Tag: Rose Window Stained Glass
2019 Happy New Year!
The skills of Stained Glass Window making developed, ironically, in the Dark Ages in Britain, followed by France, then onward. Have you wondered why? As architecture became sophisticated enough that there could be large openings in the walls without the roofs collapsing, the weather needed to be kept out. There were no big sheets of glass so small pieces of handmade glass were fitted together with lead strips called cames. It didn’t take long for early glaziers to figure out they could make pictures with the pieces just like mosaics. Early pictorial reference materials were mosaics and illuminated manuscripts, themselves heavily influenced by Byzantine Iconography. The second reason this particular craft evolved where it did is the LIGHT! Northern countries like our own spend half the year with the sun travelling low across the horizon. The sun’s oblique angles project the colours of stained glass across the interior architecture. The very movement of the LIGHT became symbolic for the SPIRIT animating the body.
WINNER!!
I delivered this Humpback Whale Stained Glass to the delighted winner of the draw held at the Craft NS Winter Show! Thank you to everyone who visited!
CLASSES!
Sign up now for the first series of Classes scheduled to start on February 4, 2019. Click here for details. As always you can make whatever you want. I will help you know if your stained glass pattern is appropriate to your skill level, or if a few adjustments will fix it.
What’s happening at Rose Window Stained Glass?
Church Work
There are a few Church commissions underway as the year kicks off. Philip Doucette and I removed and crated Bethany United Church’s stained glass so they can get the wooden tracery repaired. We will repair the stained glass as needed and reinstall in the Spring. I trekked up to New Brunswick to repair a buckling window in St. Thomas United Church, Black River. What a beautiful province! Philip and I are also removing stained glass from the Atlantic School of Theology as they prepare to renovate the old building. One of the windows may well be going into permanent storage as its depiction of early missionaries is inappropriate as seen with current understanding. The best part of that window is the pink and ruddy plant foliage!
Custom Work
I delivered some interesting stained glass last season, and there are some creative one-of-a-kind custom commissions ongoing!! I have the BEST clients!!
Happy Winter everyone! Enjoy the sunbeams and twinkle and notice already how the days are getting longer! Contact me anytime!
Glorious September!!
In many ways September is the beginning of the New Year. The crisp nights foretell Autumn, though the days are still hot after the dew burns off. Summer holidays end and classes begin, marking a return to predictable schedules. Classes will resume at Rose Window Stained Glass too, which led me to revisit my own first stained glass class in 1994. A mom with 3 young kids, my career in the graphics/printing industry had just been eliminated by computers. I knew I wanted to use my ability to draw. At a Quaker Meeting one Sunday morning I was entranced by the light cast on the floor through the 1860s clear glass. Its undulating dance struck me profoundly. I understood like an epiphany that glass is like people. We all have unique Light inside us that, when expressed, enriches everyone’s experience. Light moving through glass took on a metaphoric spiritual significance that has guided me for decades. I signed up for a beginner class at Sunrise Stained Glass in which everyone made a hummingbird the first night. I remember how challenging it was to cut out those 7 little pieces! I gave the hummingbird to my mother, who especially loved the cranberry stained glass throat – she had expensive taste, as anyone who has ever purchased that glass knows! It’s made with real gold, did you know? As an Artist and Designer, I design my own patterns. Here is one of the first.
You may wonder if it’s ok to copy stained glass from the internet, and the answer is typically no, unless you have permission. There are lots of free patterns available, and some for sale. At Rose Window Stained Glass, students are encouraged to work from public domain patterns, stained glass patterns available in studio, or design their own with guidance.
Click HERE for Class Info!
Click HERE to Contact, Inquire, or join the Mailing List!
What’s new in the Studio?
Lynette Richards participated in the Craft Nova Scotia (formerly NSDCC) Summer Show in Victoria Park and the Peggy’s Cove Studio Tour. Thank you to all the visitors who came and brightened my time!!
Rose Window Stained Glass has been busy caring for our heritage stained glass! Call for inspection and estimates.
Church Stained Glass Care, Repair and Restoration
Christ Knocking is a familiar image, originally a painting by William Holman Hunt, also called the Light of the World. This is the most reproduced new world image requested by churches. This version required full restoration of all panels, and reproduction of some painted pieces, to replace smashed glass and fragile lead came. The picture below is shown before puttying, which darkens the lead and makes the stained glass waterproof and air tight.
Philip Doucette and Lynette Richards have removed, repaired and reinstalled stained glass in several churches this season! Philip let me wear his vintage hardhat in this photo!
Custom Order Stained Glass
When this church was sold, the new owner commissioned me to create a commemorative stained glass window of it to hang inside the renovated church, now cottage, forever.
Private Class!
A local artist, Kathy Kaulbach, asked if she could hire me to instruct her to adapt her (already formidable) skills to glass to make a wedding gift! She spent a dozen hours in studio with me and created a wonderful painted fused glass gift. It recalls bonfires on Parrsboro Beach. She mounted the finished fused glass to a hardwood base. What a special gift!
Get on the MAILING LIST!
Spring Green and Peepers Singing!
The studio has been busy this season. Classes are finished but there will be 2 Summer Workshops announced soon.
Here is a peek at what has been happening inside Rose Window Stained Glass these last couple of months.
Lynette delivered and installed the Poppy Lily of the Valley window and it looks great!
A massive 8 foot diameter Victorian lamp made the journey from a Hamilton Ontario bar, where it had hung for 125 years, to a renovated church in Fox Point NS. It needed to be completely rebuilt before its next era. The client will send a photo once the panels are installed into the iron frame! Can’t wait!
