St Michaels and All Angels, a large, beautiful church in Dallas, Texas, has been one of our great clients for many years. We’ve completed several works in restoration as well as new work throughout the years and we’d like to showcase the gorgeous church and our contributions! Check out what we’ve completed in the past, as well as what we’re working on currently!
ABOUT THE CHURCH
St. Michaels and All Angels humbly began in 1945 when Right Reverend Harry Tunis Moore, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas, and a group of individuals decided to establish an Episcopal church for the growing area of New Dallas. Though the church began it’s initial meetings in the Boys Club of the YMCA all those years ago, they have since built their own sanctuary, as well as a two-story church school building for educational programs to house their massive congregation and church community. The church has continued to expand in square footage and attendance since it’s inception, and Stanton Studios has been working alongside them for many years to help make the church even more beautiful by adding new stained glass work to the new spaces, and restoring the original stained glass work from the church’s beginnings.
Stanton Studios has worked on several projects for this church in the past, including designing and creating new works, as well as completing restoration and maintenance projects. In the sanctuary itself, we designed and created the entire lower left wall of stained glass to match the rest of the glass that already existed in the church. The new work is made of 24 panels of glass, and our designer and bench craftsmen did a fantastic job of making artwork that is complimentary to the rest of the sanctuary. The artwork style is modern, and there are several abstract images in the glass, including birds, and mountains.
Outside the children’s chapel, we created four custom doors of cast glass that have 3-D iridescent angels made of cast glass. Our designer worked closely with a member of the church, who actually drew out the original rendering of the angels that would be featured in the door. Molds were made of the head, wings, and hands, and the glass was shaped and slumped in our kiln, resulting in a gorgeously unique 3-D effect. There are five other iridescent angel doors throughout St. Michaels that were made in the same style and in a similar fashion. They really are a sight to see!
In addition to creating custom, new works for the church, Stanton Studios has also helped to restore stained glass windows to their former glory. Inside of the children’s chapel, there are bright blue windows that line the sides of the church that have a gorgeous painted center. Our bench craftsmen took these windows, restored them, and added on to the restored windows! The original window was expanded by a blue border on all sides, and we managed to match the glass color and style to expand the original windows and create the effect that the windows had always been larger than they originally were! Not only does the original center section of the window look like new again, but the outermost section of the window matches perfectly!
Our Current Project
Currently, we are working on restoring a large wall of glass that is located in the choir loft in the back of the church. Illuminating the choir loft, there are seventy panels of brightly colored glass that we have begun removing. In conjunction with Landmark Contracting, we have started the process of taking out the stained glass, packing it up in crates, and taking back to our studio!
Once the glass has come into our shop, we make rubbings of each panel before disassembling them and cleaning the glass pieces. We then will begin the process of building the stained glass together again with new lead, and soldering the joints to make it sturdy. After this, the windows will be grouted, buffed, and cleaned so they can be sent back to the church and installed.
When we first received the church windows, they were suffering from water damage due to water infiltration, breaks in the glass, and lead fatigue. The images below show the beginning processes of how we restore the glass, as well as give a glimpse of the condition that these windows are in. From left to right, the images below show our craftsmen creating a rubbing, disassembling pieces, and clean piece versus dirty pieces. It’s really amazing to see the processes and progress of these windows as they’re being restored, and we can’t wait to see the finished product back in the church, as good as new.
Stanton Studios has been honored to have this great church as one of our clients and we are so happy to be working with them yet again! We look forward to seeing the church expand and continue to influence the community by bringing beauty, joy, and a great message.
Stay tuned to our social media, newsletters, and our blog to keep up with our progress for this church, as well as the other wonderful churches that we are currently doing restoration works for.
Feel free to contact us at (800) 619-4882 or email us at info@stantonglass.com, and we’d be happy to give you an update!
