Stained Glass Window Project

October, 2008

Our Church Windows

Unless you have been absent from church lately, you know that our board of trustees, in response to the concerns of our members, has decided to commit it’s efforts to replacing the painted glass church windows with actual stained glass. Our good fortune to be able to acquire the complete stock of a glass shop going out of business was an amazing start to our project. We were also able to get the temporary use of the old Moore Appliance building as a place to begin work.

How can I help?? You may personally help with your TIME, TALENT and GIFTS to this project. As we have stated before, the success of our volunteering and funding efforts will ultimately determine the success of our project. Della and Mel Stephenson, who have a long background in stained glass projects, have agreed to supervise our efforts. Please let them know if you might be interested in helping out. We anticipate posting a dedication list which includes the names of past (or present) members and families to which we could dedicate a window. One could then dedicate any amount toward that window. We are open to suggestions as to who to include on the list.

September, 2008

OUR CHURCH WINDOWS

The beautiful painted windows in our church which we enjoy every Sunday have been a part of our church experience for many years. However, those of you who help clean our church know that one of the chores in cleaning the san

ctuary is picking up and vacuuming the peeled paint that is continually falling from the windows. The Trustees of the church have been discussing for the last year or so about what to do. Repainting has not been a good solution because it doesn’t look as good as the original and the sun’s ultraviolet rays continue to remove the paint as fast as we put it on. It was recently decided that perhaps now is the time to take the major step of constructing and installing real stained “glass” windows. It turns out that we have some expertise in the art right here in our church. Della and Mel Stephenson have worked with stained glass for years. Others in the community have also expressed interest in supporting and helping the project.

A positive sign occurred this week when church member, Elaine Marricle, noticed in the paper that a stained glass shop was going out of business in Albuquerque and all of their glass along with tables, tools and equipment are for sale at a nominal price. We will be picking up these materials this Saturday.

Although building stained glass windows is not a small nor an inexpensive undertaking, doing the work ourselves can make it possible. The job will, undoubtedly, take several years and we will need a great deal of support and encouragement from our church. We expect to fund the project through donations and memorials for loved ones.

We will be starting on one of the back windows in the next few weeks. Please consider asking how you can help.

Earlier this year (August, 2008), our board of trustees decided that the maintenance necessary to keep our painted glass windows in the church looking good was becoming futile. The sun’s rays, especially on the south side windows, made it next to impossible to keep paint on the figures and the multiple touch-ups detracted from the windows beauty. Therefore, the trustees voted to do whatever it takes to replace the windows with stained glass. This is a huge undertaking for our church and we expect the project to take several years. Please consider donating your time and/or resources to this worthwhile project for our church.

Perhaps the best way to present and keep up with the project’s progress is to reproduce, below, the newsletter articles over the past months.

Stained Glass Project

The stained glass project is underway and more people are getting involved. One big and important event was the naming of a panel of interested people to determine what exactly we are going to do. The panel will decide on the specific themes and style of the scenes. This will include determining to keep some of the more modern scenes or making all biblical or church scenes. We will also need a decision on how to structure the scenes. Della and I have some ideas we would like to share with the panel and provide some suggestions made by Kyle and Erin of Albuquerque Art Glass located at 405 Montano Rd. NE. Kyle is a professional artist (my words) who does beautiful work and is very knowledgeable of glass painting and firing to make the paint last for a thousand years (his words). He also teaches from beginner stained glass up to painting on stained glass and fusing glass for effects. Della and I think it would be a good idea if one person would

take the class on stained glass painting and then come back and teach other interested people working on our project. Kyle suggested that we look at stained glass windows in other churches (St. Michaels on Montano Rd. about a half block west of 4th. Della and I did go see the church and were not impressed with the style of most of the face features but the concept was fine.

