Other substances, such as lime, are added to rebuild the weakened network and make the glass more stable. Such materials as potash, soda, and lead can be added to lower the melting temperature. Silica requires a very high temperature to melt, something not all glass factories were able to achieve. ( April 2017) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)ĭuring the late medieval period, glass factories were set up where there was a ready supply of silica, the essential material for glass manufacture. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources.
#Small stained glass design windows
The coloured glass is crafted into stained glass windows in which small pieces of glass are arranged to form patterns or pictures, held together (traditionally) by strips of lead and supported by a rigid frame. Modern vernacular usage has often extended the term "stained glass" to include domestic lead light and objets d'art created from foil glasswork exemplified in the famous lamps of Louis Comfort Tiffany.Īs a material stained glass is glass that has been coloured by adding metallic salts during its manufacture, and usually then further decorating it in various ways. Although traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensional structures and sculpture. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings.
The term stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material and to works created from it. Outside-view of a stained glass of the Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk from Ostend (Belgium), built between 18