Butterfly Glass Panels and Sun Catchers

At the start of stained glass's thousand-year history it was used exclusively for windows of churches and other prominent buildings. Designing and building a window required both artistic and architectural knowledge. The windows were weighty requiring good support.

The earliest examples of colored window glass dating back to 800-820 AD, were recovered during excavations of the Abbey of San Vicenzo in Italy. But it was the church and cathedral building campaigns that brought stained glass into the lime-light. are the Prophet Windows in Augsburg Cathedral. They purportedly date back to 1065 AD.
Huge cathedrals with impressive stained glass windows came into being in most major cities. Many windows stood the test of time. The

Making Glass

Glass is colored by adding metallic salts during its manufacture. The colored glass is then cut into small pieces and fitted into pictures. They are held together with strips of lead. A rigid frame adds to the support.

Today stained glass is more often framed and hung in front of a window than to be the window itself. The pictures are beautiful. I prefer them hung in front of the window but they're beautiful on the wall as well.

Stained glass is often used in lamp shades, nightlights, and votive candle holders. I found a stained glass lamp shade at a collectables shop several years ago. It is one of my prized posessions...