This little copper foil lampshade got grabbed by the dog and dragged around a bit in Antigonish. It survived pretty well but needed some TLC! The dog is in the dog house!
Philip and Lynette returned the stained glass window to Kings College Chapel after repairing the buckling lower panel. The window was made in England at J Wippel Co, c1955.
Students made some great stained glass this Winter season! Classes resume in the Fall but there will be 2 One Day Workshops offered during the summer. Stay tuned for the dates. Make sure you are on the mailing list!
Three hundred bucks crashed to the cold hard floor. This window had been purchased from a crafter but common construction mistakes secured its early demise. It would cost as much or more to repair this than to remake it from scratch. Hopefully she’ll take a class and make it herself! This is a good beginner project!!
Spring is in the Air
We had a few snow days but now you can smell Spring on the breeze. The days are getting noticeably longer and this next series of classes includes the switch to Daylight Saving Time!
Classes begin soon! March 13 is less than 2 weeks away! Please sign up NOW to get a spot. 6 Mondays, 9:30-11:30 OR 7-9pm. $150
Monday MORNINGS Click Here
Monday EVENINGS Click Here
To get on the Mailing List Click Here
What’s new in the Studio?
This custom Poppy Lily of the Valley window is almost complete!
Also finished restoring this lovely turn of the century stained glass window!
As always, please call or come by!
Winter 2017
Winter is a wonderful time for stained glass. The twinkling snow is a perfect background, and the long angles of the winter sun make colours dance across rooms. You can really notice the length of daylight increasing by paying attention to where the light falls each day.
Rose Window Stained Glass has had its busiest January ever!
Classes
Full classes are well under way. If you’e like to take the next set of classes, they begin on March 13, 2017.
Sign up early to avoid disappointment!
Restoration
We have several restoration projects currently underway in local churches. Philip Doucette and Lynette Richards collaborate on restoration and repair of sacred stained glass. Together we have over 50 years experience. We are both Master Artisans with the NSDCC. Contact Lynette for a free estimate and appraisal of damage. Lynette and Philip are also able to provide you with the probable age and origin of your windows.
Also on the bench in Lynette’s studio is this great Victorian lamp! And I do mean GREAT! Once reassembled, it will span 8 feet! It comes from a strip club in Hamilton Ontario and is coated in nicotine!! Not all fun and games, eh! It will be hung in a renovated heritage building in Fox Point NS!
Custom Stained Glass
In early January, Lynette replaced a plain glass window with a custom made leaded beveled glass window in the interior vestibule door in Halifax’s south end.
Lynette has 2 private commissions on the go. One is a painted panel with poppies and lily of the valley. The design is approved, and enlaged to size and glass cutting will begin soon. The second is still a secret. Stay tuned!
As always, contact Lynette for inquiries or free estimates!
Looking Forward
As daylight lengthens Winter strengthens. The long angles of the sun in winter, combined with snow covered backgrounds, activate stained glass like no other season can. If you get the blues during the dark season, consider coming to my studio to play with light and colour. Honestly! It makes a real difference!
Give the Gift of Light
The Tiny Stained Glass Windows shown above, and much more are available for purchase at Made in the Maritimes and the Designer Craft Shop or directly from me!
Gift Certificates are available! Call me or write. I can get you printed Gift Certificates, or send them by email for you to print. I will send you an invoice which can be paid by etransfer or credit card.
CLASSES and WORKSHOPS 2017
New CLASSES and WORKSHOPS begin in mid January. Please let me know right away if you want to reserve your spot! Start dates will be announced soon and posted on the CLASSES PAGE of my website! Get on my mailing list for email notifications too!!
Looking Backwards
Fall and Winter 2016 Classes and Workshops were filled! Here are some examples of the great results by people in my studio! Everyone started as a beginner, but many have come over and over and built skills so they are now designing and building quality stained glass!! Original designs are automatically copyrighted by the designer and permission must be received to copy them.
November 18,19,20
Please visit me next weekend in booth 201 at the NSDCC Winter Show at the Cunard Centre! Introduce yourself!
November 27
Then come to our POP UP SHOW! at Anne Pryde’s home, 224 Club Road, Hatchet Lake, Sunday November 27th 1-4pm.
You can also find my work at these fine LOCAL SHOPS!
Made in the Maritimes
Sunnyside Mall, Bedford NS * 902-406-2222
5527 Young Street, Halifax NS * 902-406-3232
Designer Craft Shop
1099 Marginal Rd #116, Halifax *902-492-2525
http://www.craft-design.ns.ca/shop/designer-craft-shop
Rose Window Stained Glass
731 Terence Bay Rd * 902-402-3104
Crouchers Point Gallery * http://www.crouchersptgallery.com/
NovelTea Truro Bookstore Cafe * 622 Prince St, Truro * (902) 895-8329
Ross Farm * 4568 Highway 12, New Ross, NS * 902-689-2210
Check out this GREAT LOCAL online catalogue!
The LOCAL WISH LIST!
http://halifaxbloggers.ca/thelocaltraveler/localwishlist/
SUMMER WORKSHOPS 2016!
The studio was hoppin’ these past few days!
2016 Limited Edition
Two brand new limited editions of original Tiny Stained Glass Windows are now available. Choose framed 8″ Lobster Boats, or framed 6″ Terence Bay Lighthouse and 6″ Seagull Over Prospect Bay Islands. Purchase directly from Lynette Richards, or in shops and at Art Shows.
Click here to visit Lynette’s SHOP where you can view them all.
Contact to find out how to take home an authentic piece of Nova Scotia!
