light made solid

Sand blasted glass is popular in store front windows and door ways of restaurants. It is used to apply a logo or name of a business to the glass. This etching creates the look of a soft frosting, cutting into the surface, creating the illusion of dimension. Here is a great company to buy supplies for doing it yourself, Etchmaster. On the site there is a detailed description of how it works.

Etching is also used on flashed pieces of glass for stained glass windows. In flashed glass, two colors of glass are formed on top of each other. With etching, it is possible to remove one of the layers, exposing the second. This achieves two colors of glass in one piece without having to use colored paint.

Stained glass news from Williamsport, PA: Temple Beth-Ha Shalom is restoring its stained glass windows. According to the article in the Williamsport Sun-Gazette:

The windows sustained damage over more than 100 years from heat stress, BB pellets, thrown stones and even collisions with wayward birds

The windows are being repaired by local artisan Lindi Schneck. The Temple chose Schneck after an exhaustive search for an artist turned up the fact that most of the glass artists in the region were either retired or out of business. This is a problem that is happening all over the country, as the age of glass artists increases, without the amount of new artists rising to match the gap.

There are about a dozen windows, with six on each side of the building.

Stained glass news from Illinois: First Baptist Church in Minonk, Illinois is undertaking a restoration project on their hundred year old windows. They have hired Willet Hauser Architectural Glass of Minnesota to complete the project. One of the Church's most notable pieces is a window of the Grand Army of the Republic, which was paid for and donated to the church by a Civil War veteran's group. The windows are being replaced gradually as part of the Church's 10 year, $159,000 restoration project.

Stained glass new out of Brockton, Mass: Temple Beth Emunah of Brockton is the proud recipient of a donation of historic Jewish stained glass. The Temple is in the middle of a project to restore and maintain Brockton's Jewish legacy. They are gathering historic artifacts from all over North America as part of this effort. These windows apparently used to belong to Congregation Agudas Achim (formerly in the region, I'm assuming) and have been in the safe-keeping of one Mr. Fishman until this point. Beth Emunah is having the windows restored and they will be on display by the end of the summer.

The temple's website can be reached here.

Just completed part 4 in our chapel window series. This design features an exhilirating ocean scene. It features selected lines from Psalm 98:

With trumpets and echoing horn
acclaim the presence of the Lord our King.

Let the sea roar and all it's creatures,
the world and those who dwell in it.

Let the rivers clap their hands
Let the hills sing aloud together before the Lord.

Take a couple minutes to look at a new window design we've published in our sketches section. It's a lovely scene of a field, fence and flowers and features selected lines from Psalm 67:

God be gracious to us and bless us.
God make his face shine upon us.

That his ways may be known on earth
and his saving power among all the nations.

Let the people praise thee, O God:
Let all people praise thee

We just posted a new stained glass window sketch. It's of a farmhouse and is for a chapel project in a nursing home. It fits into a series with the river valley window recently posted online as well.

This farmhouse window features a passage from Psalm 95:

Let us come unto his presence with thanksgiving.
Let us make a joyful noise to him with songs and praise.
We He is our God and we are the people
of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.