Contemporary stained glass from the studio of Amy McCarthy
I have just finished this dinky panel for a back door in Yeovil. The customer has recently renovated the house and this is the finishing touch to his new kitchen.
The customer came up with a design idea and I adapted it to work as a leaded window. I made the glass for the wave in my kiln from crushed glass which is called frit and the surfer is has been painted with enamels and popped in the kiln too.
This little panel is off to its home – a newly made front door. The surfers are the customers children and this is a favourite holiday spot of theirs.
The panel is made using traditional leading techniques and kiln fired glass enamels.
This is a new piece, commissioned for a 1920’s front door for a period house in
Exmouth.
My client wanted
the local landscape and beach huts as a theme and I enhanced this seaside theme more by acid etching and etching shells into some of the glass border.
Acid etching was the first surface technique I learned and it remains one of my favourite effects. The way that the texture – and therefore light transmission of the glass is altered is both subtle and effective and is very useful for adding close up detail without making the overall design too ‘busy’. To add a contemporary twist I have fired the photograph of Exmouth Beach huts onto glass in my kiln and this modern process gives a contrast to the traditional leading and etching.
