Making a window

The cartoon

The process starts with the creation of the cartoon which is a full-colour image of the chosen design. I use Dragonfly Software's Glass Eye in order to achieve the best results and to give me the flexibility to easily change any aspect of the design, including the colours and textures of the glass.

The mock-up

The cartoon is superimposed onto a photograph of the client's window space. In this case the window was lacking a frame as the house was being refurbished following a fire, but it does give some idea of what the finished window will look like. I have given the cartoon a degree of transparency in order to achieve a more realistic finish.

The cutline diagram

This is a full-sized print-out of the cartoon, minus all the colour detail, showing the exact size and shape of each piece of glass and the position of the leads. It is initially used as a template to cut out all the pieces, then to correctly position the leads during the construction process.

The finished window

Not a million miles away from the mock-up. The colours are always more vibrant in the finished article, but would look different again depending on what time of day the photograph was taken depending on the sun's angle and whether it was sunny or cloudy.