Creating a Frame for a Stained Glass Window

Doing historical restoration often requires making something new look like something old. My friend Theresa purchased a stained glass window on Craigs's list for her upstairs bathroom window.

The stained glass panel seemed to match the Victorian theme of the house perfectly. It was the perfect size and looked like it had been custom made for the window.

Initially the panel was held in place using two eye hooks attached to two small wires looped that had been soldered to the lead frame of the panel.

It wasn't long before the weight of the stained glass in the panel was pulling the lead frame away from the glass.

My friend asked me to build a wood frame to support the glass until she was able to replace the entire window.

What I did was to measure the space on each side of the glass. There was four inches of space on the sides and three inches of space on the top and bottom. Using vertical grain 2x4's that came out of the demolition of the kitchen I made two inch wide trim for the sides and inch and a half trim for the top and bottom trim.

Using my table saw to cut this wood to dimension is also rabbeted a place for the glass to fit into. This was done by setting the saw blade to the proper height and making two cuts.

The existing frame was four inches wide and it was painted. Since all the trim in the bathroom was stained I first hand scraped all the paint off the frame and stained it to match the rest of the trim.

One of the tricks I had learned was that most stains make too much of a contrast between the grain and the lighter part of the wood. This doesn't match the older trim. To fix this I made the stain color more opaque by mixing stain in with the finish. By playing with the finish I made it look almost Identical to the original trim.

After mitering, installing and staining the frame I Inserted the glass panel. The glass was held in place by nailing quarter round molding I had cut and stained to match.

Theresa says that when she shows guests the window they are surprised it is not original. In fact she has decided not to replace the window after all since it does look like it is original