Permanent colorfast glass inlays

Methods and materials

1. I

   Colored glass history

   For hundreds of years, colored glass has been produced and used in many ways. A little-known fact is that colored glass never fades: it holds its original color indefinitely.

   In Europe, some of the oldest cathedrals still have their original art glass. Superb examples survive from the early 12th century, such as King David in Augsburg Cathedral in Germany, and the 13th-century windows of Notre-Dame de Chartres in France. Art glass made over 800 years ago is still as vibrant and beautiful as the day it was created.

   

2. II

   Shaping the glass

   Today we have numerous modern tools, such as diamond-crusted saw blades and grinders. The computer-controlled water-jet, with an ultra-thin cutting radius, is essential for cutting glass.

   Cutting a one-inch glass letter or number is no longer a challenge, because the machine’s tolerances are measured in thousandths of an inch.

   

3. III

   Fusing and annealing

   Computer-controlled kilns are responsible for a high-quality outcome. Barometric pressure, air temperature and humidity still play a role, but good record keeping and testing ensure the highest quality in glass finishing.

   To fuse, fire-polish and anneal an inlay, the glass is heated multiple times and spends well over 30 hours in the kiln. Our techniques ensure a perfect finish and a hardness up to 200 times that of regular plate glass.

   

4. IV

   Stencils

   Before a stencil can be cut, a graphic artist draws the artwork and designs the layout in Adobe Illustrator, the gold standard among graphic art and layout programs. Most plotting programs work like a CAD program, which engineers and architects favor, with hints of Illustrator, which artists and the printing industry use.

   The stencil we create is custom matched to the finished glass art. When an artisan sandblasts the stencil onto the granite, the fit of the glass inlay into the stone is guaranteed.

   

5. V

   Installation

   The glass is bonded to the granite with an industrial, epoxy-like adhesive made specially to adhere glass to stone. A tensile strength of over 2,500 pounds ensures a bond that will never be challenged.

   The only enemy of the adhesive is ultraviolet light from the sun. So every design has a small outline filled with cement-based grout, which seals the gap permanently and keeps the adhesive out of the sunlight. The grout adheres permanently to glass and granite, and we color it with UV-fast pigments, adding another layer of sophistication to the design.