Buildings were starting to be designed around the grandiose windows that would provide the majority of the light inside. Painting also allowed the windows to be made of larger pieces of glass as the lead was no longer needed to create every distinct line in the image. This stylistic shift was a drastic change from the previous Gothic windows with their heavy use of vivid colors. Painting on glass became the next popular style for stained glass windows, and it was rose to popularity in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries as a way to achieve greater detail in the windows, especially in the faces and hair of figures. The Gothic style of stained glass windows reigned supreme in cathedrals in the thirteenth century. The Gothic color choices of rich reds and blues can be easily observed in rose windows, which are the larger circular windows found in Gothic cathedrals. Gothic style stained glass windows, particularly in France, popularized the heavy use of reds and blues in window designs. New colors for the glass in stained glass windows were introduced over the centuries as new metals were discovered, allowing for experimentation into lighter colors, painting, and the development of new styles. The windows in the cathedral suggest that other prior windows had existed, because of the advanced techniques, and suggests the idea that the creator of the window had knowledge from all across Europe, but these are the earliest existing windows still standing today. The Augsburg Cathedral is believed to have the oldest existing stained glass windows, but the construction of the windows shows great knowledge of advanced techniques. Glass in the centuries prior was as valuable as precious stones, for example ruby colored glass was the equivalent of an actual ruby, and can help explain why the churches and castles of medieval Europe were the only buildings commissioning stained glass for a long period.
The windows of this time were expensive and at a constant risk of having their light source blocked by a new building, rendering the art useless. The figures and forms in these windows were simplistic and lacking perspective. Medieval churches began to commission windows with religious figures and the royalty of the period would request for windows bearing their coat of arms.
Moving forward to the medieval period, stained glass as it is known today began to take shape, progressing forward from simple glass shapes in holes in walls to full architectural elements. The earliest glass windows were a huge transition from how mankind had been using glass beforehand, mainly as weapon blades made of the volcanic glass obsidian and simple housewares such as bowls and vases. There is evidence of mastery of creating stained glass in Rome and Egypt, and it is believed that those empires helped to spread the art form. Stained glass is believed to originate from the Middle East as a way to bring light into buildings but allow the building to be completely closed. This project was unlike anything I have ever done and was a great chance to experience a new art form. The window for the deliverable section of this project was created as part of a beginners workshop exploring the techniques needed to design stained glass, cutting and grinding glass, and soldering the panel together. The main difference between the class I took at Deko Studio and the classes offered at WPI is that WPI focuses more on the creation of the glass and objects directly as a result of glass blowing rather than creating something from pieces of glass like stained glass. This is similar to the classes AR 162X and AR 262X Glass I and II respectively at WPI, which focus on glass blowing and techniques such as cutting and grinding glass. The specific technique used to create the window for the deliverable portion of this milestone was leading.
This project covers a brief history of stained glass to provide some historical context for the art form, and then explores the techniques that can be used to create a window. Creating the window for this project was a fun learning opportunity and taught me a lot about what it truly takes to design and create a successful stained glass window. Using my prior humanities and arts experience in digital art from AR1101 Digital Imaging and Computing, I created the design for my stained glass window and then proceed to go Deko Studio to create the window. The aim of this project was to develop an understanding of the history and purpose of stained glass windows and to study the techniques needed to create a window, then apply those techniques to create my own stained glass window. 5.1 Creating my own Stained Glass Window.1 The History, Purpose, and Techniques of Stained Glass Windows.