Grandfather Philip's Stained Glass

Silver Staining

This weekend was spent in Wheaton Village, Millville, NJ at the sudio of J. Kenneth Leap learning the ancient art of silver staining. Silver staining is a process developed in the 1300's to give clear glass color. The color line is limited to different hues of yellow or amber and is accomplished by painting particles of silver on the glass and firing the glass in a kiln. The heat causes the silver to displace sodium in the glass causing the yellow color. The color is part of the glass on the surface. The medallions produced during that century used this process. Coupled with glass painting (tracing and matteing) one can produce a very handsome picture of anything from people to everyday scenes. Here is the one I produced. I think of him as "Atta Boy Turk". The size is only 5 x 7 inches.