Here’s a shot of the fitting … [click to continue…]
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Hereford Window
You spend weeks and months on the design – moving from tiny black-and-white sketches to 1:10 half-toned approximations; and then onwards to a full-sized water-colour painting, plus a full-sized black-and-white tonal drawing (to give a clear instruction to us painters about where the light must pass through really clearly) …
And then you finally come to cut the glass, and paint it, and silver-stain it, and also plate it (in order to create the perfect colour as you see it in your mind), then you paint and silver-stain the plating.
At last the piece is encased in lead, with neatly mitred joints to show each graphic angle. Cemented and polished. Fitted in its various frames with steel armatures.
So, tonight, it lies “finished” and strapped against our A-frames, in readiness for tomorrow’s installation, but – exactly because it is an architectural piece – until tomorrow, when we fit it, who knows what this window really is?
That is our responsibility as designers and painters of stained glass. Responsibility to the donor and his memories and his loss. Responsibility to the building itself. And responsibility to the people who will enter the building, each with their own particular memories and their own particular loss.
These unimaginable things matter – nothing else.
"Why has it taken so long to finish me?"
Careful readers will see that “The Hereford Saga” has been silent for some months.
Yes, our work on completing the full-sized design was mysteriously stopped by some factor (or factors) beyond and outside of our control!
But readers will be glad to know that we have recently been able to re-start our work.
And right now, the full-sized water-coloured design is nearly complete.
That means we will soon be able to make the cut-lines and then start cutting and painting the glass itself.
At last!
So to celebrate – here, therefore, is the first-ever Williams & Byrne Competition …
First-time visitors, click here to start at the beginning of this bizarre tale of stained glass design …
It was P.R. Exec. #1 who broke the silence: “Where did you say that this new stained glass window was going?”
Are you new here? Well, for the story so far, you must click here!
…
Our Public Relations team looked shocked. Anyone would have thought that we’d dismissed them and moved to a different Agency.
"It's the end of the world!"
Or (much the same thing) that a particularly terrifying prophecy in the Book of Revelation had come to pass.
What on earth had we done?
I checked that my hands were in full view on the boardroom table, still holding the architect’s crumpled drawing.
What on earth had we said to cause such fright?
