Pandy Mill Glass Studio

Adjoining the gallery is the studio where Jan designs and creates her glasswork. If the gallery is not too busy you might be offered a tour of the studio. You will be able to see how Jan creates the two different styles of glass art - tiffany and glass fusion. If you are there at the right time you might see the fused glass as it emerges from the oven!

My name is Jan Singleton. I am a glass artist and designer and, in partnership with my husband Richard, I own and run Pandy Mill Glass Studio and Gallery.

In my studio, I make glass panels for walls, doors and windows, fused glass plates and bowls for both display and use, and larger scale architectural pieces that form an integral part of a building or garden.

I have been studying art in one form or another since 1974 - a love of art, once it is in you, never leaves you. After 4 years study I gained a B.A. Hons. Degree in Graphic Design from Manchester School of Art in England.

When I moved to the Netherlands in 1985, I had the opportunity to study glass design under the excellent technical leadership of Joost Wijnberg, Glass School in Noordwijk, ( http://www.kijkglas.nl/ ) . Under his wing, I soon learned that this was an area that I really wanted to specialize in. During the 1990’s as my skills developed, I was able to undertake commissions and start up in business on my own. I became interested in glass fusion after studying under Stagge in Germany. He also handbuilt my kiln for me!

I have completed many commissions over the last 18 years, both private and public buildings.

Moving back to the UK in 2005, I have set up my business, Pandy Mill Glass Studio, and feel I have mastered a wide range of technical skills over the past 20 years.

"Jan produces works of art in glass that combine both inherent beauty in their own right as well as elegance in their technical solution of an interior or exterior design requirement".

I employ two main techniques to produce my panels:

Cold Glass - Tiffany Technique ('glass-in-copper'/stained glass)

This is so called after the American artist Louis Comfort Tiffany, who introduced this technique at the turn of the 20th century. This is similar to the ‘glass-in-lead’ technique you see in churches, but instead of lead around the glass edge, there is copper foil and solder. So, in effect it is ‘glass-in-copper' .The copper and solder line can make the panel stronger and certainly allows you to be more detailed.

Whilst we sometimes dismiss this method as a little passé, I think that’s a great pity because with a modern design, this technique can look fantastic. The glass itself comes in a wealth of colours and a wide variety of textures, both opaque and transparent. There is an amazing selection available, much of it beautifully creative in its own right, and I very much enjoy the search for 'the right piece'. The glass comes from either Germany or America. I like to use a mixture of opaque and transparent, depending on how much light there is. If the light is limited, for instance, a glass panel can be placed directly on a wall and then opaque glass works well by itself.

Hot Glass - Fusion Technique

My second technique is working with hot glass called glass fusion. Glass layers fuse in a kiln reaching temperatures of 900 degrees Celsius. I can make my own unique glass panels by adding coloured crushed glass and other interesting materials between the fused layers. The result is completely different to the 'Tiffany Technique', but equally attractive. Glass fused panels are strong and heavy, suitable for architectural purposes in big projects such as walls.

When working with a kiln you have to follow strict technical rules. Learning the way the oven temperatures will affect the glass and colour is both fascinating and frustrating. You may only fuse glass pieces that are compatible with each other. It is not possible to mix different glasses together due to their different rates of expansion. Otherwise it will crack in the 'cooking' process. The 'cooking' process is quite long and has to be programmed carefully. Too quick an ascent of temperature or indeed descent, will result in anything from a tiny crack in your work to a massive explosion in your oven, neither of which is desirable ! When a creation is very big or thick in diameter, it has been known for them to be cooking in a very slow oven for anything up to 8 weeks!! Although this technique sounds very technical, I like to think I have a large artistic element to play as well. For example they can be used in many different but interesting ways. It would be lovely to build a wall in a public building with an idea such as these 'gothic cross' panels below. I envisage many different panels, not necessarily of the same size, with different points of interest but sticking to the theme. Each panel would be somehow linked to the cross: