Year: 2020

I was recently interviewed by an American podcast, True Tales from Old Houses, where I tell the story of how I got into this business of dealing in old window glass. I also explain the difference between British and American stained glass. If you have been thinking of buying from me you might be interested to listen to get to know me. I appear 13 minutes into the episode. https://www.truetalesfromoldhouses.com/richard-to-the-stained-glass-rescue/

The podcast series is a general fountain of knowledge/discussion for anyone interested in the history and preservation of old houses.

I have a desire to “flag” this design this weekend! It has sold but I can supply it made new to your required size using my bespoke service. This was made in size of 12″ x 15 3/4″ (303mm x 401mm). The following photos demonstrate the craft involved in making such a piece.

Stage 1 – design.

The flag on the right is the image we used for the basis of design. The left image is the final technical drawing. We chose a crumpled flag as it suits the small size but yours could be more unravelled or  completely linear.

Stage 2 – production – acid etched, handpainted and kiln fired.

Suncatcher or window panel?

It can have hooks soldered to the top for hanging but these can be snapped off for fitting into a window sash frame.

Other flag ideas

Click on images to enlarge.

Regular visitors to my website may notice some changes. For the past month I have been relisting all of my stock onto a new eCommerce platform (as well as adding lots of newly acquired stock which had been backlogged!)

The aim as always is to make it easier to find what you want within my ever increasing inventory. For instance, say the condition of the window you were looking for was “framed” and had to be “glass in perfect condition”, the size range had to be “650mm max length”, the style had to include a “tulip” flower pattern and the colour you wanted was “red”.  You will now find search filters for these attributes within my main windows category. Example:

You will find that I have created attributes for all sorts of styles such as “art deco”, “handpainted”… My biggest tip is that you’ll get a better experience on a desktop computer rather than any kind of handheld device! You will always find a desktop gives much better navigation of my site and allows greater appreciation of the photos. (If you have to use a phone/iPad, you’ll need to scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the filtering options).

 It is hoped the website is more clearly defined for my three market groups:

1. private buyers who just want “a window“
2. fixers/creatives who need spare parts
3. international trade buyers

Another thing I am very pleased about is that if you are viewing from one of the following countries/world zones you should be seeing the sale price in the same currency: USA, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Japan and Australia. 

If you are not seeing the sale price in your currency please let me know!

There will inevitably be teething trouble with my changes but overall I think it a vast improvement. There is now a shopping cart facility (hooray!) This is very convenient if you will be collecting multiple orders but it does not automatically calculate a discounted/combined shipping price for multiple orders. It simply adds the shipping prices into one total! Therefore you will still have to contact me for a combined price if it is likely the items are compatible for combined shipping.

I now exclusively operate as an online trading business (people can still collect after payment has been made). Hence I have made these improvements. In my opinion this is the future of antique dealing. If it was not changing before 2020 it sure has now!

The other reason I have opted to sell exclusively online is that I am disgusted with big online trading platforms like Ebay.  I am fed up with the condescending advertising campaigns such as “small businesses keeping the country going” and “in it together”. These multinationals are always pretending to be the friend of the artist (Etsy) and other types of small business. Like any big marketplace the owner takes advantage of consumer demand and changes the rules like a rug being pulled from under sellers’ feet. I could write a whole set of blog posts about this but will leave it here and just refer you to my PayPal blog earlier this year which touches on a similar theme.

Thanks for buying directly from small independent business!

This week I unwrapped this pair:

I had received as part of a job lot. When I purchased I thought the background (non coloured) glass was plain having seen poor quality photos from the seller. I thought at most I would be able to extract some nice coloured centre parts. I was delighted to find all the background pieces are small flemish!

To most people these look like tatty old window panels but to those of you who know your vintage glass you know this was discontinued from production decades ago. Common enough but hard to find in decent cut sizes. This pair contained 34 pieces in size 128 x 224mm!

It is surprises like this which maintain my addiction for dealing in salvage. Everything I buy is a gamble. If it was all lined with gold I would be rich but it would get boring.

I am selling the small flemish pieces as subsets of code S1083 which can be viewed on my small flemish page.

In 2010 something amazing came into my life. Something so beautiful and precious.

The above photo shows the first set of leaded light window sashes I ever acquired. One day I was at the local dump when I saw some fool throwing them away. I rescued as many as I could out of sentimentality not thinking of monetary value. It snowballed from there. As a hobby for next five years I bought and sold sets locally. Something else came into my life that year. Ten years on…

I now sell full-time as an internet order based business having discarded a well paid job with sick/holiday pay and a pension but happy as Larry shipping this stuff all over the world! I continue to add to my collection…

I had dreams of employing staff and renting expensive London showroom space. Now is the first time I feel lucky not to be in that situation.

Working from home has never been that bad. Of course there is someone else very special who helps make home/work/life bearable but she is behind the camera!

2020 is poignant for another reason. If you regard “antiques” to mean something 100 years old or older then more of my stock, particularly the framed leaded toplights as shown below, can now be classed as such. This style was made between the 1920s – 1960s.

Most are still for sale. From top left R1016c, R1063a, B1063a, B1063b, R1018a, R1018b, R1018c, R944a, R1003d sunray from a set of five. Incidentally none are from the dump. I paid for these!

As always I have salvaged doors and hundreds of salvaged windows listed for sale on my website. In the past five years I started offering a bespoke service whereby something can be made new to your exact size. Explore! https://leadedstainedglass.com/

Having always traded as an internet order business there is little difference to how I am operating in the current circumstances. To demonstrate this thought I would show everything I have packaged and despatched this week. Unless stated otherwise all packages were sent to the USA, using FedEx.

R1058b to Cookeville, TN

S1012e classic Victorian door panels to Madison, IN

S1076 antique painted bird to Waco, TX, using UPS

R1003d two packs consisting of a set of seven to Tain, Scotland using Menzies Highlands and Islands:

R970b to Denver, CO (incidentally I have another of these in stock, click here for details)

R944b to Puyallup, WA (I also have another of these in stock, click here for details)

R1036a to Peterhead, Scotland using Parcelforce:

There are only so many hours in the day for packaging. For deliveries within England sometimes I arrange for Alex, an independent courier, to collect and deliver directly to my customers. Here are two orders collected today. I left them in the back of my car so Alex could collect without there being any need for contact. This is the same policy for anyone who wants to arrange their own collection.

That’s it, but it’s only Thursday! The small difference to my normal operation is I cannot have people over for viewings at the moment. That service was always limited due to the lack of space I have, given that I operate from a three bedroom house!

As always my website lists hundreds of window panels to choose from and doors. Explore!

While the parcel courier companies are still collecting I am still shipping! Here’s one I packaged today.

It is going to Washington State.

And continuing the shipping theme. Here’s a sturdy ship!

I already have a wooden box made for it so ready to set sail! R849b – click here for more info including payment method.

Please would you follow me on Instagram and share at least one of my posts? https://www.instagram.com/cannglass/ #cannglass

This blog post will continue to show the “latest view from window” and other articles with direct links to stock. The trouble with Instagram is it does not allow links within its posts so not great for direct marketing but it does seem good for raising general awareness. On Instagram I will just post photos of my latest favourites but as always everything can be viewed on my website in size and style order.

Thanks for your support.

For sizes and prices please click on below links.
WINDOW SILL FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: R1033b, R1014, R1016k, R1033a, R1016f.
ON THE TABLE: R1036a, R1032f.