The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1869-07-09

Glass Staining.

Although each OF half dozen of the
largest cities in America boasts one or
mole establishments for the manufacture
and architectural application of stained
glass, by far the finest and best work of all
is done, as might be readily supposed, in
New York city. There are on Manhattan
Island four factories, besides one in Brook
Ign.
The artist first sketches out his idea in
pencil or ordinary drawing paper, and
Celebrates it until the design is completed;
he then prepares large sheet ofpasteboard
on which he draws the human and other
figures of the exact size they are to be in
the completed work; the various colors
and their gradations are then decided on,
and their exact arrangement determined so
that the designer can now tell exactly how
many pieces of glass he will require Of each
color and how many of each of the several
various sizes and shapes. This important
preliminary work being accomplished, the
brittle substance itself now for the first
time is taken in hand.
The material used is for the most part
the common window glass of American or
New Jersey make, which is purchased in
large sheets made especially for the pur-
pose. A very small portion of glass of the
finer colors, the very best rubies, blues,
puppies, and greens are imported, but by
far the larger portion are colored by the
American workmen.
The clear uncolored glass is cut with a
common GLACIERS diamond, although the
multitude of pieces required and their va
ried and fa4lciful shapes make this SEEM
ingly interminable job. This may be read
lily imagined when we state that one sim
gle window Of Trinity Church, in New
Haven, contains more than ten thousand
separate pieces, every one of which was
cut aud colored singly
When the requisite number of diamonds
| circles, squares, octagons, crescents, and
other shapes are cut according to the num-
Der called for by the full size pattern, they
are next taken to the painting room, where
the color is laid on. This part of the work
is very simple, merely consisting in cover
ing with fiat brush, one side of each frag-
ment Of glass with a thin, even coating Of
the proper color. These paints are all min
eral, and have to be exposed to an in
tense heat for many hours, in order that
the coloring material may sink into the
surface Of the glass-bc, in fact, SO fused
with its very substance that itbecomes &C
tually a part of the glass, and can no more
be separated from it than can the medal.
| lion head from the surface of COIN
The glass stainers' reds and yellows are
produced from pure silver prepared with
anthony; the olues are made from cobalt;
another red comes from oxide of iron
white from block tin; black, from man
ganese; green, from copperas; purple is
only yielded by pure gold itself.
These are all what are known as "enam-
els" or surface colors, and are not melted
through the entire substance of the mate
rial These various mineral substances are
reduced to power by grinding. A "Hux'
is then prepared from a mixture of red
lead, flint glass and borax, which are mel
ted together in crucibles. To this ''tlux''
the desired color is then added, and the
mass is then reduced to paint, which is
laid on with brush, as before described
While the color is drying on the many
shaped bits of crystal we can take look
at the kiln, in which they are soon to take
a cooking, by the side ofwhich the strong
est heat that ever overcasted turkey and
spoiled Thanksgiving dinner would be
but as the cooling atmosphere of the latest
patent arctic refrigerator. This kiln is
merely brick oven, about five feet by four
in dimensions. In the inside of it is So
ries of shelves made of iron plates half an
inch in thickness, and forty eight inches
long by thirty-six inches broad.
These shelves are placed one over another
about an inch apart, from the bottom Of
the kiln to tho top. They are so arranged