Work is slowly starting to pick up, as the days lengthen and the prospect of outside repairs is less daunting. We have been fairly steady in the studio over the winter, working on a number of smaller repairs and restoration projects.
Read MoreWork has is now almost complete on the stained glass renovations at 64 Queens Road. Morning Glass Designs, working closely with the the client and architect (Graham Mitchell Architects), removed, stripped, rebuilt and reinstalled 30 original stained glass panels as part of the wholescae renovation of the building.
Read MoreMorning Glass Designs have been announced as the Specialist Stained Glass Contractors for the refurbishment of this office conversion in the West End of Aberdeen. Work on this C-Listed building (built in 1901) involves the removal and restoration of 30 stained glass windows.
Read MoreMorning Glass Designs has been chosen as the specialist Stained Glass contractor for restoration work at Elim Pentecostal Church, Aberdeen. Work on restoring 5 lancet windows, including almost 150q ft of new glazing and restoration of tracery in timber frames, will commence in April.
Read MoreThe in-situ repairs we carried out on this large Victorian geometric panels were tricky because of access, and the corroded state of the lead. Located on the third floor landing of the old Strathbogie Hotel in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, access was only possible from the inside. The upper 2/3 of the panel were in good condition, but the lower part of the timber frame had rotted and, as a consequence, there had been a bit more movement in the lower panel.
Read MoreThe wing of the house in which the door is located was destroyed by fire in the 1930's, and subsequently rebuilt. I suspect this window is a remake of an original, because the leading varies slightly from another, clearly older panel with a similar design. When it was remade, 3/16" lead was used and, as a result, the panel had simply stretched over the years.
Read MoreThese two front door lights were badly damaged prior to removal and releading. The trickiest part of the process was finding a match for the heavily textured clear glazing - it's amazing how many variants of Flemish glass there are...
Read MoreThese relatively simple-looking panels caused me all sorts of grief in the studio. First of all, despite their handmade glass and small flemish quarries typical of neighbouring properties, they had steel-cored lead all through them. The main difficulty, however, was that the handmade coloured glass ovals were extremely variable in thickness, being almost 10mm thick in some sections. In the end, I had to split wide heart lead around the widest sections, ensuring the original chipped borders were covered to hide any distracting conchoidal fractured edges.
Read MoreAfter a good summer break, I was straight back up the scaffold to carry out an exterior survey of the East Window at Haddo House. The windows in this fantastic National Trust property (which was designed by William Adam and dates from 1732) were restored in 1991, but recent water ingress meant they need to be resurveyed to identify potential leaks.
Read MoreAlmost all the original tie wires had failed on this stairway panel and, as a result, the window had buckled in the frame and cracked several sections of glass at the base (including two painted squares). Removal (and reinstallation was made slightly awkward by the size of the lowermost panel (approximately 4ft x 5ft).
Read MoreThis large door panel was damaged during some decorating work. It had some beautiful handmade coloured glass pieces and large, clear sections, some of which were damaged. We managed to source good matches for the clear glasses, but had to plate some pale amber onto a textured clear to obtain a match for one particularly unusual glass.
Read MoreA damaged vestibule window, with cracked painted sections. Glass repainted and both panels cleaned and re-leaded.
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