more work for the committee except to make sure all invoices are paid!

Normally, design development on many projects could take a month or two – larger, more complex problems will probably take longer and of course, this depends on our current work load at that time. For some projects and with some committees, color is often the driving element in a design. On other occasions, we prefer to work in black and white, until the design is fairly well developed. As my mentor once told me (with his German accent) “Jim, you make a really good design, you can do almost anything with color” (He did not add “within reason”, I think that was assumed!). But somewhere along the way, we will present a color board of the types of glass we recommend for the project.

Once a final decision is agreed upon (we usually will ask the chaiman to sign the final approved design), glass for the project will have to be ordered. The glass we normally use for stained glass windows is mouth-blown antique glass (in our case, it is made with the antique “method”, it is not just "old" glass) from Germany. Many colors are available from their sole distributor in New Jersey. But some colors have to be especially made, and of course, that takes some time – not so much to manufacture the glass, but to get it here. You have heard of a "slow boat to China", well sometimes it seems that they use a slow boat to the US. As mentioned previously, we do not supply frames although we will work with the architect, if any, to design them. We prefer to do this,surely for structural reasons but also for selfish ones -we want a frame design that we can work with artistically. If required, In the case of a retrofit, we will provide an internal sash system as part of our proposal to hold our stained glass. So, if sash has to be ordered, we are looking at about 3 months for its fabrication.

Our studio welcomes visitors anytime they happen to be in our area, especially dring the studio selection phase! But if you plan to visit, it is good to call ahead. Sometimes it is even more exciting to visit us after your project has started because, for many people, the fabrication process is quite interesting. And we almost always have a refrigerator full of Diet Pepsi! Sometimes we have even allowed visitors to cut a stone or piece of glass for their project (don’t fret, we have plenty of adhesive plasters (we normally use Band-Aids but I do not want to give them free publicity!).

WHAT A COMMITTEE HAS TO DO WHEN THEIR WORK IS DONE!

Once the final design has been approved, the stained glass selection committee's real work is done. We normally send progress photos of the fabrication of the design to keep the owners up-to-date. If this project is for a new building, or one being remodeled, then normally the studio coordinates with the contractor on scheduling, safety, and, really a lot of other things, to ensure that the project installation goes smoothly. Especially important is our coordination with use of scaffolding or lifts. In a perfect world, committees would interview the Construction Project Manager and Job Site Superintendent also. These are the key people that make sure everything happens when it is supposed to and that the work performed meets expectations.

Although the stained glass portion of the project may be competed ahead of schedule, we still do not want to begin installing until the entire project is almost complete. Surely, all interior overhead construction, drywall, painting, etc. should be done (this is often called “punch-list” time). Can you imagine sitting through a dedication when all you can see is a massive drop of drywall compound that dripped onto the interior of one of your windows after it was installed too early and was cleaned off? It looks like a pelican had been chased through the church!

Of course we would like to have the whole space to ourselves when we install - that’s one reason that retrofits are less hassel - usually, we are the only ones there. On new construction, the last few days are pretty hectic - the tile or carpet guys are finishing and, if it is a church project, maybe the pew guys have funiture scattered all over the floor, or the organ installer is testing a pipe over, and over, and over, just to make sure the the C# is not flat!. Once, when installaing a large mosaic in a hospital, we did have the chapel to ourselves, BUT, they were testing the hospital-wide fire annunciator system - for 3 days! -with loud, painful beeps all day long, oh, the pain and agony we endurred!

Other times committee members have brought cookies during mid-day. Even at a church in Minnesota, a lady brought us lunch every day. Please don’t think I am hinting, but I’m just sayin’ .. .!

ONE LAST NOTE

     We are always asked the question about how to clean windows. Don't. If necessary, hire your stained glass studio to do this. About the only thing the owner should ever attempt, is very gently, dusting the glass surfaces, including the flat area of any rebars with a feather duster. Seriously. Only someone trained in handling glass should attempt anything more involved. Sometimes, if candles are placed near the bottom of a window, over the years some soot might build up. Don't grab a bottle of Windex and a sponge and go wiping on it. Let a professional do that.

     Stained glass windows, if fabricated correctly, are almost an archival artistic medium, but they do require periodic maintenance. Most windows, even in the same building, can be subjected to different environmental factors - very few of these are good for the window. The glass itself usually holds up to age, but the lead will need attention in 50-100 years. Improperly installed exterior protective glazing (EPG) such as Plexiglas (acrylic); Lexan (polycarbonate); plate, tempered, laminated, hurricane; and insulated glass (IGU) with or without Low-E surfaces are all used but glass is the best. It will not yellow and scratch as much as the plastics - it will look good for decades. Sunlight/heat exposure; framing and exterior glazing problems; HVAC; and even vibrations from a pipe organ, over the years, can cause the windows to exhibit premature aging. It is a good idea to have a professional studio inspect the windows every ten years or so and make any remediation that is necessary - the idea here is, if there are any problems catch them early, or . . . .