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Glass sheets propped up at the window for choosing. The one on the left is from Lamberts in Germany, on the right from the newly-formed English Antique Glass Company, carrying on from the now-defunct Hartley Wood factory in Sunderland, which produced fabulous glasses.

All the glass has been stuck back on the glass easel for a final check. It's getting closer to the final thing, but you can still see the white showing through where the black painting on the glass easel doesn't quite match up, and the blobs of Plasticene can be a bit distracting.

Still, the window is now ready to be leaded.

A sheet of plate glass is placed over the cutline and all the lead lines painted on. As the pieces of glass are cut, they will be stuck on to the base with Plasticene. This means that all the cut pieces will be together, not lying around likely to get damaged, and I can see how the window is developing and how the colours are working together.

The exciting bit!

I cut all the glasses, attaching them to the base plate and watching how the colours build up. Gradually the view behind the glass disappears under a riot of colour as I stick the pieces in place. When they are all cut, lots of them are removed again so that they can be painted, stained or acid-etched. With paint and stain you are adding details, while by etching you are taking away - "flashed" glasses are made with a thin layer of a darker glass on top of a thick layer of a pale one. Etching removes the top layer, enabling gradations or two colours in one piece. The sort of a dove is an example of this; it will be in the middle of the pale blue circle to the left but it ain't there yet.

My signature - a seal because Rona is Gaelic for a seal - is added. This one is painted, but sometimes it's etched or engraved. A date is normally put on too.

(There's no ball on my nose cos that's sea-lions, not seals. We're above such flippancy)

Glass that is going to be acid etched is treated with a resist, in this case bitumastic paint. All sorts of resists can be used - Copydex, sticky-back plastic, wax crayons...

Paint and stain are added at this point, the stain producing a range of colours from pale lemon through yellow to rich orange.