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Above
all, restoration is about securing the fidelity and longevity of
Australia’s magnificent national and international stained
glass heritage.
WHY
RESTORE?
Fire
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The
tragic scene of the Childers Backpackers’ hostel
fire, which astonishingly, the front door surround survived. |
Cyclone
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Looking
through the missing windows behind the altar after cyclone “Larry”.
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Looking
through a missing chancel window and down to damaged clerestory
windows after cyclone “Larry”. |
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Another
view through a missing chancel window and out through missing
clerestory windows after cyclone “Larry”. |
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Panels recovered from area around the church after
the cyclone. Big or small, all pieces of broken glass should
be kept as they may be priceless. |
Hail
& Vandalism
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Hail and vandalism end up with the same result. The glass
piece needs to be repainted.
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Age
Windows
wear out. Because they are remarkably maintenance free it comes
as a surprise when custodians realise that 100 year old leads
have fatigued, the water-proofing putty has washed out, and the window
needs removal, restoration and reinstallation.
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A window which disintegrated during removal
and where the nearest pew became the hospital ward. Note emergency
on-site Styrofoam splint supporting part of the window.
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Previous
Restoration Astonishing though it may be, our experience is that far more windows
have been, and are being, destroyed by deleterious and ruinous previous
restorations than all other combined causes.
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Note extensive glass paint breakdown on this
face probably caused by caustic soda cleaning.
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THE
CONDITION REPORT All restoration begins with an on-site inspection and resultant
Condition Report, irrespective of the age of the window.
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1868
John Hardman (U.K.) Studio chancel window from St Mary’s
Cathedral, Hobart, restored by Cummins and Stehn in collaboration
with Gavin Merrington of Hobart
in 2004/05.
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Early 16th century Flemish window currently
under restoration. |
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Exquisitely
painted “Coronation of the
Virgin” window dated 1526 currently under restoration. |
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The condition of the glass paint is all. This
shows glass paint being inspected on site under magnification. |
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The field notes from which the Condition Report
will be made. |
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Sample
pages from Condition Reports, which sometimes comprise forty
pages of text and several hundred annotated photographs. |
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The
Condition Reports and Restoration Reports we write are not
the minimum required to persuade a custodian to give the
restoration job to us, but to tell future generations everything
we see about a window now and how we restored it. This information
will be useful in a century or more when the windows needs restoring
again. |
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What
we find is astonishing. Here a 130 year old head has been
fractured by stone(?) impact with resultant
paint damage. |
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Close-up
of the damaged head from the panel above. |
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A
superbly painted Mayer (Germany) Studio face. The Condition
Report established glass paint breakdown in the hair at the
neck, blue enamel glass paint loss in the hair band, prodigious
water leakage through failed putties, and accumulated dirt
embedded in the glass paint. |
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Another
face from the Mayer panel above. |
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REMOVAL of windows can take one to dizzying
heights. |
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IN
STUDIO WORK
Documentation
In-studio
documentation consists of a constant written and photographic
record of what is discovered and the techniques
used.
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Rubbings of removed panels done on 500 year
acid free paper, upon which is annotated all aspects of the
existing work, including paint loss, previous repairs, original
studio mistakes, etc.
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Dismantling
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The
early 16th century Flemish “God the
Father” window being dismantled. Dismantling is not just
pulling the window apart, it requires constant attention and
the ability to discern and the results noted on the prolific
documentation. |
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As
a result of this discernment and documentation the pattern
of the window’s history emerges. The image
on the left records the leads, including repairing leads,
which accumulated on the window during its 500 year history.
The image on the right shows the leading system as it would
have been when the window was first made 500 years ago.
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Cleaning
The more dirt there is on the painted surface of a stained glass
window the more dirt and moisture it collects.
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The inner surface of a portrait of Christ
viewed in reflected light showing where rain water has streamed
down the inner painted surface through leaking putties and
the resultant embedded dirt.
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A
preliminary conservation grade cleaning of a panel seen in
reflected light. The closer half of the panel has been cleaned. |
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Carefully
cleaning the surface dirt off the glass exposes the condition
of the
underlying paintwork. |
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Embedded
soot and smoke damage to the right transom panel (right of
photograph), compared with the cleaned left panel (left of
photograph) from the Childers backpackers’ hostel. |
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Another fire damaged panel half cleaned and
half still sooty. |
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The
same image as above when held up to the light. |
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Two
John Hardman (U.K.) Studio panels from the same window laid
side by side in transmitted light. The right
panel has been cleaned but the left has not. Comparison of
the borders is revealing. The mustard garment of the bottom
right figure is the same colour glass as the dirt obscured
mustard of the base of the cross in the left.
