it's no
surprise that stained glass is expensive. material costs keep going up
and it is a very labor intensive craft. if you are considering a
stained/art glass project in your home or business, you need assurance
you are getting your money's worth.
i am continually astounded at
the poor quality art glass i find in many high end homes. inaccurate glass
cutting, awkward lead and foil assembly, and absolutely horrible
soldering, are often passed on to clients that do not have the knowledge
to spot such crapmanship.
i understand why people pay good money
for work that looks as if it were made by beginners. they just don't
know how it's supposed to look and just assume this is the way it is.
there is so much bad, cheap, and/or imported art glass out there, it
does seem like it's "normal".
i pride myself on perfection. i
want my work to be flawless and will put my quality up against anyone
else's, regardless of price. where other's work may look good from the
street or 15
feet away, i want mine to look good from 15 inches away.
a less quality piece will depreciate, hold no future value as a
heirloom, or is not worth near what was charged for it in the first
place. i always have sample panels ready to show you first hand, the
quality you can expect from me.
whether you buy from me or someone
else, you want to get your money's worth. read this page and see what to
look for. do not get stuck with run-of-the-mill junk. a quality product
is worth it in the long run and looks better from day one. it's your money.
it's your home.
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here are examples taken from a double door entry set in a high-end
home. i repaired the art glass panels in 2010. they were originally
built by a well known, but lesser quality minded 'doors and locks' company in the
oldsmar, florida
area. while many stained glass panels may have some of the following
faults, this particular set had them all and provides a glimpse at what
to look for.
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a 5/16" gap in the border
channel is unacceptable. each of the two panels
had several of these sizeable border gaps that
weaken the overall integrity of the panel.
border channel seams need to be fully connected
to assure maximum strength and durability. this
is the first and only time i have seen this type
of flaw and really don't understand why it was
done like this.
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poor lead assembly reveals several open gaps
in between the lead and glass in both panels.
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an assortment of bad
soldering and poor lead work. this is a typical
sample of the overall lack of soldering quality
in the whole installation.
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it is my opinion that the
bevels within the panel are worth more than the
panel itself.
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this is not a crooked
picture. the panel was actually built that way.
the 1"x2" bevel in the center is supposed to be
horizontal. both panels are out of square.
additionally, they were both poorly cleaned
prior to the original installation.
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faulty installation: a single shim was placed
in the center at the bottom of each panel in the
door window opening. the weight of the panel
eventually collapsed the border channel.
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undersized glass: the
tempered safety glass is a full 3/8" too short
and there is an open exposed gap to the outside
in both doors, as indicated by the arrow. the
art glass panels were 3/4" too short for the
opening and allowed for a 3/8" gap between the
panel and the finish molding at the top of the
door. i could touch the tempered glass over the
top edge of the art glass through this gap.
here are a couple shots of horrid soldering
from different panels.
you do not want to throw your money at crap like
this.
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here are detail images depicting what i feel
lead
work and solder joints should look like.
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consistent and uniform.
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smooth and even.
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smooth blending of lead
through the whole solder joint.
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the
soldering in a copper foil panel should be
consistent, even, and smooth, with little or no
ridges, pits, bubbles, holes, or other
deformities. the width of the solder bead should
be fairly consistent throughout
the whole panel.
the next time you see art glass somewhere, take a closer look.
see the difference.
touch the difference.
know the
difference. buy the difference. |
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a note about quality
in stained glass repairs:
while i strive to create
fine quality works from scratch, repairing other glass crafter's stained glass panels
can pose a dilemma. in an effort to achieve "invisible repairs that are
unnoticed upon completion", i must repair to the average quality of the
item i am repairing. if it is a lesser quality piece, i must repair with
lesser quality, in order to make the repair less visible. this is
always awkward, but has always played out with customer satisfaction.
please keep this in mind if you see one of these perhaps "lesser quality"
repairs.
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"Hi Mike, I am a fellow glass artist and was
browsing the internet and came across your work. I have to say that your
solder work is really, really nice, the best I’ve seen. I pride myself
with having good solder seam but yours is fantastic. Do you have a
secret or give any information that could help me to achieve such high
quality work. Sometimes it is incredibly hard to get the solder to
behave which is disappointing since I like to achieve perfection too. I
too will critic other glass artists work and am fairly disappointed with
the quality that is out there. Even when you browse books at the
library, the glass books with images on soldering have some of the most
awful work I've ever seen and these folks are educating people on how it
is done!" - Mari Dreves,
Safari Stained Glass Studio
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