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GraceWorks: Angel Gabriel Explanation
Sue Wicks
March 2004

View this stained glass hanging

1. I chose the Angel Gabriel pod because of an affinity I have for angels after making hundreds of small stained glass angels over the years. The first step is to choose a pattern. Since the church window being used is very large and the money to each pod was limited, I determined that there were insufficient funds to do the entire angel in stained glass. Therefore, I chose to make two wings and the face and hair out of stained glass and the gown out of an old lace tablecloth that was no longer useable. This picture (#1) shows the original pattern for the face and hair of Angel Gabriel. Stained glass patterns look much like colouring book pages with the lines delineating different pieces to be made out of different glass pieces cut to those particular shapes. This “sun” pattern was modified to look more like an angel face, enlarged and the number of pieces for the hair reduced so that there is more glass and less solder.
   
2. The final pattern for the face and hair of Angel Gabriel looks like this. (#2) There are 66 pieces in total- 21 for the face and 45 for the hair.
   
3. The design for the wings was my own and is supposed to look like feathers. (#3) Structurally the design is flawed so additional bracing by wire imbedded in the solder will be used. The number of pieces in each wing is 19 and they will be mirror images of each other.
   
4. Three identical copies are needed so I use carbon paper to transfer the original design onto two more sheets of paper. (#4,5)
   
5. The glass and required supplies were purchased at the local stained glass supply store, The Pine Coffer located on Front St. near Lochiel. (#6) The type of glass used for a piece can totally change the look of the piece. I chose to use clear glass rather than opaque so that the maximum amount of sunlight would pass through. For the face of Angel Gabriel, I chose to use colourless glass that is highly textured so that it would sparkle in the sun. Thus it will be hard to look at in the direct sun and will glow like the face of an angel. Although the real Angel Gabriel probably was dark of complexion with dark hair I chose to use various shades of yellow for the hair because I like bright works of stained glass. The glass chosen for the wings looks like feathers and the top piece is cut from glass that has an iridised coating on the front side.
   
6. The third copy of the pattern is then cut into the individual pieces using special foil scissors that actually cut out a small strip of paper the width of the copper foil used in future steps.
   
7. The pattern piece is used to mark the pattern onto the glass surface with a fine tipped paint pen. (#9,10) Each glass sheet has a front and backside and typically there is a grain to the glass similar to cloth. The backside of the glass is the more textured side. This texturing varies with different glass sheets and is one of the things that makes stained glass works so exciting. The arrows marked on the paper pattern piece indicate the direction of the grain as chosen by the artist and the pieces are laid out so that the arrow corresponds to the grain of the glass chosen.
   
8. Now the glass pieces are cut out. First the outline of the pen is followed with the glasscutter so that a clean and even score is made on the surface of the glass. (#11) The glass is then broken, hopefully, along the score line. Typically I use grazing pliers to assist me in breaking the glass so as to minimize the number of cuts I get on my hands. (#12)
   
9. Since the cut out glass piece has rough edges (#13) and may not quite follow the desired pattern piece at all points (#14), each piece has the edges ground down smooth. (#15,16) The grinding wheel is diamond coated and a water bath below both carries the fine glass grindings away and keeps the wheel cool. The piece after grinding should match the paper pattern piece as closely as possible. (#17) Each piece is then washed in water to remove any residual paint from the marker and to clean off any residual glass grindings.
   
10. Copper foiling is the next step. (#18) Copper foil is like adhesive tape so it has a paper backing on it that is removed and the foil strip is put on in a continuous strip on the edges of the glass piece. It needs to be centred on the glass edge and then the remaining foil bent over on the front and back of the piece. All surfaces are then rubbed with a wooden fid to smooth them and ensure they adhere well to the glass surfaces. This copper foil is what allows the solder to be used to hold the glass pieces in place. Since the lead is silver in colour and I chose not to use a patina to change the colour, the copper foil I used has silver backing on it and will show silver through the glass. Since this is a tedious and time-consuming step, I typically do this while watching television.
    