Della and I have started an interior window (in the partition at the back) to show an example of how it would look. The photo shows the progress which is about 2/3 complete of having the glass installed. Then we need to solder all joints and put in putty. We will then copper and/or black patina, as appropriate, the came (lead/zinc parts). The photos below shows Della at work on the diamond grinder putting the finishing touch on the glass edge and some of our tools and work place.Glass Working Tools

Phil Levy and Jason Fastnacht have put-up scaffolding in back of the sanctuary in preparation for stripping the windows in the back and making patterns of each window. After the blank patterns are made, Della and some of the other helpers will make specific patterns of how the glass will be arranged with the color and other details in accordance with the decisions made by the review panel. Then the real work begins of making a “cut pattern” to stick and orient on the glass for cutting the glass. Then comes the really fun work which is beginning to assemble the glass in the metal (zinc) frame and making alterations to each piece so that it fits in its proper place. There are several more steps that are required before the basic window is completed and will be discussed in a workshop before helpers begin the process of making the windows. We will also be discussing the techniques for getting the desired detail on each piece of glass and how the overall window is installed in the church window frames.

I hope this has been helpful in trying to show the enormous task that is before us, but with the help of the many volunteers and the donations that we expect, the job will get done. Just do not expect the job to be completed in a month or two as it could easily take as much as a year or two.

Mel

Glass Working Tools

Della Stephenson shaping glass

November, 2008

Stained Glass Project

There has been progress in the stained glass project as the first interior window has been completed and installed. Phil Levy has finished stripping the paint on the first set of windows and will be applying stain shortly. The sketches for these two windows, Jesus in the Garden and a Methodist Cross, has been completed and the pattern making will start shortly after the Stained Glass Panel meeting to discuss the path forward. In addition, Della and Mel have finished the glass inventory and sorting the glass by color and design.

Three people, Ruthie Moon, Jan Cool, and Mel Stephenson have signed-up to take a class on stained glass painting and firing on November 11, 2008 in Albuquerque. Each participant has offered to pay their own class fees, which will save the church $750.00. They will lead in all our painting needs and teach others that may be interested in glass painting. This technique of painting stained glass and then firing the glass will make the painting as permanent as the glass itself. Firing of the glass will be done in the kiln at the same place where we take the training at a cost of $15.00 per firing.

We are hoping to start working at the glass shop (“Shaw’s Cafe” on Main Street) Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays starting next week, November 3, 2008 from 9:00 AM to about 4:00 PM This will give those that want to help an opportunity to get in some meaningful time.

-Mel

FUNDING OUR WINDOW PROJECT

Our Board of Trustees has decided the most appropriate way to fund our Stained Glass Window Project is through memorial contributions. This will make it possible for members and friends of the church to create a lasting tribute to celebrate the life of a loved one who has passed away or to honor a friend or loved one. Your tax deductible donation,

whether or not you remember or honor someone, will help purchase the glass, tools, and supplies necessary to complete our church windows replacement project. There are about 50 windows to be replaced of greatly varying sizes and complexity. Therefore, the cost per window varies greatly, probably from around $300 to $600. Because of this wide cost variability, we will not be “selling windows.” but just taking donations for the project. Memorials and honorees will be placed on brass plaques near the window sills at the base of the window groupings.

If you would like to make a tax deductible Memorial or Honor Donation to the Stained Glass Window Project please send your donation, payable to: the Estancia Untied Methodist Church along with: (1) your complete mailing address to receive a receipt, (2) the name (as you would like to have it read) of the person you are remembering or honoring i.e., “In Honor of Mary Smith” or, “In Memory of Mary Smith” and (3) make a notation that your contribution is for the Stained Glass Project.

Please mail your donation along with the appropriate information to:

Estancia United Methodist Church

Board of Trustees

P. O. Box 126

Estancia, NM 87016

Mel Stephenson installing the first stained glass window!

December, 2008

Stained Glass Project

The stained glass project is progressing very well.

Ruth Moon and I have just completed a stained glass painting class and completed the face, hands, and one visible foot of Jesus in the garden window. Other major accomplishments are:

• Bill Simms has built two work tables and three project boards (all are currently in use). He is now working on a third

table.

• Don Fitzner and Gary are replacing two eight-foot light fixtures that did not work as well as a light switch in the restroom. Don also provided a small refrigerator.

• Jan Cool bought a new microwave oven so we can heat water and snacks. Della provided a coffee maker and small refrigerator.

