Glass collection

Enamelled glass vessels in the V&A: by Karel Vanura 1959, Francois Eugene Rousseau 1878, Ludwig Sutterlin 1904.

Where could I go for tips on painted glass vessels but the glass gallery at the V&A ? I liked the flower goblets for the shape of the painting, the fish vase for the fine detail, and everything about the vessel on the left by the Czech artist Karel Vanura.

At home I have my own glass gallery, including a set of beakers, below right. From the sets I find in charity shops I keep one on the shelf and use the others - I prefer the feel of the small thin ones in my hand. I'm just at the stage of experimenting with enamels on old jars, bottles and beakers for a range of glassware that will use my Kelmscott shapes with inspiration from Karel Vanura.

Some of the first tests and part of my collection of beakers.

Brown and yellow windows

The first panels I made at The Royal College of Art (Albert Hall in the background) in 1983

Painting on glass is to me the most interesting aspect of stained glass. When I was a student at the RCA before I developed my own way of using glass enamels I used the traditional glass painters' opaque iron oxide and yellow silver stain. 

Imagine my amazement when I went to the V&A last year and saw that some windows had appeared using these same techniques and on the back of rolled plate glass, usually used in industrial buildings. These were commissioned when the V&A opened from William Bell Scott (friend of DGR & WM) but were already out of fashion by 1910-13 when they were removed and stored.

Two of four staircase windows by William Bell Scott in the V&A made from 1867-9

I saw an example of these same painting techniques in a series of four leaded windows to Noble Women in the Lady Chapel of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. They were made by Powell and Sons between 1910 & 1920, lovely design, lovely subject matter including Christina Rossetti on the right, below.