We’ve begun to look at stained glass in relationship to its setting, understanding that image, the audience, and the partnerships involved. For my case study on this, I returned to Bradford Cathedral for its inspiring windows. The Cathedral is rich with windows either dedicated to women or the subject is women, I recommend everyone take time to admire the spectacular West Window featuring Women of the Bible by Heaton Butler.

I fell in love with the Mitchell Memorial Window featuring Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Saint Hilda of Whitby, and Queen Ethelburga of York. I find a gentleness, a calmness in Saint Elizabeth, her miracle was…..

I must have a strong belief in myself and my abilities to be at this point now. I started this Master’s course knowing I wasn’t eligible for a government grant or loan, because I’d already gained a Master’s degree over 20 years ago ( not funded by the government then either )

So we’ve been playing with glass painting. We’ve learnt to mix our glass paint with a range of media including lavender oil, water & gum Arabic and white vinegar. We‘ve tried out different brushes from badger brushes to riggers and learnt how to clean them correctly. We’ve played with line and texture, looked closely at the Zouche Chapel Wren from York Minster and practised recreating it, finishing with the application of silver stain. I’ve enjoyed it so much, I can’t wait to get back into the studio after Xmas.

The website for the British Society of Master Glass Painters is a great resource Here’s a lovely Pathe film reel I found on there from 1928 showing a glass painter at work. If you want to read more Williams and Bryne offer detailed information, great photos of brushes and equipment needed and step-by-step videos.

I’m learning to be more mindful.

Since starting the course I realised it's okay to just focus and slow down my cutting, also I had never really learnt to groze with any skill. I really enjoyed playing with the notches on a basic glass cutter to groze to different depths.

The photo shows the grozed edges of a piece of medieval glass and here’s a link to a lovely glossary page on the York Glaziers Trust website showing a medieval grozing iron. It seems obvious that grozing irons are shown in the heraldry for the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass.

Must admit I’d love to try one.

We’ve begun our learning with an introduction to the complex nature of assigning values to an object. Here’s a photo of Astley Castle in Warwickshire, a great example we were given and indeed the class were split, some loved it, some hated it.  

Very briefly it’s a fortified 16th Century Manor House, a Listed Building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Damaged by fire in the 70’s, it went onto the Buildings At Risk register. It was renovated and went on to win the RIBA Stirling Prize for Architecture in 2013. I like it, I think it’s secured its future successfully. 

Another interesting example we discussed was Kelburn Castle, the graffiti castle , take a look!

I took advantage of the Heritage Open Day at Bradford Cathedral. There was a guided tour around the Stained Glass Windows and a talk by Helen Elletson, Research Curator from the William Morris Society.

Both were really informative, we were shown so many interesting features, the wheatsheaf signature used on the glass by Charles Kempe, and symbolism such as the Pelican which I’d read about in my new book How to Read a Church by Richard Taylor. Also the flora and foliage background work preferred by Morris and the yellow and green colours so typical of his work.

The East Window in particular has examples of glass by so many well-known Pre Raphelites Edward Burne Jones, William De Morgan, Rosetti and more, it was the third commission for Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company which went on to be Morris and Co.

The Education Team have produced detailed leaflets on the windows which can also be seen on their website. I’m definitely planning to go back as there was more than I could absorb in one visit. I also discovered a recorded talk on pre-Raphaelite stained glass by the De Morgan collection

It began with a lovely day in August in York with Church Crawling and Sharon of NU_B Design. Sharon is a fellow student from the Stained Glass Conservation and Heritage Management Course at The University of York and together we joined Rob Andrews ( Church Crawling) for one of his walking tours of Medieval Churches in York. He’s just so incredibly knowledgeable about the Art and Architecture of Historic Churches.

The sun was shining and we had a great day visiting four churches All Saints Pavement Church, Holy Trinity Church, All Saints North Street and St Marys BishopHill Junior. The last one was an added bonus and not too far away from the last stop, the pub! The Golden Ball pub Rob took us to is a community-run pub with fabulous Victorian features exterior tiles and a Victorian layout.

Like a true geek, I used an App, Google Keep to save photos and take notes on my phone. It syncs with my Uni Google account so now I have a lovely record of notes and photos with a separate folder for each church on my phone.

We saw the reuse of stonework and glasswork, the medieval waste hierarchy at work and I was struck by the wealth of information there is to decode in each church, I’ve since bought How To Read a Church, a pocket guide by Richard Taylor which I think is going to be helpful interpreting common features and symbols.