​A couple of weeks ago we re-installed this lovely panel after some restoration.
This window comes from Bury Grammar School, a local private school which dates back as far as 1570, and educated the likes of renowned comedian, Victoria Wood, the father of modern policing, Robert Peel and of course our very own Emily Seddon who has recently joined our team.

The stained glass was removed from Roger Kay Hall which was one of the later additions to the school, opened in 1907 so we can assume that the window is as old as that! During our research we uncovered an old photo of the Roger Kay Hall which we believe was taken approximately in the early 20th century, which depicts the stained glass we have repaired.

The century old panel was in a state of disrepair, as you can see from the photos, with some broken or missing pieces and disintegrating leads. Once it arrived in our workshop it was disassembled and each piece of glass was cleaned. To replace the broken pieces, we had to perform a bit of glass wizardry. We had some green glass that was a great colour match but it was too flat and had no texture, so we cut the correct size pieces and placed them into our glass kiln at a temperature where it would just begin to melt. This created a more organic, rippled texture to the glass as it formed to the texture of the kiln shelf.

After that, it was just a case of reassembling the window with new lead came and a good old cement and polish! The window was reinstalled and looks as good as new, ready to withstand another hundred years!

These lovely panels were existing in our customers home but required a good bit of TLC. After removal, they were brought to our studio where they were given a bit of a makeover. This began with a very good scrub, since decades old stained glass can accumulate a fair few cobwebs. Then they were treated to some new border leads as the old ones had perished over time, and often get damaged during removal.

A few of the windows also required some repairs, and this is done by removing the broken glass, gently bending the leads back and cutting to size a new piece of glass to match the old. This is then eased back into the window, and the leads are then bent and smoothed back into place, securing the new glass.

The real star of the show here is the door panel, which was made new to match the existing set. Our talented designer, Bethany, was able to draw up a design extracting elements from the original windows as well as selecting matching glass, to create something, which we think, blends in perfectly with what was already there.
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We love to see our customers choosing to, not only keep their stained glass, but investing their time and money into preserving it to last many years to come.