, 1885-05-08
ARTISTIC STAINED GLASS.
Once a Lost Art-wha, the sIIeroseops
ft~veaied-coiors used-F1ashIng.
--- uN.n- Nn-E Nil ma 49,. -

Iieveaied -coiors used-F1ashlng.
Kew York Mail nnd Expressl
In America the earliest attempts at
common glass making we're made at
jamestown, Va IN l7fO; after that at
various places, and finally at Boston in
1909. The revival Of the window art,
both in Europe and America, was very
slow, partially on account of the preva-
lent idea that the art of producing the
glorious color seen in the ancient win
dows was lost. Finally these persever-
ing souls who were in love with their
work called in the aid of chemistry, and
gradually the errors of modern works
were corrected and the true constitu-
ents of ancient glass determined. Not
w~ithstanding the use Of the same mate
rails, modern glass still lacked in rich
ness and beauty, and was unsatisfac-
tory to the initiated.
The microscope 10 revealed the fact
that the brilliancy of ancient glass is
due to tiny pores, seemingly produced
by the acton Of rain in washing out
minute particles of alkaline substance
i'm other words. the breaking up of the
fiat surface allowed more light to enter
and be refraeted. Various methods
were tried to produce this effect. First,
the surface Of the sheet was stippled
with a darker Opaque color, but now
a better method is employed-namely,
by sprinkling the surface of the first
gathering Of colorless glass thickly with
sand and then when flashed with color
the minute grains are seen scattered
thinly through the substance. These
are retroactive and the old richness of
color is produced.
Colored glass is made by the pro-
cesses used In making white glass, DC
casionally the color being melted with
the glass; but as this produces too deep
a shade for ordinary purposes, a pro-
cess called flashing is generally substi-
tuted. In preparing the flashing glass
the operator has two pots, n of color
less liquid, and one in which color has
been melted. He uses first the trans
parent white fluid and then coats from
the color pot ia consequence, when
finished, although it is almost imper-
ceptible, there is only a thin coating on
one side, and the depth of color is thus
reduced. There are many advantages
in this method, as the glass thus pre-
pared admits OF the cutting OF beautiful
transparent patterns upon the colored
ground, as well as of delicate shading,
the latter sometimes produced by fluoric
acid.
The materials used to give the most
satisfactory coloring are metallic oxides,
such as gold, which in various forms
yields ruby, crimson, rose, and purple;
silver, in combination with alumina, n
beautiful yellow; copper, n ruby red and
emerald green; cobalt, the rich blue,
iron, a dull green, and combined with
alumina a flesh color, and with silver nj
orange yellow; uranium yields q green
like the chrysoprase and a canary yell
low, with an opalescent tinge; arsenic,
an Opaque white, and manganese an
amethystine color, and with cobalt a
fine garnet red. There are many other
materials and combinations which in
the hands of a skilled operator produce
an infinite variety of colors. These
same %colors, with but few exceptions,
were known and used in the manufact-
ure of glass hundreds of years before
Christ.
In place of flashing, the process of
staining is used very extensively, as ii
sayes much labor, enabling the artist to
complete au entire picture at once. The
staining is produced by mixing finely
powdered metallic oxides with some vol
atile medium, such as oil, and laying
them on in patterns. The sheets are
then heated red-hot in a furnace and
a deep stain Of the color is left upon the
glass. Formerly pictorial effects we're
gained by setting numbers of tiny pieces
together in delicate lead framing.
Usually both methods are employed in
pictorial windows, as the staining allows
artists to produce features more per
fectly.