Turn of the century art glass in its original condition today is most likely to be due for restoration of some type. One of the main reasons is that yesteryears art glass creations were almost always exposed to the elements, causing the constant contraction and expansion of the lead came. Over time the tell tale signs are quite evident.

• White hairline cracks, mainly at the intersections of the lead came.
• More evident, crumbling and deteriorating lead came
• Buckling or Bowing panels
• Cracked glass
  

Original Panel

The original sash came to us in pretty bad shape. Several of the glass pieces were broken. The window itself suffered from deflection a term used to describe the buckling effect. Deflection will occur when a window has no room to expand, thus causing the middle of the window to protrude outward. The direction that the window bows toward is evidence of how the damage occurred. Several factors are evident in determining the history of the damage.

Plexi-Glass Covering

Many Churches and other institutions felt the need to protect their historic and valuable art glass windows. Some time in the 1960's and early Seventies, possibly before, Plexi-glass became a popular solution. The selling features made sense at the time and thus promoted a widespread Plexiglas fad.

• Existing Window Protection
• Increased R-Value
• 100% Light Transmission
• Inexpensive Outer Window Treatment
  

• The drawbacks from Plexi-glass can cause severe and irreversible damage to an art glass window. Thus causing the need for restorations and overhaul.
• The Plexi-Glass as it ages will yellow, casting an unwanted effect through the windows. Beautiful windows are cloudy and a buildings appearance is diminished from the clouded gray/yellow coverings.
• Excessive heat build up can occur if there is dead space between the original panel and the Plexi-Glass.
• Windows are seldom if at all cleaned on the Plexi-Glass side
  

Fitting - Piece By Piece

At times a tedious process. Restoring a window to its original condition is really doing double work. First the panel is un-zipped and second; the panel is fit back together with new and existing materials. Solder - Came - Zinc U Cap, and Glass as needed. Shown below we see the beginning of the process.

Learning Curve

As the panel is reassembled a continuity is developed and a learning curve is achieved for this type of window. The wine rack design may not seem terribly difficult on first glance because of the multiple common shapes. The challenge in this work lies in the many straight lines to be made. More abstract work with harder cuts to be made may seem harder at first glance, but I believe their may be a higher level of precision craftsmanship involved in the overhaul of the window shown.

Ready For Soldering

After the glass is fitted together, squared off and plumb, it is now time for joining the lead with solder. We like to use Canfield 50/50 solder as it is the cleanest and most reliable solder on the market. Just prior to soldering use a brass brush to scratch the surface of the lead, which cleans and removes any oxidation buildup. The Oak Tree Studio uses a water-soluble based soldering flux