Not many people realise that often, when a stained glass panel has been damaged or broken into pieces, it can be ‘conserved’ rather than ‘restored’.
The difference between the two terminology are that in ‘Conservation’ , we aim to preserve all pieces of the original glass by using various techniques of ‘gluing’ the glass together, and in ‘Restoration’, usually any badly broken panes are replaced with newly painted ones.
Which method you decide to use depends on the value of the glass – not just in monetary terms, but also in historical importance and sentimental value.
All repairs in Conservation, however, are fully reversible and are are never seen as a permanent option. The benefit of this is that the original glass is always preserved for years to come.
Below is an example of a small pane which was conserved for a window at Oxon Church. The window itself, being made up of Victorian pressed glass, was in a very bad condition with numerous breaks and missing glass. Althought pressed glass was quite common in its day as being a cheaper alternative to traditional stained glass, they are now a rarity and are historically important to keep.
Pictures show the round pane in-situ, with a piece missing to the centre and numerous cracks, then the fully conserved pane after a new piece has been inserted (original piece was missing and therefore could not be used). Once the pieces are glued together, they are then ‘back-plated’ to provide support to the pane and to provide protection from the weather.
