Friday 29 March 2024

automatic translation

Friday 29 March 2024

automatic translation

    The stained glass technique

    The use of colored glass to decorate windows and openings was known during the Roman Empire, at least from the beginning of the XNUMXst century. AD, when the technique of producing glass sheets with die casting spread.


    In the twelfth century. the first decorated stained glass windows appear in the Romanesque churches. There stained glass window is made up from several plates of vcolored glass shaped to create a drawing e joined by a thin slate of lead paste.

    Lchromatic element it is the central point of the window and is due to the mixture of sand and silica with oxides that determine the color.

    The fusion led to the appearance of natural veins and shades, impossible to artificially reproduce with today's technical means. These "imperfections" made the windows into precious unique pieces.

    To define the details of the designs of the windows, a liquid composition of copper and iron oxide was used, combined with glass powder, then the decorated glasses were put back into the oven to fix the designs, this was the grisaille process.

    To create the stained glass windows in the cathedrals, the construction sites were opened, with the glassmaker's workshop, in which the furnace played a fundamental part.
    Here the workers prepared the colored glass paste and molded it into plates.
    Then they were shaped according to the drawing provided by a master painter, shown on a real-size cardboard.
    Finally we moved on to phase of the actual creation, another master reassembled the window and joined the pieces with a lead wire and stucco.

    The placement of the window was the most delicate moment, finally the work carried out with great care reached its final position at several meters in height, offering a spectacular result.

    Passed by the light, the windows made only the drawing emerge, while the joints almost disappeared in the overall image.

    Recently the taste of stained glass made almost only of color has returned, but many of the original recipes of colored glass have been lost, so it is impossible to fully recover the effects of medieval stained glass.

    Source wikipedia.it

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