This excellent window is a lovely example of how glass can uniquely capture nature’s movement and beauty. The dogwood blossoms and leaves against the interweaving sculpted solder branches bring this piece to life. The flameworked flowers and leaves free us from traditional lead lines, allowing us to explore the playfulness and spontaneity of a natural tree.
If you’d like to see more about the creation of this window, please visit our Facebook page. |
This beautiful window was commissioned for a kitchen in a waterfront home on Lake Monticello. To not obstruct the view outdoors and compliment the colors and beauty of the trees outside, we created a window that used the outside world to enhance its brilliance. As the seasons change, the organic colors will blend with the foliage outside, making new textures and reflections that will be new and exciting every day.
You can see more detailed project photographs on our Facebook Page.
We were commissioned to create a window that brought the incredible palette of Autumn to life in a contemporary window. Using our sculpted solder and flame-worked leaves, we captured the movement of a tree losing its fall leaves.
You can see more detailed progress photos on our Facebook Page. |
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This project has so many details tucked away and little hidden gems. The windows were created for an old plantation house near Fork Union, Virginia, in the country outside of Richmond, Virginia. The design was created specifically to match the antique feel and look of much of the farm, and the glass was chosen to match. The owners are equestrians and passionate about old pony carts and carriages. These windows were for the carriage house and rightly showcased the horse and carriage. The lead on these windows is sculpted to be three-dimensional, with sculpted solder horses and fleur de lis as well. The medallions are simple but detailed, one immortalizing a special pony and the other a carriage.
This unique window was for a home that wanted something exceptional. Using our sculpted soldering technique, we build the tree to be three-dimensional, creating bark texture, weaving branches in and out, and doing our best to capture a bare winter tree. The spectacular glass allowed us to capture that sparkle that a late sunset can create and helped bring this project together.
You can explore this project more in-depth on our Facebook page. |
A Contemporary panel we created for Winchester Medical Center’s Cardiac Wing. This panel combined our flameworking, sculpturing, and beveling techniques to create a simple yet elegant piece that compliments the aesthetics of the hospital unit. The apple blossoms on branches played to a local tradition and set on the hand-blown reamy glass sparkled when the light hit the translucent petals.
See more of this project on our Facebook Page. |
This unique window was created for a home outside of Fork Union, and our goal was to accentuate the organic beauty found only in nature. We love how playful Wisteria can be and used the trees around our studio that has it as inspiration. Each leaf and petal was individually worked over an open flame to twist and mold it to the perfect shape. The composition brings out the three-dimensional nature of the glass, while the wispy background glass brings to mind a breeze. We were sad to see this one leave our studio.
To see more detailed progress photos of this project, please visit our Facebook Page. |
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One of three windows for a living room. We started making the transoms to help control the sunlight in the room. Several years later, we added the bottom area using wavy restoration glass with a beveled glass center. Then the idea evolved to build little glass shelves into the window to hold some of the owners’ blown glass collection.
A partition separated the power room from the bathroom, where our client wanted the look of a Tiffany wisteria window. The iron gate is part of the window design that evolved as we worked together. This project received both sunlight and artificial light, creating a moody effect throughout the day and evening. |
Sculpting solder with a 250 watt soldering iron. It is amazing how solder will
follow the heat and what one can achieve with patience and practice.
Sculpting with metal in our windows gives us the ability to create life-like forms like tree and vine motifs,
sometimes adding thorns and branches that protrude beyond the surface of the glass.
Here we use an electric hand-held melting pot to pour the base metal.
One of our most spectacular projects is a pair of Rose Windows custom designed and created for the new St. Thomas Aquinas Priory in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Dominican Friars that live at the Priory will pray in the chapel where these windows live five times a day. Each symbol is placed to instruct the faithful and inspire prayer, which hearkens back to the purpose of stained glass in ancient times. Each individual painted piece was fired multiple times and painted using antique processes and techniques. The Dominicans are an old order, and new-style windows woulnd’t suit their new home.
To see more of this post, please visit our Facebook Page.
This window combines many of our studio’s most exemplary skills into a single piece. Each colored bevel couples hand-blown german glass with bevels hand-ground on our antique Henry Lang machinery. The sculpted branches, brilliant red leaves, and accent bevels give the tree an illusion of movement. The background glass is one of a kind and selected for its wispy blue and gold veins. Sliver bevels are adhered to the glass and reflect the light playfully.
To see more of this window, please visit our Facebook Page.
Flameworking is a process we have explored in our studio, focusing on trying to capture the translucency of nature, that “sun coming through the tree limbs” effect. This dogwood tree is composed of sculpted solder, hand-made dogwood blossoms and leaves, and hand-blown german glass to bring it all alive.
This is a relatively simple window in design with two significantly essential components. The crown of thorns is three-dimensional using our solder sculpting method, and the lettering on the bible is beautifully rendered as it follows the curve of the page. The green background was chosen to coordinate with the lighting fixtures and the gold to match the tassels on the American Flag. |
A large window we created to go over a jacuzzi. With the pileated woodpecker as our focal point, we designed an overgrown and untamed tree, giving us a three-dimensional effect. This creates interest in the large area around the woodpecker, with the iridized glass picking up on the colors in the stone surrounding it. |
The iridized glass in this window blended beautifully with the surrounding colors. The delicate beveling in the tops of the trees comes alive with the lights behind them. |
A pair of sidelights created for a couple who owns a vineyard. Here we wanted to create the effect of ice on early morning grape vines in the “dead” of winter. Hand beveling glass on our old machinery gave us the freedom to create steep, varying bevels and sculpting the vines gave them a life-like appearance. A great deal of effort went into the design to achieve the three dimensional effect with the end of the growing season branches. |
Created for a couple who own an orchard, the only requirement they gave me was that it had to have an apple in it. I created an apple about the size of a 50 cent piece by flame working glass and attaching it to this window with the wintry branch. We call it “The Last Apple” |
By cutting strips of glass from our stock, we are able to work the glass over a flame. This gives us the freedom to manipulate the hot glass into shapes and stretch it to vary and enhance its translucency. |
After hand beveling each piece of glass, we created an “antique” mirror effect by contaminating silver nitrate and silvering the back side of the glass. Then we assembled with our sculpturing technique and applied a patina for a natural look. With sconces on each side, the light reflects on the bevels as one moves down the hallway. |
A colorful, playful stained, beveled, and sculptured window for a traditional entryway. One of a pair, these windows give an eclectic look to the foyer. |
One in a series of windows we created to simulate the vineyard’s last few days of fall. Beveling stained glass, fusing other portions, and sculpturing the solder for depth, we could bring out the piece’s true character. |