This is a gem! A short film (2.5 minutes) showing Dalle de verre being made.
If you aren’t sure what Dalle de verre is they’re like chunky mosaics. It’s the technique of sawing or breaking thick (3cm /1.2 inches) coloured slabs of glass with a hammer then chipping the edges to make a lovely refracted light on the edges. What fun!
They’re then cemented in place with a liquid cement, left for three weeks before being held up to the light in all their glory.
The technique was invented in the 1930s, and this film is from 1956. These days, the glass is held in place with resin, but there are still construction difficulties with this type of window…
…they tend to leak!
P.S. We DO NOT speak like this in the UK 🙂
Thank you Millie I have just been into Coventry Cathedral this afternoon and wondering how the fabulous glass was made. So it was perfect to see this film today.
What brilliant timing! I’m so glad you got to see it in the flesh. Since I wrote this page, something amazing happened to me… I had the opportunity to have some of the original dalles made for the Coventry and Liverpool schemes! They’re now taunting me as I don’t have all the tools needed for this technique. They’re gorgeous just to look at, and their history adds to that 🙂
hi Millie, When I come to England I always go to churches and I went to 1 church where I actually met 1 of the specialists that made 1 of the dalle de verre windows and spoke about them. Naturally ,when he told me what the weight of the finished item was I was astounded at how they would have put it into position. Amazing ! Thanks for reminding me.
That’s exciting Alan; there are so few people who use this technique these days. What a lucky day that was 🙂
Ruth Adams (Stained Glass UK – Facebook), posted a video about the Baptistry Window at Coventry Cathedral so I was looking for more information about Dalle de Verre and up you popped! Thank you Milly!
How funny!!! Glad you found the video and me. Hope you’re well 🙂