Making the pattern, choosing the glass.

June 14, 2015

Fabrication of the Holocaust Memorial Window begins with the enlarging of the pattern to the full size, choosing the colors, cutting the glass and laying the cut pieces out on a duplicate full-size pattern.

Michelle begins by tracing the full-size blueprint onto drafting paper.

Working from the computer rendering, Michelle assigns each space on the pattern a color.

Michelle lays out the cut glass on a duplicate pattern.

Cutting the glass

June 19, 2015

Glass cutting proceeds one piece at a time. A piece of glass is placed on the pattern and Michelle scores and breaks out each shape, placing the finished pieces on a duplicate copy of the pattern.

Michelle cuts out a piece of the window by placing a piece of glass on top of the pattern and scoring it with her glass cutter.

Michelle at the glass cutting table

Michelle lays a piece of the window on the duplicate pattern.

The cut pieces laid out on a duplicate pattern.

Scoring the glass.

Glass cutting continues

June 21, 2015

Michelle continues to cut the glass and placing them on the duplicate pattern, where the lay-out, slowly grows. Scoring the glass requires precision and quite a bit of pressure. Cutting 100 pieces or more a day is arduous and hard on the body.

Michelle scores a piece of glass for the Holocaust Memorial Window.

Two hands are required to apply enough pressure to score the glass.

Completed pieces laid out on the a duplicate pattern.

Michelle checks a piece against the pattern.

The lay-out grows.

Preparation of pieces for painting

June 22, 2015

Following the cutting of the glass pieces for the window, all of the pieces which are going to need text applied are prepared for painting.

The finished lay out with all the glass pieces cut.

Michelle places the pieces which are being prepared for painting onto the resist from which a mask will be cut.

Trimming off the excess resist.

Burnishing on the resist to assure a secure adhesion of the resist to the glass.

Glass pieces, masked with resist await the application of the design.

Glass arrives

June 24, 2015

Today we took delivery of a crate of special order glass from New York for the Bima Windows in the sanctuary of Congregation Beth Israel.

The driver neatly transfers the 400# crate of antique glass from his truck to ours.

Final edits

July 2, 2015

All of the text, especially Hebrew text, needs to be reviewed by Rabbi Kahn, before the lettering is applied to the surface of the glass and fired on. To the right is the image for the layout of the center Hebrew passage

Site Visit 6-30-15

July 3, 2015

On June 30th, we came to Scottsdale with our cabinet maker, Mike Deegan to take final dimensions for the stained glass and ark interior. We met with Rabbi Kahn, at the ark and with Gail Baer to discuss final edits for the text on the Holocaust Memorial Window. In addition, we met at the temple with Scott LaZar, our steel fabricator, who will make the new doors for the ark. Newt Grover, a local Scottsdale glass blower will be creating the new Ner Tamid and he joined us at the temple also, last Tuesday.

Cutting the Resist

July 4, 2015

More pieces are prepared for painting. The lay out for the text is transferred to the individual pieces of glass and the resist is cut out to expose the parts of the glass that are to receive the paint.

Silk Screening with Alan

July 16, 2015

The small text at the bottom of the composition is applied to the panel by creating a photo resist and silk screening the glass paint directly onto the glass. This is a delicate process which requires an exact balance between the viscosity of the paint and the coarseness of the mesh on the screen. We turn to silk screen artist Alan Thurston,who works with us in his studio to achieve the perfect result.

Michelle prepares the paint in Alan Thurston's silk screen studio.

Alan burns the screen and tapes off the edges after affixing it to the manual screen printer.

The glass to be silk screened is placed on the table and registration marks are placed around it.

Alan checks the orientation of the screen and the glass before beginning the painting.

The piece of glass awaits he final preparation of the tools and the paint.

The glass paint is carefully added to the screen.

The paint is carefully and repeatedly squeegeed through the screen onto the glass.

Alan pulls the squeegee across a second coarser screen to achieve denser paint application.

Michele holds up the piece of glass with the still wet paint successfully applied in the right density to it, ready to be put into the kiln and fired on permanently.

Assembly Begins

July 18, 2015

Now that all the pieces have been cut and the text has been painted and fired on, the assembly of the window begins. Using the traditional method of lead caming, the glass pieces are added one at a time and a matrix of lead channel is created to hold the pieces together.

The first few pieces of the window leaded together.

David adds a piece to the assembly, carefully assessing the fit to the pattern.

Lead and glass are held in place temporarily with glazing nails.

Small adjustments are made to a glass piece using the glass grinder.

