Architectural stained glass ~ stained glass restoration and conservation ~ original design ~ glass painting courses ~ glass publications and case studies ~ DVDs
Using glass, light and colour to transform the space around you
 Whatever you have us design and make for you — doors, windows, a panel for your wall or a sculpture for your garden — this glass will transform the space around it. Its varieties of colour and texture will enchant your eyes and entrance your sense of touch.
Bespoke stained glass doors, stained glass windows and other special painted objects
 These beautiful and bespoke stained glass doors and windows completely change the light around them and the room they’re in. You don’t necessarily need bright or direct light, you don’t always need natural light: you can use whatever light there is to change the mood, convey a special feeling, or express the ideas you choose in your home, office, church or public building.
As well as doors and windows, our bespoke work includes sculptural objects for house or garden, and sumptuous wall-mounted panels that you light up in whatever way you choose. We design specifically for you, using handmade glass and a thousand different techniques to create beautiful objects that are one-of-a-kind. Here’s where you can see pictures of our bespoke work.
Small stained glass panels to change the character of a room
 A range of warmly coloured stained glass panels, some traditional, some contemporary: small, beautifully designed, and brightly painted. Imagine flowers, for example, which are always in bloom, or a jewel-coloured bird that is forever in flight: this is the kind of change our small panels can work in the room where you place them.
These limited edition stained glass panels are made-to-order: we choose different colours to suit your taste and environment, and can also add inscriptions.
Stained glass restoration and conservation to the highest standard
 The studio is an accredited member of ICON, the Institute of Conservation. This requires that our standards are as high as you could wish them to be.
Williams & Byrne is also included on the Conservation Register — this is by assessment: it is not a listing that we can buy. You can see our expert stained glass restoration and conservation here.
Marvellous courses and training at our stained glass painting studio
 We run glass painting courses that create confidence and skill: a treat for yourself or a wonderful gift for someone special.
There are always two of us to teach and demonstrate, and we take a maximum of six people per course: this is so that we can show you exactly what you want to know. (We can also teach you one-to-one if that’s what’s best for you.)
So ... a small group, a lovely studio, our beautiful designs for you to copy, a course that’s rewritten and redrawn each time to suit who’s coming, and our complete attention: that’s why people absolutely love our stained glass painting courses, and travel to us from across the world.
Techniques and secrets of stained glass painting
 Glass painters! You are one click away from an online treasure trove of stained glass painting techniques.
What interests you?
A 12-minute glass painting demonstration, the difference you must see and feel between glass painting and painting on paper, a case of glass painting forgery - a video demonstration, an installation in progress - a magnificent picture from the thick of things, how to remix dried-up glass paint - a video demonstration, Stained glass plating for greater depth of colour, glass painting with oil - a video demonstration, The Financial Times, shading with silver stain - a step-by-step technique, how to load a kiln tray - a video demonstration, silver stain and how to lessen its unpredictability, Is stained glass the ugliest art?,the 3-step approach to preparing a stained glass design that really wins the client, stained glass drawing with nib and oil, tracing with vinegar, a checklist of stained glass painting tools and materials, how to fire-polish your etching and painting, stained glass painting with lead-free paints, stained glass silhouettes, does ancient glass get thicker at the bottom?, stained glass lettering, Gum Arabic, Shading and matting ...
And much else besides that is of special interest to kiln-firing glass painters. It’s all right here.
Technique-packed documentary DVDs - New
 Two technique-packed DVD documentaries: tracing, flooding, highlighting and silver staining, the essential practices.
The best and fastest way to learn is to watch and copy what works best, isn’t it?
That’s why these 2 DVDs will help everyone who wants to learn or improve their stained glass painting.
So see here for more information about these really useful glass painting DVDs.
Contact us here
For our address, telephone number and e-mail, just click here. For directions (but please ring before you visit), please click here for a map — a hand-drawn map, of course.
Our stained glass studio’s strengths
 We believe that we do our job well because of four particular strengths. Our original and inspired designs. Our ability to paint on glass in any style. Our unrestrained craftsmanship, which means we extend ourselves beyond the limits that others accept. And our ability to manage projects.
These four strengths mean that we maintain our love for what we do whilst always running the studio in an efficient way. That’s what creativity requires. (And we won’t be gainsaid on this point by would-be defenders of ersatz Romantic humbug who think that chaos and a fevered brow will do the trick. It won’t.)
Original and inspired designs
 We create stained glass designs and stained glass cartoons in the widest number of historic and contemporary styles from the simplest to the most ornate. Our draughtsmanship and our penmanship are superb. We design beautifully. We design for our own clients, such as architects, churches and private individuals. We also design for other stained glass studios in the United Kingdom and internationally. Click here for designs and cartoons.
Exquisite glass painting and silver-staining
 We paint exquisitely on glass, using an enormous variety of techniques and media. Our stained glass painting is therefore lovely to behold: rich, deep and powerful. We paint in many different styles, depending on what is needed to get the effect we want. Here, as an example, you see a family coat of arms we painted: a luminous, shining cockatrice on glass. This stained glass panel was a present from a son to his father on his father’s birthday: it sits stunningly in his father’s study. See here for pictures of our glass.
Craftsmanship
 We are attentive to every last detail. For example, we use beautiful handmade glass that can be prepared to our exact specification of colour. We use hand-milled lead which is infinitely preferable in texture to the standard machine-milled lead that other studios use. We also carve the lead in order to create the extraordinary shapes we often need. It follows that we even make our own cement rather than using an off-the-shelf preparation; this is to ensure that the ingredients and consistency are appropriate to each individual piece.
 So, whether you want a beautifully designed and painted stained glass window or an unpainted leaded light that is made from magnificent antique glass, our work is stunning – right down to the last detail, for example the twisted wrought iron bars which hold the window in place. Here, in our stained glass workshop, in Shropshire, UK, we make beautiful stained glass windows and leaded lights in all sizes and styles.
Studio and project management
 We are excellent at studio and project management. This is an essential part of how we succeed in making lovely stained glass objects. Our discipline and our technique coupled with our ability to run an efficient studio constitute the environment in which we can design and paint beautifully for you. It gives you peace of mind to know that we do what we say; and it’s the same peace of mind which allows us to devote ourselves to design and glass painting.
Techniques
And, if you would like to learn all about kiln-fired stained glass painting techniques, then sign up now for your e-mail newsletter:
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Find out more right here.
Williams & Byrne
Designers, Painters & Restorers of Glass
Telephone +44 (0) 1584 856724
Williams & Byrne Limited, Church Farm Studios, Stanton Lacy, Near Ludlow, Shropshire, UK, SY8 2AE
— Registered in England No. 5052911 VAT Registration No. 826 4837 05 —
E-mail studio@williamsandbyrne.com |
