Church stained glass window falling apart...now what?

First I'll say that this window has been at a local auction house for a very long time and when it's come up for sale I seem to have always been the only one remotely interested. Why I've been interested is a very good question, screw loose I think. Anyway, it came up again and this time that I brought it home. Uh oh!

This is the painted type of stained glass and the painting is in worse condition that I thought. Some panes are broken, some are cracked and the frame is old and needs repair. (Did I mention the screw loose part?) It is in two sections each being about 5' high so when mounted together they'd be about 10' high. The top section is arched and the bottom section has two names, presumably of donors or in memory of them as many of the panes have a lily type pattern.

Anyway.....I'm staring at it at a bit of a loss. Anybody dealt with this type before?

 

hi, i am a stained glass artist and to repair something like this is very expensive, as all the original hand painted part were fired after painting to fix the stain. Finding original old glass to repair this is also difficult. Modern glass is made in a different fashion to old glass and looks glaringly different if used to only repair in sections. All of the lead in this window will be rotten and it would not be an economical job if the intent was to sell on. The wooden part will need to be checked for rot and or wood worm- esp if you have a lot of wood in the area this is being stored in.

 

Just to add, the size and number of stages required to fix this would be at Least £500+ in the UK and thats only if i could source enough older glass and if i could match the pigments used in the painting- some of these were quite toxic and as a result are not used now a days.

 

Hi,
It is an expensive repair. It was almost 1K for a similar 10 ft window. My church had a fire and we had to repair 8 windows. When they were done it was almost impossible to tell they were damaged. There are a lot of large glass repair companies around. I wanted to use glass artists in the neighborhood but had to go with a large company to save money.
greg

 

You might be able to salvage enough pieces to rebuild with a reduced height.

 

I'm not sure that I'm headed in the complete restoration direction but I don't have much in it yet so it's possible I'd consider it. You both are in the same ballpark on restoration cost so that's good to know.

I had considered just trying to stabilize it as is, maybe replacing the broken panes with something not too distracting and using as a decorative element. I also am contemplating removing the glass altogether and piecing them out, saving the frame again for decorative purposes. Not at all sure.

 

I think we were typing at the same time. Actually the auctioneer had been suggesting cannibalizing one for parts so kind of along those lines.

 

If the lead came is rotten as Susie suggests, you might not even want to use it for decorative purposes. ("Lead came" is what those strips of lead are called.) The wood frame looks fairly bad, too. If you can salvage some of the glass and use it for something else, that might be best.

 

If you don't have much money into it and don't want to put much more out.

Stabilize the frame so it doesn't come loose any further.
Spray or paint an affixative to all surfaces.
Put in your garden as a backdrop during spring, summer and early fall.
Store in winter.

It will eventually weather and rot out, but if you don't have a lot invested and you like changing your garden look, it would be rather stunning.

 

If it were mine, I would use panes from the bottom part to make the top part whole. I would, then, make a new window out of the remaining parts or sell them.

I also like the idea of making a shorter complete window out of the parts. However, this requires making a new frame and opens a whole new can of worms. It really depends on what your goal is and how much time and money you want to put in to it.

 

I'd back and front it with glass, if you see what I mean. Big plain wood frame, sandwich the thing between two sheets of glass.

 

That's a possibility. Good idea. Selling it for the glass pieces might be even better, for other folks restoring windows in better shape. Or building your own new window of most of the bits and selling the spares? I have an old friend who's a stained glass artist, at least part time, and that's most likely what he'd do unless you're absolutely in love with it.

 

LOL Brad, goal, what's a goal? Seriously some very good ideas you all have and I'm going to have to think about how much I want to do or have someone else do I guess.

I'm wondering about possible health issues from the lead if it's degraded so I may check with a conservator I know next time I see her and get the thumbs up or down. The blue seems to be blue glass but the rest is painted and seems to rub off pretty easily so I'm not sure if crafts etc are an option.



I've been googling and here is a possible use of just the frame. I also have considered stabilizing and hanging it from the ceiling in my foyer but DH would probably fight that pretty hard, he hates the window ( what else is new?)

 

the lead is not a health issue.....unless you start nibbling on it ....

 

I like it and the photo you posted. If you can stabilize the frame, you could display it like the photo.