11. All the pieces are then set on top of the pattern and soldered together. (#19) I use a plain glass window from a screen door between the pattern and the glass prior to soldering to both protect the paper pattern and to provide a perfectly flat surface for soldering. Prior to soldering, liquid flux is painted on the copper foil to assist in soldering. The solder is lead based and is heated using my soldering gun. The pieces need to be soldered first on the front, then on the back and then the edges are tinned.
    
12. The soldered wings and face are then washed and cleaned. (#20,21) Hooks are soldered into the pieces to allow for hanging in the window.
    
13. It was chosen to hang Angel Gabriel in the second column from the east and second row from the bottom of the big window in the south side of the sanctuary. I wanted the stained glass to be clearly visible from most of the sanctuary pews and to be high enough that no one would be able to accidentally hit it. Since the 3 stained glass pieces are each separate and would be hung separately, it was decided to attach each piece by wire hangers from a wooden bar which would be itself attached to the appropriate window mullion by hooks. Everything was designed so that it could be removed from the window and only 2 hooks in the window mullion would remain. Since the window mullion is quite high, a self-supported ladder was borrowed from one of the chemical companies in Chemical Valley for a day so that the hooks could be installed. The ladder was set up, 2 hooks put into the window mullion by my husband, Jim and then the ladder was returned in a company truck. (#22 to 25)
    
14. Due to financial constraints, the gown for Angel Gabriel was not made from stained glass. Instead an old lace tablecloth that had some stains and holes was used. The stains were cleaned as much as possible and the holes repaired. Since the tablecloth was oval, the top edge was gathered at what became the neck of the gown. Luckily the worst stain is located on the backside of the gathering and therefore is not visible! The gathered part was hung from hooks soldered onto the head of Angel Gabriel at the neck. The bottom of the gown had a wire inserted through the lace to hold it out. A couple dozen small chandelier jewels were randomly sewn onto the gown so that it would sparkle a bit with sunlight. (#26)
    
15. Since the window mullion containing the hooks for the wooden bar is angled, this angle was determined and duplicated on a horizontal flat surface so that the lengths of the wire hangers and location of hooks in the wooden bar could be determined. The width of the window dictated the spread of the wings that then dictated the location of the hooks in the wooden bar. The height of the window dictated the actual length of the wire hangers. I wanted Angel Gabriel to take up most of the width of the window and to be centred in it. The wire hangers used were leftover from putting up a suspended ceiling in our basement. (#27)
    
16. The lead solder was then cleaned with solvent on both sides of each piece. (#28)
    
17. A last check of exactly how the stained pieces would hang was made before taking them to the church to hang. The angle of the wooden bar was duplicated in the picture window of our sunroom. (#29)
    
18. The installation at the church required the use of 2 different ladders, one an extension ladder and the other a tall stepladder. Since the extension ladder had to go up the window glass, a bar had to be clamped to the top to support it off the window mullions rather than the glass. (#30,31) Since the left side of the wooden bar was so high that it could not be reached from the extension ladder, the wire hangers for the left wing were put up already attached to the bar. (#32) My husband, Jim was the man on the extension ladder and we needed all of his height to reach the various hooks! (#33) For each of the 3 stained glass pieces, a ground person handed off each piece to me on the stepladder and then I handed it over to Jim on the extension ladder and he attached the wire hangers. (#34 to 36) We started with the highest piece, the left wing. It was nerve wracking to hand over each stained glass piece and all our hands were sweating! Once both wings were in place, Jim took the time to try out his wings! (#37) The head was the last piece to be hung. (#38,39) The gown was hung from the hooks on the neck of Angel Gabriel. (#40,41)
    
19. The day we hung Angel Gabriel was very bright and sunny and I was pleased with the way that the glass pieces of the face sparkled and glowed when the sun was behind it. The gown lets light through but also sparkles a bit because of the chandelier jewels. (#42,43) I had wanted to portray the awesome power of an angel that would initially frighten anyone meeting one. When the face is not glowing, it has a bit of a smug look to it and I suppose that too is appropriate!

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