A Brief History of Stained Glass and How it is Made
The orgins of stained glass are unclear, however, the use of colored glass is thought to date back at least 5000 years. Stained glass as and art form is generally regarded as becoming popular around the 10th century AD when the large scale building churches began. The art remained in the churches for hundreds of years and only in recent history has the art glass moved out of the houses of god and into the houses of man. Modern stained glass owes a lot to John LaFarge and Louis Comfort Tiffany . They were two American painters who began experimenting with glass around the end of the 19th century. Both of them tried to to develop glass that possessed a wide range of visual effects without painting. The early 1900's brought a flush of interest and stained glass soon became a thing that many households used a decoration. WWI brought a decline in interest and Tiffany Studios was bankrupted in 1933. Stained Glass again retreated to the churches.
Many of the techniques used by today's stained glass artisans owe their development to Tiffany Studios which created the lead foil style of stained glass that is so well know through Tiffany Lamps. Techniques such as plating, or layering glass layers achieves depth and texture, and the process of using thin strips of copper adhered directly to the glass in place of lead came allows for intricate sections within windows. It wasn't until the post WWII era that stained glass saw its resurgence in the abstract and expressionist movements in art which saw artists incorporating many types of medium into their works. Toady's stained glass can be seen in a wide range of places from booths at the local flea market, imports from China and fine custom works done by skilled artists.
There should be some clarification on the subject of stained glass versus lead glass. Stained glass is actually the flat pieces of colored glass and leaded glass is the windows made of cut pieces of stained glass held together by lead, however, the term stained glass is used interchangeably in today's marketplace. The history of production of stained glass, barring the use of machinery, has remained relatively unchanged since the middle ages. Molten glass is mixed with various minerals to produce different colored glasses. Glass used in leaded glass windows is made from a lump of the molten glass that is caught up at one end of a blow pipe, blown into a cylinder, cut, flattened and cooled. This basic process is varied to produce all sorts of patterns, effects and color variations. This is then cooled or annealed at a very slow rate to prevent cracking. Leaded glass windows are then made from these sheets of glass first by making a pattern and cutting out the shapes needed for the pattern with a glass cutter. Glass cannot be cut like paper or wood, a glass cutter is a tool with a small wheel rimmed with diamond flakes attached to the end that simply scores the glass. The artist makes several different passes on the piece that needs cutting and scores the glass and then gently breaks away the unwanted glass. It is a difficult process that takes some time to perfect. The pieces are then fitted together with lead came or copper and soldered with molten lead. The resulting image is what we know of today as stained glass.