Skills and techniques at Williams & Byrne - designers, painters and restorers of glass
The widest range of techniques for making beautiful stained glass
Sometimes we’re asked what it is we do precisely ... There is occasionally a confusion about the phrase, “stained glass”: is the colour there to begin with, for example, or do we put it there? And what exactly do we do with glass?
Here’s an account of the key techniques we use to make you something beautiful in glass.
(For step-by-step and photo-packed instructions, download our book: Glass Painting Techniques & Secrets from an English Stained Glass Studio by David Williams and Stephen Byrne.)
Invention and design
 At the very start, we invent and we design. To do this, we use our hands to draw and paint on paper with pencils and brushes. Using our hands (not a computer) is as important as the the difference between (on the one hand) a garment that’s tailor-made and (on the other) something off-the-peg: both kinds of garment have their uses, but only one of them is made specifically for you.
Hand-made glass
 We always work with hand-made glass. It’s more expensive than machine-made glass, but its quality is far superior. Like nylon and Egyptian cotton, each material has a purpose. Man-made glass is excellent for industrial uses, but, to achieve beauty and individual character, we use hand-made glass.
Specifically to address the question at the top, the glass we use is coloured to begin with: vermillion, cobalt blue, royal purple, olive green and so forth. Each sheet is different. The colour and the texture even vary across each sheet. Hand-made glass is astonishing.
So, from the design, we cut the hand-made coloured glass to size.
Glass paints and media
 Then we paint the glass with various kinds of kiln-fired glass paints and an enormous range of different media. Many studios just mix their paint with water in the traditional way. But we prefer to use whatever media — for example, different essential oils each have different properties and thus produce different effects — is best for the design in hand. So the glass may be painted and fired several times on the back and front. This process fixes the paint and makes it permanent.
Exquisite painting technique
Aside from the wide and unusual range of media that we can call upon, we also paint exquisitely on glass for you. Here you can see the progression from a water-coloured design through the many separate stages to the finished kiln-fired heraldic cockatrice:
Full details and step-by-step photos are in our book: Glass Painting Techniques & Secrets from an English Stained Glass Studio by David Williams and Stephen Byrne.
Acid-etching and sand-blasting
We sometimes acid-etch and sand-blast the glass to adjust the shape, texture or colour of the glass.
Hand-milled lead
 We use hand-milled lead to assemble the glass into a moreorless rigid framework. We prefer hand-milled lead because we can specify not just its exact width (which is important in restoration and conservation work , for example), but also its composition (machine-milled lead has various ingredients make the lead not only less malleable but also less durable, would you credit it).
The extra steps we take to set our glass apart
 We often also carve the lead to make the more exotic shapes we need. We also give it gorgeous patinas, and sometimes cover it with gold or silver leaf. — We’ll go to whatever lengths are necessary to make you a truly extraordinary and exquisite object in glass.
 And we also pay attention to the less obvious details such as the manner in which your window is attached to supporting bars to give it strength. We’ll hand-make “ties” to suit the glass in question so that even its structure becomes part of the design.
Williams & Byrne
Designers, Painters & Restorers of Glass
Telephone +44 (0) 1584 856724
Williams & Byrne Limited, Church Farm Studios, Stanton Lacy, Near Ludlow, Shropshire, UK, SY8 2AE
E-mail studio@williamsandbyrne.com |
