This is a detail (full window below) of one of ten stained glass windows I designed for Granaghan Chapel circa 2001/2002. I worked as a stained glass artist for Topglass at the time, a glass company based in Maghera. I designed and painted the scenes and the company assisted in that process and installed the finished window. The theme of the windows was, The Miracles of Christ. This was the centre panel for the Crucifixion window. This particular panel was about five foot high. You can see how it fits into the design below.

Cost was kept down by using coloured glass around the painted figures. The more hand-painted pieces in a window the more expensive it is. Also there’s nothing natural about the position of Christ’s arms. They have to be raised at a sharp angle to fit into the scene.Also, the leads around the figure run upwards and inwards to lead the eye up to the face of Christ. The two thieves, who were crucified along with Christ, are also depicted and rather than have the whole scene on one window, the scene was run across two window sections (known as “lights.”)

These particular windows in common with many church windows were very long and narrow. I would say from top to bottom we are looking at 30 ft. This throws up all sorts of design and cost problems. In this case the architect wanted to minimise cost by retaining most of the original clear glass to allow as much light into the chapel as possible. The design solution was to find a way for the new artwork to “flow” into the original clear glass. As you can see I had to pay attention not just to the design and artwork but how each scene blended into the original Victorian window.