The World's Most Beautiful Stained Glass Windows
Stained Glass Windows Old Fashioned?
Frank Lloyd Wright Stained Glass Kitchen
Last week one of our clients cancelled an order for stained glass because an interior designer friend said that she thought stained glass windows were old fashioned. While we do concede that the installation stained glass is a centuries old tradition primarily associated with European chuches, we adamantly believe that stained glass is not an “old fashioned” accessory, but rather a beautiful and functional accent that can be used in both traditional and modern homes.
Adding stained glass to your home is a beautiful way to introduce custom artwork to your home, increase your home’s resale value, and introduce your own stamp onto your home for decades or centuries to come.
Traditional Stained Glass Windows
In traditional homes stained glass windows are often designed to match the style in which the house was built. Craftsman style homes include often look best with Frank Lloyd Wright or Praire style stained glass. Victorian homes generally match up well with Art Nouveau, Tiffany, or Greene & Greene glass. While Scottish Stained Glass often repairs or restores stained glass windows in older homes by merely removing and re-leading, we often urge our clients to add a new, modern window on which our stained glass will be overlaid. This allows the stained glass windows to achieve a much greater degree of energy efficiency, last much, much longer, and and be maintained without difficult cleaning.
Modern Stained Glass Windows
In more modern homes often traditional colored glass is not the ideal choice to add to the home. Rather for many newer homes, we recommend stained glass windows that have only beveled and leaded clear glass. This clear, textured glass provides privacy and elegance to a home, without connection to a home’s interior design elements to any particular color scheme. This clear glass allows the windows to exist neutral to any design or color changes home owners or home buyers might want to make in the future.
Artistic Stained Glass Windows
Stained Glass windows can also be used as an opportunity to add art or interpretive imagery to a home. These types of stained glass and be abstract or realistic, painted or leaded, and can included beveled or textured glass. Often these artistic windows make dramatic additions to entryways, transoms, bathrooms, or kitchens. Our most interesting projects, these artistic stained glass windows often take longer to design, but often get the greatest reaction for our clients and their guests.
So if anyone ever suggests that stained glass is “old fashioned”, send them to this page and see what what beautiful and modern pieces we can build!
Stained Glass Windows on “This Old House”
Frank Lloyd Wright Stained Glass Project Wanted
Know of a Potential Frank Lloyd Wright Stained Glass Project?
Scottish Stained Glass is on the hunt for a fantastic Frank Lloyd Wright Styled Stained Glass project and we need your help!
We are looking for a public space or prestigious home where we can showcase our work. Ideally this space would be somewhere in the continental United States, have at least 50 square feet of glass, and have large quantities of natural light which will make the glass sparkle once we install it.
The stained glass either be integrated into existing windows or designed as part of a new building project. Specifically we are looking for a building that matches Frank Lloyd Wright’s emphasis on creating buildings in harmony with the environment.
This project will not be a pro bono, but we will be doing it at a significant discount. Subsequently, we would like the rights to use photos of the building and our stained glass installation in our marketing materials, website, and social media. The photographs opposite are examples of previous Frank Lloyd Wright inspired stained glass.
If you know any building owners or mangers, architects, builders, or other interested groups, please don’t hesitate to forward them our contact information. We would like to complete the project by the end of 2012, but if it’s a new building we would be willing to wait until sometime in 2013.
Please Spread the Word
Please spread word of the Scottish Stained Glass and our search for the perfect Frank Lloyd Wright Stained Glass Project. We will keep you all updated on the progress.
If you have a project you think might be a good fit, please email martin (at) scottishgroupcompanies.com
In the mean time, here’s a couple links to inspirational Frank Lloyd Wright resources.
Frank Lloyd Wright Stained Glass
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
Frank Lloyd Wright Wikipedia
Frank Lloyd Wright on Pinterest
Philadelphia’s Stained Glass FD Tribute – Stained Glass Bucket List
This beautiful stained glass window is one of the most stunning works of stained glass in all of Philadelphia. While some of the churches throughout the city might disagree, we pay this one special regards because of it’s juxtaposition. Installed in on old firehouse, which has now been converted into one of the nation’s premier firefighting museums, the Fireman’s Hall stained glass is a tribute to all of Philadelphia’s brave men and women who have protected the city over the centuries.
To learn more about Fireman’s Hall, visit their website. http://www.firemanshall.org/.
