Stained glass has more than one thousand years of history. It is commonly used in glass windows of churches, cathedrals, chapels and other religious buildings. There are many stained glass windows design in churches that is based on religious figures. Today, stained glass designs are no longer limited to religious figures, and its application has found its way into many other items, such as in lamp shades.

Stained glass obtains its color from the addition of metallic salts during when it is being manufactured. The traditional stained glass windows consist of arranging many small pieces of color glasses into a big window pane. It is certainly not an easy task. All the small pieces of glasses are held together by strips of leads, which in turn is supported by a frame. Painted details are then added to enhance its design.

It requires high artistic skill to design, assemble and craft out the glasses that when stick together could fit into the space as it is intended for. That is the reason why in the past, stained glass is used only in churches. The reason is because only churches could well afford to engage and pay for such artisans. Artisans will sometimes take decades or hundreds of years to finish a master piece. Many of these stained glass windows produced during the Middle Ages still exist today.

Stained glass becomes a wall decoration when it is illuminated by light. It control the quantity of light that comes in. It is one of the major form of pictorial art that had survived in Western Europe. Many stained glass are pictorial and  drawn from bible, literature history and consists of saints and patrons. The designs can be non-pictorial too, in the case of repeating patterns.

It was in the 10th and 11th century, that stained glass began to flourish as an art. At locations where silica could be readily found, glass factories would be set up to produce stained glasses. Silica forms a major constituent of glasses and stained glass obtains its color from the addition of metallic salt when it is still in its molten state. Different type of metals will produce different color when added to the molten glass.

Cylinder glass techniques were made by collecting glass from the pot and formed into a molten ball and blown. This forms a large cylindrical shape of even diameter with even wall thickness. It will then be cut open, laid flat and made stable. The cylinder glass is the most common type of stained glass used in ancient stained glass windows.

In another technique called the crown glass technique, glass is partly blown into a hollow vessel. Then, it will be placed on a table that revolves and it is spun in a rapid manner. The molten glass will flatten and spread outwards. This is then cut into small pieces. These are usually used in small pane windows of the houses during the 16th and 17th century.

There are other techniques such as the tabled glass and the flashed glass. Many glass factories throughout Europe and US still use the traditional method to produce very high quality of stained glasses. Usually, if a restoration of ancient stained glasses is required, stained glasses will be sought from these factories. Modern stained glasses factories usually just use commercially produced glasses.

It is not easy to create stained glass windows. The dimensions of the window has to be accurately obtained so that the finished product could easily fit in within the space. The theme of the stained glass has to be suitable too and at many time, a smaller design piece will be prepared before producing the actual stained glass window.

Iron rods are usually used to support the weight of the window. Stained glass windows are tied to the rod using copper wires. Very large windows are usually divided into smaller piece windows and supported with metal frame. Most large painted windows during the Baroque era uses this method.

Stained glass had developed throughout the centuries. From 1300 onwards, silver stain is made available through the use of silver nitrate. These are not added during the molten states but painted on the glass and then fired to make it permanent. Silver stain will produce yellow effect and it is extremely useful when it comes to enhancing borders, and also for changing some color.

By 1450, flesh tones were enhanced with a stain known as Cousin’s rose. By 1600s, pictures of stained glasses were painted on square size glass panels resembling tiles. These are then assembled onto metal frame.

Now, many innovations of techniques have been used and many types of glasses have been developed for stained glass. As stained glass has found its popularity even into homes, many home owner are looking for more convenient way to have the effect stained glasses in their house. One innovative product is the stained glass window film that can be easily stick to glass windows.