Keen
observers will notice the differences in the borders, all
of which
are original but seem to have come from different
parts of the Hardman studio. |
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Enthusiastic
over-cleaning of glass paints can be more deleterious than
none. An area of a restored window
where the large pieces of glass have not been correctly fired
in the kiln of the original studio. This has left the surface
of the glass paint on the large pieces of glass semi-matt,
while the small pieces have been fully fired to a correct glass.
Trying to clean underfired glass paints is an agonisingly slow
and difficult process. |
Repainting
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When glass pieces have shattered, are missing
or have been ruined by previous deleterious restoration, there
is no option but to repaint the glass using the same colour
and types of glass, the same kiln firing glass paints, stains
and enamels, and identical techniques. |
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During
a recent tour by Ausglass members, nobody was able to identify
the repainted pieces.
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Repainting after hail stone damage. |
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Repainted face reconstructed from the few remaining
fragments of the original. |
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The restored window in which there are over
twenty pieces of replaced repainted glass. |
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Attention
to detail and research is important.
A repainted cross. The previous replacement was done with black “Dulux” which
had worn off. Just what the cross should look like was provided
by the Diocesan Heritage Officer. Assistance from historians
and archivists is indispensable. |
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The original face is on the left and the glass
paint has fallen off due to previous deleterious restoration
practices. Gerry is in the process of painting a new face shown
on the right. |
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Detail.
The repainted piece has three layers of glass paint already
applied and still needs three more – flesh tone, the
hair colour and the “blush” on the cheeks and
lips that give F.X. Zettler (German) Studio’s portraits
their distinctive “look”. |
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The
repainted piece on the light box of both the “Sacred
Heart” portrait and the companion “St Michael”.
It was decided in conjunction with the custodians that the
previous replacement head for “St Michael” should
itself be replaced by a more accurate depiction of an F.X.
Zettler “St Michael” head, sourced from Dunedin
in New Zealand. The garish 1960s replacement halos
were also replaced with researched F.X. Zettler type halos. |
Plating
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Even
when glass paint breakdown caused by age or previous ruinous
restoration practices have totally destroyed
the glass paints and enamels, it may not be necessary to replace
all the original glass. This details shows where a piece of
clear glass has had painted on it the tracelines, shading and
enamels “lost” by restoration, which will then
be replaced in the same lead (plated) on top of the original
glass and stain, thereby preserving at least some of the original
material whilst reinstating what the original piece looked
like. |
Edge
gluing
One of the marvels of modern conservation and restoration is the
use of conservation grade epoxy resins which can be used to edge
glue back together shattered pieces of glass. Whilst this technique
is less than perfect, the alternatives are to either repaint the
piece and keep the fragments or use unsightly mending leads which
mar the original integrity of the window.
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Edge
glued star fracture. The point of impact can be seen in the
angel’s left shoulder. |
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Surrounded by supporting documentation, Jill
Stehn examines a 1526 and 1725 panel to see if shattered
pieces can successfully be edge glued back together again.
This raises the delicious prospect of returning the panel
to the custodian with pieces edge glued back together that
may have been broken hundreds of years ago.
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Releading
Releading panels more successfully and with better quality leads
is a great pleasure.
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An extremely complex piece of releading. To
gain access to the myriad of tiny pieces, this area is leaded
separately and then expertly slipped into its position in the
matrix of the window. |
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Restoration of windows requires constant
attention and skill, including during the releading stage.
There was an ugly spall on the edge of this superb portrait
which may have endangered it. Special leading techniques
were employed to ensure that no pressure was put on the spall.
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Cold
Enamels
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In
this example, the glass paint has disintegrated, leaving
distracting pinholes of light. |
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This
shows the
same area after the lost glass paint has been reinstated
using reversible cold (i.e. not kiln
fired) enamels.
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REINSTALLATION
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Reinstallation
can be a substantial undertaking. Reinstalling the John Hardman
(U.K.) Studio window at St Mary’s
Cathedral, Hobart, took four people almost two weeks, including
the installation of glass protectors. |
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PUBLIC
AWARENESS
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The
St Mary’s Cathedral, Hobart, restoration
was done in a temporary studio in Hobart to save costs. Talks
were given to the parish and the public twice a week. |
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A group of visitors on tour in the Cummins
and Stehn Studio.
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SATISFACTION
The
joy of restoration is in knowing that a restored window will last
at least another century before requiring its next restoration.
It is also deeply satisfying that our studio has the knowledge and
skill to return the glass paints to their best possible condition.
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A
detail from a Lyon & Cottier Studio (Sydney) window which
has a superb flashed gold based pink garment, virtuoso painting
and a beautiful deep auburn orange stain in the child’s
hair. |
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Detail
from the window above. |
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Another
detail
from the window above. |
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Another
detail
from the window above. |
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