Last spring I was contacted by Ariana Makau of Nzilani Glass Conservation to see if we could assist with finding a glass for the restoration of a window by Bruce Porter for the Swedenborgian Church in San Francisco, a National Historic Landmark. At that point I was deep into researching and documenting the stained glass he made between 1892 and 1912 and was excited to see the window up close.

The glass at issue was crumbling due to improper annealing when the glass was made 120 years ago. I had a single sheet from the now defunct Chicago Art Glass that had just the right irregular ripple texture of the original glass. Ripples are made by rolling molten glass through a patterned roller and the character of a texture – the spacing of the peaks and the depth of the valleys – is unique to each manufacturer. What made Chicago’s ripple so special was more in their technique than the equipment. They would alter the speed of the roller by swapping out the drive gears and once it had gone through they’d pull the still soft glass to break up the consistency of the texture.

I enjoyed working with Ariana and was honored to play a small part in the restoration of this important and beautiful window. Ian Carr, a film maker and a member of the congregation captured the process and put together this engaging documentary, Conserving the Dove Window: A Spiritual Journey Through Time.

Bruce Porter, Dove Window for the Swedenborgian Church of San Francisco, 1893
Image by Douglas Stinson