To learn more about completing a stained glass project follow this link to see Scottish’s Philadelphia Stained Glass page.
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Boulderado Hotel Stained Glass Ceiling Restoration – Boulder, Colorado
One of the projects we are most proud of having completed is the complete restoration of the Boulderado Hotel stained glass ceiling in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. Removing, cleaning, and replacing each piece of glass in this ceiling, Scottish Stained Glass spent more than a month lovingly restoring this work of art.
If you are ever in Denver or Boulder, Colorado, we suggest you take a little bit of time to have a coffee or a drink under this work of stained glass art!
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Stained Glass Gazebo Ceiling – Stained Glass Bucket List
This beautiful stained glass ceiling is worth stopping and seeing for any stained glass enthusiast who is traveling in the Salem or Eugene regions of Oregon. While Oregon is not thought of as having lots of stained glass, this beautiful reuse of a ceiling is a sight to see. See exact directions in the map below, or call Ken Scott Studios 541-896-3774.
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XCARET Resort Ceiling on the Stained Glass Bucket List
One of the most beautiful pieces of stained glass we’ve seen in Mexico is the butterfly ceiling at the Xcaret Resort outside Playa del Carmen. The craftsmanship in both the design and installation of this stained glass ceiling is extraordinary. We applaud it’s creators!
While we at Scottish haven’t done a stained glass ceiling of that size, we did a complete restoration of the stained glass ceiling at the Boulderado Hotel in Boulder, Colorado.
This beautiful example of how a stained glass ceiling can be created with varying shapes and textures.
This wise shot shows the true scale of the ceiling. More than one thousand square feet of stained glass, this ceiling makes a relatively normal space spectacular!
The detail in this stained glass ceiling shows the painstaking amount of work which was required to design, manufacture, and install this work of art!
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University of Idaho on the Stained Glass Bucket List
Established in 1889 and expanded substantially over the next 5 decades, the majority of University of Idaho buildings were built with beautiful hand crafted stained glass windows. These particular examples were directly inspired by the Tiffany Stained Glass that was so popular in the beginning of the 20th century. Specifically notice the rich greens, blues, and opaque white stained glass. These colors as well as the ways the design and complimentary elements are signatures of the Tiffany style.
While we were unable to trace the origins of these particular windows, it’s very likely they were imported from New York City as a great majority of the stained glass throughout the United States was in the early 20th century.
This more direct view of the University of Idaho’s stained glass windows demonstrates more directly how they are Tiffany Inspired
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New & Refurbished Stained Glass Entryways
Scottish Stained Glass can provide four services to anyone looking for stained glass in their entryway, sidelights, or transom.
1. If you have existing clear glass in your door, transom, or sidelights, we can design our stained glass to be bonded to this existing window, thus allowing your home to retain the highest possible structural integrity and energy efficiency. Assuming your door’s wood is in good shape, our stained glass is the perfect finishing touch to create a stunning entryway.
2. If you would like to brighten up a dreary entryway and need to refurbish wood of your door Scottish Stained Glass can not only design a beautiful entryway stained glass system for you, but we can also refer you to one of our partner companies that include Dazzling Doors.
3. In many cases clients are looking for a complete new entryway system. This allows us the optimal flexibility to create a solution that is exactly what you want. We can create stained glass designs that compliment you wood and stain choices while allowing you the broadest choice of door designs. We work with Stark Lumber to design and install custom entryway systems.
4. In a limited number of cases, there is the opportunity to cut out part of the door and insert stained glass into it. While this is not the ideal situation, there are certain cases where this is the only choice.
Follow this link to learn more about your stained glass entryway choices and see more photos.
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A Few Tips on Creating Your Own Stained Glass Bevels
Scottish Stained Glass hasn’t build our own stained glass bevels for quite awhile now, but on occasion we have received questions about it. Here are some great resources that will help you create your own stained glass bevels.
1. Here’s a great article from Ebay summarizing the different machinery you might want to use.
Choosing a Grinder
2. This is a description by a stained glass studio owner concerning best practices for using an maintaining a grinder.
Grinder Use & Care
3. Finally, here is a chapter of a book devoted to the personal thoughts of an experience beveling artist.
Beveler’s Thoughts.
We hope this helps any of you out there who may be thinking about creating your own glass bevels. If you ever do have any questions feel free to get in contact with us and we can answer any questions you might have.
