Worthing Stained Glass

Our studio supplies Overlay Stained Glass (leaded glass) to clients in Worthing and the surrounding areas. You can supply your own design or browse our extensive Stained Glass gallery for some inspiration. Then head over to our how to order page once you’ve chosen your design. While browsing our galleries, remember that every design can be produced in almost any glass size you require. All of our designs can also be modified to meet your exact specifications, this may include changing some colours or adding some extra flowers into a pattern. If you have any questions about our process, feel free to contact us.

The Leadbitter Glass studio was established in 1994 and has supplied decorative glass to Worthing ever since.

We also supply Etched, Bevelled and Fused Glass to homes in Worthing and the surrounding areas.

Stained Glass For Today’s World

Originally, manufacturing stained glass involved fixing together small pieces of fragile glass with a ‘H’ lead strip. Lead was then soldered to the glass to hold it all together. You can think of it like a thin jigsaw being held up vertically, it is never going to be very durable and will crack eventually. With security a concern to Worthing homeowners, every stained glass panel we produce is made from a solid sheet of toughened glass, either in single or double glazed format. While the older technique is sometimes still used in Worthing today, modern Overlay Stained Glass as a product, is a much more popular choice thanks to its versatility and durability. Overlay Stained Glass also meets all of the current building regulations whereas the older method cannot.

Our Overlay Stained Glass (or Leaded Glass as we call it) is created by applying lead strips to both sides of a solid sheet of toughened safety glass. Overlay Stained Glass Colours are placed on one side of the glass under the leaded strips. This glass can be supplied as single glazed toughened glass, or a double glazed unit. The traditional ‘jigsaw’ method however cannot be supplied as a double glazed unit because it is made using small fragile pieces with gaps in between.

See Your Glass Before It Is Made

When you place an order with us, we’ll create a computer generated proof to show you how your glass panels will look before production begins. You’ll find hundreds of examples of these proofs in our Client Pages section which were created for customers in Worthing and around the world. After ordering, we’ll create your requested design in your sizes and send the proof across for you to approve. If you’re happy with the proof and give us the thumbs up, we will start the manufacturing process. If there is anything you would like to change about the design however, we’re happy to make those adjustments and forward the new version to you at no extra cost. We never make any glass panel until the customer is 100% happy with the layout.

The Many Advantages Of Overlay Stained Glass

One big advantage that our Leaded Glass has over the traditional method is that toughened glass can be used. Plain colours, marbled colours and textures can also be used along with soldered lead. These durable and attractive materials produce a beautiful effect that lasts, and when done correctly, can be completely indistinguishable from the older technique. Take a look at our past works and judge for yourself.

When using natural lead, our decorative glass artists can solder the joints and age the lead to give the glass that old stained glass look. Soldered leadwork costs extra so please mention you would like this in a quote request. Using Minster glass as the decorative face of a double glazed sealed unit gives the panel an older appearance.

As you can see by the picture of this 1930’s glass design, the coloured areas of the glass aren’t flat. All of the colours are textured the same as the colourless areas of the design. This glass is called Minster glass and it is very popular with our customers.

New But Old

Modern Overlay Stained Glass boasts countless advantages over the older stained glass technique. Energy saving is a big concern for many homeowners today and with our Overlay Stained Glass designs always produced on a solid sheet of toughened glass, this reduces the opportunity for outside cold temperatures to transfer into the home through the joints of the design. Our designs can also be applied directly onto energy saving Pilkington K Glass. This special glass is now a building regulations requirement in the Worthing area for every new window and door installation. We supply Pilkington K glass on the rear face of every sealed unit we supply as standard.

Durability and security are other advantages of Overlay Stained Glass. This is due to the designed being directly applied onto a solid sheet of toughened glass. Some homeowners in Worthing have paid a lot of money for ‘old style’ stained glass, but it hasn’t always stood the test of time. Small coloured sections of a traditional ‘jigsaw’ style panel can break quite easily but this cannot happen with our product.

The materials

As all of our decorative glass is created bespoke, you can choose exactly which materials you would like us to use on your panel(s). You can select your own colours from our range, request an obscure glass you want and even the type of lead strip you prefer.

Lead

Lead strips also comes in a number of colours and effects. The most popular choice through the 80’s and 90’s was Option 1 Natural lead. Today almost every job we create is manufactured using Option 2 Antique Lead which is a darker lead (see below). Leadbitter Glass now offers antique lead as standard so this is included in any quote you receive. Soldered joints on the lead strips help achieve that ‘traditional’ feel to the glass. this finish can be requested at an extra price. You can see the different Lead strips available in our Leaded Glass Options page.

Colours

There are hundreds of overlay stained glass colours to choose from for use in the modern day stained glass. Plain colours and Effect colours can be chosen to ensure the panels suit your home. All colours can be combined with a textured overlay to create an even larger range of options.

Obscure Stained Glass

The Frank Lloyd Wright style door set below was created using toughened Minster Glass and our Overlay Stained Glass technique. We used our Aged Lead (Option 2) and various transparent colours for the design. The door and two side panels are solid sheets of toughened safety glass. Minster glass is one of the most popular glass types for use with Leaded Glass designs. Another popular obscure glass we use to create Overlay Stained Glass panels is Stippolyte glass. We can also use clear glass or Flemish glass to create any Stained Glass panel.

Browse Our Leaded Glass Galleries

Our website contains hundreds of Stained Glass patterns and our main gallery is the first place to head. We have organised our patterns into themed galleries with glass suitable for different styles of doors. The Main Gallery will help you find the perfect stained glass pattern for you or at least give you the inspiration to dream up your own pattern.

We supply Stained Glass to Worthing and it’s surrounding areas:

Brighton – Littlehampton – Shoreham-by-Sea – Lancing – Steyning – Ferring – Goring-by-Sea – Sompting – Angmering – Rustington – East Preston – Findon – West Chiltington – Washington – Storrington – Arundel – Poling – Clapham – Durrington – Salvington