Cummins Stehn The Custodian's Process

Custodians are responsible for ensuring that the windows in their care are maintained and restored to the highest possible standards available. The steps set out below are a guide to the way Gerry and Jill undertake the conservation and restoration of a stained glass window.

The custodian contacts Gerry and Jill to arrange a suitable time to speak about the commission, either by phone or in person. At this time, the custodian describes the project. The information they need to have is:

a	The location and type of building (eg St. Mary’s Cathedral or Church in Kempsey).
b	The location of the window within the building (eg Facing West above the Altar, or North at ground level in the Hospital Chapel).
c	Any photographic or other documentation held by the custodians that may assist in identifying the original maker/studio of the window, or in rebuilding the window/s.
d	An estimate of the size of the window, even if this is only established by, say, counting the number of bricks and multiplying them up.
e	An estimate of the nature or extent of the restoration required, and any absolute requirements (eg there may be a horizontal slit of light visible through the window visible over time or after a storm. It may have been badly damaged in an accident or cyclone and sections may be missing, which may require urgent treatment. NEVER THROW OUT BROKEN GLASS, PARTICULARLY IF IT IS FROM A STAINED GLASS WINDOW. THE LARGER PIECES SHOULD BE KEPT IN A BOX, AND FRAGMENTS VACUUMED UP AND ALSO KEPT. THESE COULD BE VITAL IN THE RECONSTRUCTION OF DAMAGED AREAS.
f	The name and contact details of the person in charge of the restoration.

Gerry and Jill give an estimate of the size and cost of the project. They discuss the expected timeline and usually organise a site visit to assess and document information for a condition report to be made.

A ladder, scaffold, snorkel lift or occasionally even a crane may be needed to provide legal access to the window.

Gerry and Jill inspect the window and write a condition report or survey. The reports they write are not the minimum required to persuade a custodian to give the restoration job to them, but to tell custodians and future generations everything about the window now, and how it was restored. This information is relevant for the life of the window, which may be several or many centuries.

The inspection and the subsequent condition report are the basis of everything that follows. It describes the current state of the window and the condition of the glass paints. This determines all the techniques and the process of the restoration, the extent of the work/s, the time it will take and what it will cost.

Gerry and Jill’s condition reports satisfy the needs of Heritage bodies and insurers and custodians need only append this to their applications. Reports are always accompanied by a series of annotated photographs. Some condition reports may comprise only ten pages of text and thirty photographs, while reports on all the windows in a church or on one large window could comprise fifty pages of text and two hundred photographs.

An appropriate fee is charged for a report.

Gerry and Jill believe a comprehensive condition report is the custodian’s best guarantee of excellent restoration, because the custodians are given a clear understanding of the condition of their window/s before work begins, with an invaluable record on the past and present history of their window for the future. Then they can make informed decisions about what needs to be done.
Custodians should be judicious in who they give the condition report to. If they are seeking three quotes (a practice fraught with danger) they should NOT give the report to rival tenderers. It is frequently the case that they do not have the experience to undertake the restoration they are quoting on, and giving them the condition report allows them to mouthe practices and processes they do not know or understand.

Gerry and Jill believe that being a custodian of stained glass in Australia where there are no regulations for restorers whatsoever can easily become an impossibly daunting task. Unscrupulous operators abound! They have met far too many custodians who have raised the funds to “restore” a window, which, after it has been reinstalled, is found to be unserviceable or ruined. There have been court cases following such restorations.

Once a custodian has decided to go ahead with the work described in the condition report, a working timeline and payment schedule is organised and the project is commenced. Terms of payment will vary depending on variable factors such as the length of time that a job is expected to take. A large job will usually be done with progress payments as sections are completed.

Panels or sections of panels will be removed from site and the area temporarily glazed (usually with a piece of plyboard) until the restored panels are ready to be reinstalled. Finally, repaired sections are returned to the window and correctly reinstalled.

Repairs and replacements can be completed either in the studio or on site, as outlined in the condition report.

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