Choosing Beautiful Stained & Leaded Glass Textures

As a Scottish Stained Glass designer, most of the stained glass that I have worked on designing with clients is used in a residential setting. Whether the stained glass is applied in a sidelight, transom, door, bathroom window, bedroom window, or even in cabinet doors one of the most important decisions we come across is the choice of texture and color.

Typically, I find that the majority of my clients want to use clear glasses in their stained glass windows. In these instances, the stained glass is also referred to as leaded glass. Though clear glasses may sound uninspiring, they do come in several textures and even bevels. These textures and beveled pieces add dimension, complexity, and interest to the design without the introduction of color. By using clear glass you are able to preserve the natural colors such as the green from trees and the blues from the sky that you view from the outdoors, bringing another level of depth to the window.

Why Choose Colorless, Textured Glass?

There are several reasons that people choose to stay with clear glasses. One of the more popular reasons is that they want the leaded glass to be in their home for as long as their home exists, but they may want to change the design of the interior. By using clear, leaded glass you are creating a window that will match the rest of the interior whether you change the paint on the walls or the colors in the fabrics.

Another reason people tend to prefer leaded glass windows versus stained glass windows is because they are thinking about the future and the possibility that they may want to move and sell their home someday. With that in mind, it is important for the client to choose a design and textures that are universal in taste. That way, it will appeal to a larger amount of people and help increase their home’s resale value.

Though there are a lot of benefits to adding clear, leaded glass windows to your home, there are also a lot of applications where the introduction of color can make the most sense aesthetically. Some people prefer to incorporate accents of colors while others want to design their stained glass window in the traditional sense, using only colored glass. In a lot of Prairie Style inspired designs, we will follow his lead and choose pieces of glass within the window to highlight a variety of earth tones including greens, ambers, reds, and sometimes blues, for example.

I recently worked with a client who wanted a stained glass window featuring a variety of birds with leaves and branches in the background. This nature influenced window called for color in order to fully showcase the birds and distinguish them from one another. We also used color in the leaves and branches, but the background was a simple clear, textured glass that helped emphasize focal points. See examples of our signature Aspen Stained Glass collection.

Working with Scottish Stained Glass

The most important thing to remember when working with a designer to create a custom piece of stained glass for your home is to be honest about what you really love and want from your window. Everybody has different tastes, and you are investing in a one-of-a-kind piece of art. Stay true to your tastes, because if you do decide to move, we can always come back over and remove the stained glass to have it framed so you can take it with you!

 

Blog by Megan O’Brien