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: