St. John the Apostle Catholic Church, Vancouver, BC

“Gilroy Stained Glass assisted us with a large scale project which involved replacing most of the church windows. From the design phase through to installation, the Gilroys were excellent to work with. They made a great effort to be sensitive to the parish’s wishes; they were creative with their designs and attentive to details; they communicated regularly throughout the development phase; the workmanship of the completed windows and installation was superb.”

Msgr. Mark Hagemoen, St John the Apostle, Kerrisdale, Vancouver

Project Overview:

Eighteen new windows on the south aisle, north aisle and at the Narthex entrance to the church.

Concept to Completion:

“Cartooning”
This is the full sized working drawing of the design, showing all the structural line and tonal elements to be painted, in St. John’s case this would entail detailed pencil and ink drawings of the scenes and figures.

Selection and cutting of glass:
A separate drawing of the position of lead cames and glass, a “cutline”, is produced and from this the selected mouth blown glass is cut to shape and size. In the St. John’s windows hand made glass from France, England, Germany, Poland and North America were used.

Glass Painting and Staining:
The paint is a mixture of oxides, fluxes and binders, when fired correctly in a kiln will fuse permanently into the surface of the glass, giving the line and tonal values one is trying to achieve. The paint used on the St. John’s windows is manufactured in the “Potteries” area of England, and being of a high quality it is not only excellent to work with, but also “fires’ beautifully.

“Silver Stain” as it’s referred to professionally, turns the glass different shades of yellow and amber dependent upon application and to what temperature it’s fired at.

Fabrication:
This is the “leading” and soldering together of all the individual pieces of glass to construct the finished window. The lead came used on the St. John windows were a mixture of Stillmans of Belgium and locally produced in BC. After this is completed the windows are “cemented”, waterproofed and strengthened, using an oil based putty mixed by myself, the recipe for which dates back a few centuries. Definitely an oldie but goodie!