• The “Methodist Cross” window is about 50% complete. This means all the glass is cut and half of the glass and came has been assembled. The window should be ready for installation in about a week or so.

• The Nativity scene window, being worked on primarily by Jan Cool, is about 25% complete. We are trying to have this window complete by Christmas. Jan thinks this is a very ambitious schedule, but I like to set goals high for us and with God‘s help we can do it.

• Della has just started the “Jesus in the Garden” window.

•
•Phil Levy has finished stripping and staining the “Methodist Cross” and “Jesus in the Garden” window frames and is well along on the Nativity scene windows.
•

• The faces and hands (14 total pieces) of the Nativity scene have been sketched by Ruth Moon and I have cut all the glass so Ruth can start painting the pieces.

• The Church Fantasy Bazaar resulted in over $600.00 for the project. The team made a number of stained glass items that sold-out at the Bazaar.

• Pastor Spooner continues to help out in many ways from cutting out patterns, helping select glass, and assembling tools.

As you can see a lot is going on and a lot of people need to be thanked for their participation and contributions to the project.

Also be watching for a write-up in the East Mountain Telegraph in the next couple of weeks. A journalist is coming next Monday, December 9, 2008 to do a story on the project. This will give us an opportunity to tell our story that this a community project and everyone is encouraged to contribute in some way.

-Mel Stephenson

Mel Stephenson, Della Stephenson and

Jan Cool measuring for new windows

Children making “Stained Glass Windows” in Sunday School

Volunteers Tackle Church's Stained Glass

Replacing all 53 windows will likely take 4 years

By Laura Nesbitt

Mpuntain View Telegraph

Thursday, 11 December 2008 09:31

A handful of people have committed to what may be a lengthy project to install stained glass windows in the Estancia United Methodist Church.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ABOUT OUR GLASS PROJECT APPEARING IN THE MOUNTAIN VIEW TELEGRAPH ON DECEMBER 11, 2008

"It's just a hairline crack so we left it in. It gives it character."

But most of the time, she added, if a piece breaks they throw it out and begin again.

"You just have to work through it. You just start over," Della Stephenson said.

About half of the time consuming process is taken up with preparing a pattern for the image, Mel Stephenson said.

Marcia Fitzner sat cutting and placing small stained glass pieces into a puzzle-like image using bent lead. Fitzner walked over to a grinder several times to perfect the curve of one piece.

"No wonder they charge so much for these things," Fitzner said.

Even choosing the correct color sometimes takes Della Stephenson several days.

According to Mel Stephenson, glass has a grain not unlike wood and ignoring the grain in one piece can ruin an entire design.

The group hopes to partially finish the centerpiece image, a representation of the Nativity Scene, on a large window at one end of the church in time for the Christmas holiday.

Designing, painting and assembling the pieces of stained glass into various religious scenes for 53 windows in the church will probably take at least four years, said Mel Stephenson, parishioner and Torrance County planning and zoning board chairman.

The stained glass windows will replace previously installed painted windows from 1958, according to church material. The paint is peeling on the window scenes which were repainted by Ray Darnell just two years ago.

The largest windows in the church are composed of several windows and stand about 20 feet high. The group paints faces, hands and feet on the characters in the scenes which are made up of individual pieces of stained glass. Once the entire scene is completed, it is fired in a kiln in Albuquerque. Stephenson and the group began the project about a month ago after a go-ahead by the church's board of trustees, who had been trying to convince Della, Stephenson's wife who has experience working with stained glass, to take on the project. "She's been putting them off because it's a really big job. But one of the ladies in the church saw an advertisement on the Internet. Some guy was selling glass. He sold them all his stuff for $1,000," Stephenson said.

Getting the stained glass jump-started the project. Then Larry and Patsy Gustin let the group have what was once the Rexall Drug Store in exchange for payment of utilities, so they began in earnest.

On Monday, Della Stephenson walked around giving helpful hints to a group who had assembled at the old drug store.

Even Della admits that she struggles when the glass breaks.

"I had one break on me on Saturday," she said.

Nick Griffo helps to unload tons of glass