French Gothic Stained Glass Light Fixture: Update

Grant Thompson
Post 3 - 2025 : Upcycle Progress, Student Work
2 Comments

Over the past week, I have begun collecting my materials as well as conceptualizing how my piece will fit together. For my project, I hope to upcycle old broken glass into a light fixture that mimics the effects of the stained glass windows often seen in churches. When I first began ideating on this project, I first drew inspiration from the way the light from a candle can seemingly cause a dark room to dance. This led me to think about stained glass windows, and how they can change the feeling of a room when the light strikes them right. After this, I thought of the light projectors, which often display moving stars on the ceiling, and thought I could combine that with the aesthetic of Gothic stained glass to create a projector more suited to my liking. However, after exploring this idea further, I thought it would be best to create a sort of dome that can fit over a multitude of light fixtures, allowing me to experiment with different lighting techniques. For my materials, I went to Dark Horse, where they have old wine and beer bottles of different colors. I plan to score and break these different bottles. Then, using epoxy to assemble them into a dome shape from the angles of the glass shards from the bottles. So far I have collected materials of burgundy, green, brown, and clear glass; But I am hoping to find some hues of blue and brighter reds. I expect the fabrication process to take at least a week, as the curing time for epoxy is long, and figuring out how to cut and fit the pieces together in a cohesive manner will take time as well.

My first thought was to create a dome for an overhead light, as those are what I have in my place currently. However, I think that a more traditional lamp shade design will offer more utility.
My second design inspiration, however mine will inevitably be less symmetrical due to the nature of materials I plan to use.
Pictured above are some of the materials I have collected so far. While I have multiples of each color pictured above, I hope to find more vibrant reds and blues. For scoring the glass, I plan to use a glass scoring tool from the Idea Forge. The final material I will need to procure for this project is the epoxy, which I will purchase from Home Depot.

References

Featured Image

“Duffner & Kimberly French Gothic Table Lamp.” Cottone Auctions, www.cottoneauctions.com/lots/78051/duffner-kimberly-french-gothic-table-lamp. Accessed 5 Feb. 2025.

Images (Left to Right)

“Artzone.” Tiffanylampusa, tiffanylampusa.com/collections/artzone. Accessed 5 Feb. 2025.

“The Manufacturing Process of Tiffany Lamps. Tiffanylampusa Stained Glass Lamps Production Factory.” YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ShCtyWggoU. Accessed 5 Feb. 2025.

2 Comments. Leave new

  • Seth Strayer
    February 5, 2025 11:57 pm

    Cool idea, Grant! Those multiple shades will look nice, and I hope you’re able to find some blues and reds to compliment. Will you be epoxying any structural components into it so a light fixture can support? Also a suggestion for you: Consider sanding the outside and/or inside of that epoxy dome once it’s cured; the rougher hue might mimic stained glass or sea glass versus shining directly through the clear bottle fragments.

    • Grant Thompson
      February 21, 2025 5:40 pm

      Thanks for the recommendations, I already have a container to hold my design so structural components are not as big of a concern. I will definitely heed your advice of sanding as I think this will be important to preserve the light quality for this project.

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