UPDATES on Great West Window Renovation

July 29   We’ve made great progress this month on the restoration of the West window of First Presbyterian Church, Edmonton. All of the panels have been carefully dismantled, each piece of glass cleaned, catalogued and stored. New structural drawings (cutlines) are being produced to include lap-leads in the European style to spread the weight and stress on the windows more evenly. Once the glass had been cleaned we could see the non uniform movement that took place during the original... glass production. The original lime green glass is a semi-antique, this means that it has been hand made and then machine rolled which produced its surface texture. We sent samples to the largest distributors on the East and West coasts of N. America, who between them cover most of the manufacturers in Europe as well as those closer to home. Once a close match had been identified we traveled into the US to see the glass and compare directly to the original. The colour match and refraction of light for both the lime green and amber border is very close to the original. Uroboros art glass is a beautiful hand cast and machine rolled glass that is made in small runs at the Portland facility in Oregon. Here is an interesting link to a YouTube video showing the process of making the glass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKmx3qwJJ6k

June 24  We’ve had the West Window from First Presbyterian Church in our studio for a few weeks now. We’ve been going through the messy first restoration stage which is comprised of several steps: The windows are examined for condition of glass, lead came, solder joints and tie placement for saddle bars. Rubbings are then taken of each individual panel to record shape, width of lead came and the individual position of each piece of glass. After concluding the windows suitability, they are then placed into a ‘bath’ of water and Ph neutral cleaner to loosen dirt, and soften the ‘cement’ to aid removal of the lead came from the glass. The windows are carefully dismantled, and each individual piece of glass cleaned and placed on the rubbing to the exact location in the panel it was removed from. A record of placement is made, and the glass removed to storage. In some sections of the window there is evidence of damage and replacement of whole areas, necessitating sourcing a glass that will match the original as closely as possible. Samples have been sent to the largest suppliers on the East and West Coast of N. America who stock glass from the largest makers of mouth blown in Germany and France, as well as all of the American manufacturers. The next stage will be creating new structural drawings - watch this space!

May 26  The Great West Window at First Presbyterian Church, Edmonton, has been successfully removed! Here are a few photos from John's two and a half week adventure getting them out. This week back in our studio we'll be starting to dismantle the windows completely and begin the process of rebuilding them.

May 6 Rod Kurtz' story about the First Presbyterian Church Windows, featuring John, will be broadcast this afternoon at 510PM (4:10 for us in Vancouver) on CBC Radio One Edmonton. The broadcast may be heard at 93.9FM, or online at www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton

May 2 John set off this morning on his exciting adventure to Edmonton to remove and then return with the Great West Window at First Presbyterian Church. It’s about a 13 - 14 hour drive, but he’ll be stopping in Valemount this evening, which is very near to Mount Robson the tallest mountain in the Canadian Rockies - should be some good views. It will take about two weeks to remove the window and replace it with acrylic as temporary glazing during the restoration period. He’s also, according to the media liaison for the church, going to be filmed and interviewed at various point by Global television, CBC Radio, The Edmonton Journal and Heritage Canada - all that should keep him pretty busy!