Making and repairing fanlights
What is it?Restoring a fanlight – the small window over a door – involves replacing any cracked glass with mouth-blown cylinder glass and using glazing bars and lead mouldings to replace broken or missing parts of the metal profile of the fanlight and other decorative features. Dublin fanlights from the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian eras are often more detailed and elaborately decorated than those in London, Edinburgh, Bristol or Bath, and people are now more aware of their particular beauty and historical significance.
How is it done?First you outline the pattern on the new glass with a stained-glass pigment, and fire this in a kiln. Then you add each coloured detail and shading of the pattern, and fire the glass again. "The firing fuses each part of the pattern into the glass," says Alan Tomlin, who restores and makes fanlights (01-2956167, info@irishstainedglass.com), as well as restoring the sidelights around doors and other stained glass in period buildings. "It's important to match the design of the glasswork to the period of the house, and this can sometimes require research into other nearby houses where the stained glass hasn't been damaged." Tomlin also makes new fanlights, which can include stained glass, coloured glass or plain glass fitted into a decorative or simple frame, depending on the client's taste.
How long does it take?Tomlin, whose projects have included working on the Chapel Royal at Dublin Castle, restoring Harry Clarke's Eve of St Agnes window and making stained-glass windows for the chapel at Casement Aerodrome, needs about two weeks to repair or design and make a fanlight.
Where do I sign up?The apprenticeship approach to learning traditional crafts died out in the 1960s and 1970s. Opportunities to learn about skills such as fanlight restoration now depend on whether the few remaining practitioners decide to give workshops or seminars. No courses are currently available, but Tomlin will show examples of his work at the Irish Georgian Society's free Traditional Building and Conservation Skills in Action exhibition (01-6767053, igs.ie) at Farmleigh, in Phoenix Park in Dublin, on August 13th and 14th. Dublin Civic Trust (01-4756911, dublincivictrust.ie) is also a good place to seek out expert advice.
