Over the course of the many years since the church was built, 102 individual pieces of the stained glass (not including the cry room) have been cracked or broken. Additionally, the window frames in the cry room and two windows in the church were bent and needed to be rebuilt.
The cry room was the first to be repaired in 2003, strengthened and put back in place. The additional strength comes from stiffeners that are not noticeable. These stiffeners are additional pieces of lead that conform to the curves of the existing lead frames.
Many pieces of glass were also replaced not only in the cry room but in the church. This is a very time consuming process. Around each piece of glass is a strip of lead. This has to be cut and peeled back. The broken glass is then removed. A template is made for the new glass. The same color and texture of glass is selected. The template is placed on the glass, the glass is marked and then cut. Once returned to the empty slot, the new glass is fitted and then the lead rolled back in place and sweated to close the cut. And there you have it.
We thank the craftsperson working on our project, Sally Smith.
The large stained glass pieces over the altar and the entrance to the church will be addressed with a later project. The following are some pictures of the repair effort. Of course most of the work was done int he shop of Sally Smith the craftsperson responsible for restoring our glass.
Some of the damaged areas. |
Making a template for a replacement. |
The lead is peeled back to allow the broken glass to be replaced. |
![]() Sally Smith cutting a template. |
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![]() Look ma, my hand. |
![]() The stained glass is true artwork. |
![]() The cry room glass from the outside. |