Rensselaer Union, Volume 12, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 September 1879 — The Art of Glass-Staining. [ARTICLE]

The Art of Glass-Staining.

Nearly contemporary with the revival of Gothic architecture applied both to ecclesiastical and secular buildings, the taste for the enrichment of such edifices by the introduction of colored and painted glass has revived and flourished. The secret of communicating to glass the exquisite and glowing colors so richly and harmoniously blended in the few uninjured specimens that remained in the mediaeval churches of. Great Britain, if not absolutely lost, was long bailed in obscurity. Another most serious impediment was the difficnlty of producing a pigment which shoula possess sufficient affinity with the glass to be readily incorporated with it, and yet be capable of redaction to a consistency favorable to its use as an ordinary kind of painting material to be laid on and variously treated, according to the artistic necessities of the manipulator. Bat these and other minor obstacles gradually disappeared before the searching investigations of enthusiasts in an art that nad been so long neglected. Let us now follow the art of glassstaining through its chief stages. The design of tHe window being determined upon, and the cartoon or full-sized drawing being prepared, a kind of skeleton drawing is made, showing only the lines which indicate the shape of each separate piece of glass. It is apparently not generally understood that a window is not one piece of glass, to which are applied the various colors displayed, but a number of small pieces, which are united by grooved lead, which incloses each individual fragment,. and that each different color we see is the color of that particular piece of. glass, the only painting material employed being the dark-brown pigment used to define the more delicate and minute details. The skeleton or working drawing then passes to the cutting-room, where sheets of glass of every imaginable shade are arranged in racks, each bearing a number, by which a particular tint is known. The drawing being numbered on each separate piece of glass by means of a. frame containing all pieces of every shade, and each numbered according to the rack containing the glass of that color, the use of this frame renders unnecessary the tedious process of visiting each rack in search of the particular shade required; the glass is laid bit by bit on the drawing, and each piece is then cut to the required shape by means of a diamond.

After the glass is cut, it passes to the painter, who, laying it over the drawing, traces upon it with a brush all the details of features, folds of drapery, foliage, etc., as designed by the artist. But as the action of the weather and continually-varying conditions of the atmosphere would speedily remove every vestige of paint if left in this state, it*, is necessary to subject the painted glass to the action of heat by placing it for several hours in a kiln, under the influence of which the paint is fused into absolute affinity with the glass, and becomes absolutely incorporated with its substance. After this burning process, it only remains for the different pieces to be united with the grooved leaden framework which binds the whole together. The places where the leads join are then carefully soldered together, and nothing remains but to thoroughly work over the whole surface with a thick kindof cement, which fills up any interstices between the glass and lead, and renders the whole panel perfectly water-tight and water-proof. Chambers' Journal.

“Why do we say in the Lords Prayer, ‘ who art in heaven, since God is everywhere?” asked a clergyhaan of some children. For a while no one answered; at last, seeing a little drum-mer-boy who looked as if he could give an answer, the clergyman said: “Well, little soldier, what say you?” “Because it’s headquarters,” replied the drummer.