Meanwhile, Michelle begins to make the full-size patterns for the Bima windows, for the main sanctuary at Congregation Beth Israel.

Assembly Continues

July 20, 2015

Assembly continues on the Holocaust Memorial Window as David adds pieces of glass and lead. At the same time, Michelle begins cutting out the first off the Bima windows.

David carefully measures the length for a piece of lead channel during the assembly of the Holocaust Memorial panel.

Aligning the glass pieces exactly to the pattern.

Progress on the assembly.

David fits pieces of glass into the assembly, one at time.

Michelle cuts glass for the first of the Bima windows.

Pieces for the first Bima window are laid out on a duplicate pattern in preparation for assembly.

Assembly Continues

July 25, 2015

The labor-intensive process of marking, grinding and fitting pieces into the assembly continues.

The partially assembled panel, held in place with glazing nails, on the pattern.

Detail of progress on the assembly of the center section of the panel.

David marks a piece for small changes to fit it exactly into its place on the pattern.

Once marked, the shape of the piece is altered, slightly, using a diamond glass grinder.

After grinding, the glass piece is checked again for fit and inserted into the channel, fitting precisely inside the lines on the pattern.

As pieces are added, the panel grows.

Assembly Complete

July 28, 2015

Assembly of the window is completed and the project is now ready to be soldered together.

The completed assembly.

Detail of the completed panel shows all the dirt and debris of construction still present on the panel.

Soldering, Glazing and Cleaning

August 2, 2015

After the window is soldered together, putty is forced under the channel to make the panel rigid and waterproof. This is called "glazing."

Meanwhile, Michelle continues to cut out pieces for the panels surrounding the ark.

The completed assembly is soldered and cleaned before glazing.

A section of the soldered window.

Detail of the window showing the soldering joints on the lead came.

David putties the window after it has been soldered and steel-wooled.

Special glazing putty is pushed under the channel around each piece of the window, in order to fill and spaces in the lead and make the panel rigid.

Pushing putty.

David uses the vacuum cleaner several times in the process of cleaning up after puttying.

Michelle breaks out a large piece.

Michelle pushing the glass cutter over the pattern to break out one more piece for the Bima windows.

Michelle in the glass-cutting studio.

Reinforcement

Steel re-bars are cut to size and bent to conform with existing lines of the design and then soldered to the back of the window.

Steel re-bars project from the back of the soldered and glazed panel.

Detail shows network of reinforcement lines.

Close up of steel re-bars.

As assembly of one of the Bima windows begins.

Michelle continues to cut glass.

The completed Holocaust Memorial Window awaits final cleaning.

Work Continues

August 4, 2015

The Holocaust Memorial Window now completed awaits installation into the frame with LED light panel.

The second half-size Holocaust Memorial is being cut out and laid on a duplicate pattern.

Bima Window panels are being assembled as the cutting is completed.

The completed Holocaust Memorial Window.

The second, half-size Holocaust Memorial is being cut out.

One of the Bima windows is under construction in the assembly room.

Michelle, hard at work, cutting glass.

Two assembled Bima panels await glazing.

Michelle lays out more of the second Holocaust Memorial Panel.

Completion of the Holocaust Memorial

August 21, 2015

The Holocaust Memorial window is assembled into the wood frame along with an etched glass diffusion screen and the lighted LED panel, the whole being crated and readied for delivery to Scottsdale.

The completed Holocaust Memorial window lies on a table in the assembly room

The Holocaust Memorial window is installed into its frame and the etched glass diffusion screen is placed in behind it.

The lighted LED panel is placed behind the diffusion screen and the back placed on the frame.

The Holocaust Memorial window photographed with the LED lighting turned on.

Work continues on the small Holocaust Memorial

August 24, 2015

The half-size Holocaust Memorial for the Chapel is under construction in the studio. This panel is being assembled using the copper foil method in order to achieve a finer lead line and more delicate overall look.

The smaller Holocaust Memorial is all cut out and assembled except for the painted text and the top and bottom of the composition.

Using the copper foil method of assembly allows us to achieve a thinner and more delicate line for this smaller version of the Holocaust Memorial.

Working on the Bima Windows

August 23, 2015

Michelle is working on all of the Bima Windows, choosing all the glass and cutting the difficult large pieces from the glass specially made for us by the blowers, at Lamberts, in Waldsassen.

Work proceeds on the Bima Windows

August 26, 2015

David and Michelle are working through the twelve panels surrounding the ark at Congregation Beth Israel. Michelle is cutting the large select pieces of glass and David is assembling panels, soldering and glazing.