The Grand Home is adorned with a few stained glass windows. No matter what the weather is outside, these works of art are the literal definition of looking through rose colored glass. They offer the most amazing patterns of reflection when the light comes through, constantly changing shape and color – a continual creation of art. Besides being stained glass, the artisans who created these windows incorporated the use of beveled glass making these stained glass windows even more unique.
The term stained glass can refer to colored glass as a material or to works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings. Although traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensional structures and sculpture.
The earliest known man-made glass is in the form of Egyptian beads from between 2750 and 2625 BC. Artisans made these beads by winding a thin string of molten glass around a removable clay core. This glass is opaque and very precious.
Glass making was the first industry set up in America in Jamestown, settled in 1607. The English were running out of wood to fuel their furnaces. The endless forests and sand in the New World dictated the choice. To reassure his English investors, Captain John Smith wrote that the glass-making venture was a success, but the operation was very short lived. Bottles and window glass were the primary glass products of this venture.
In the nineteenth century, William Gibson began the earliest known glass business in America around 1834 in New York City. This venture did not last, but he tried again several decades later and would promote himself as the “father of glass painting” in the United States. For a detailed history or stained glass, click here.
Besides the traditional church stained glass, there’s vast array of design and architectural stained glass represented globally. Here are the 10 greatest stained glass windows in the world – click here.
The stained glass windows of The Grand Home are not only inviting to passers by, but truly a treat when you walk through and are able to appreciate the detail and craftsmanship of over 100 years ago. Oh, and if you’re wondering who still does this type of art or where you can get your own stained glass, Jack Wallace is actually a local artisan who has been crafting these windows since 1971 an is one of a few nationwide can repair them. (FYI – he’s also the genius behind the hand carved bed in The Grand Home’s Master Bedroom, but we’ll leave that story to another day.) So, come by The Grand Home and see for yourself!!
