Sash & Solder Window Restoration

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Portsmouth, NH
Sash & Solder Window Restoration

Sash & Solder does stained glass and wooden sash window restoration for historical, commercial and residential clients.

06/20/2025

A belated thank you to everyone at the AGG for hosting such a fantastic conference, especially for all the local insight. We saw some amazing stained glass on our bus tour through Mesa and Phoenix. Our classes were incredibly informative. Glass painting with , making dalle de verres with , sandblasting with , silkscreening on glass with and conservation techniques with . It was such a pleasure to catch up with old friends and make some new ones. Looking forward to next years conference already.

05/12/2025

Posting these pics from a few weeks ago. We spent a beautiful day in Biddeford, Maine at the Etz Chaim Synagogue, to reinstall their newly-restored, giant diamond windows. With second story openings that are 18 ft. tall, the scale and of the windows was our biggest consideration.

The congregation has been there since 1906, but the windows have been in a state of disrepair for years. We saw leftover signs of vandalism, as well as significant glass replacement that occurred long ago. To return them as close to their original glory as possible, we needed to improve previous repairs. To do this, we looked at the overall color palate to determine which diamonds were original and which were replacements. In the end, we swapped 87 of the diamonds to glass that was a better fit.

The border was also a challenge. To restore this, we identified 44 pieces that were either the wrong pattern or without the stencil at all. Thanks to Adobe Illustrator and our handy laser cutter, we were able to recreate the three original stencils exactly, complete with their unique, hand-drawn elements. From there we painted and fired the new pieces in our kiln.

The biggest challenge? The windows are massive, and they’re built into a narrow choir loft that’s hard to get to. In the end, the windows went back in smoothly, but not without a few scary looks down.

The congregation is thrilled to see them fully restored. As for us, we’re grateful for wonderful clients, (and strong teammates who have a stomach for heights.)

12/24/2024

The magic of Christmas and the miracle of Hanukkah will be celebrated far and wide tomorrow. As we close up shop and ready for our own traditions, we take joy in knowing another year’s worth of restored windows are back in their homes, casting a colorful light for all who are congregating. To our amazing clients, vendors, Button Factory friends, Portsmouth community, stained glass colleagues, Instagram friends, Facebook friends, and everyone in between… HAPPY HOLIDAYS! May you find peace and joy in knowing you are loved.

12/06/2024

THIS WEEKEND!! If you have the good fortune of being in Portsmouth, NH, come on by and say hello. It’s the Button Factory’s annual Open Studios event, where 50+ resident and local artists come together to put on an amazing show of work for sale. Our studio alone will have 7 different artisan booths. Shop local for the holidays!

11/28/2024

We are feeling grateful today, for the beauty in our work and the good people we have the joy of working with. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

(Image shown is a detail of a Tiffany window from a recent site visit in Augusta, Maine.)

glass

10/25/2024

Last weekend, we embarked on an adventure to Newport, RI to attend the Rhody Awards, hosted by The event was held on a stunning evening at RoseCliff mansion, overlooking the Cliff Walk and ocean. Each year, members gather to honor Rhode Island’s top preservation projects and personalities. The amount of knowledge, skills, passion and wherewithal in the crowd was humbling, to say the least. Every project and person highlighted showed creativity, community involvement, perseverance, and success.

We were honored to be part of an award-winning team, thanks to our work on the restoration. If you’re interested in watching a quick video of the overall project, check out the Preserve RI’s site. The videos of all the Rhody award winners are informative, inspirational, (and really well done!)

Congrats to all! We’re proud to have been part of it. It was a great team effort and it showed.

09/04/2024

The Historic Harrisville, windows look beautiful in the midst of these sunny September mornings in the studio. We have some of them stacked against each other along the wall and it makes for some gorgeous colors when the light hits them just right.

Most of the 15 lancets have been releaded at this point, so our focus has shifted to adding tie wires, integrating them into their newly-restored sashes, and cleaning them for the last time. We’re on the home stretch!

Button Factory Studios

08/14/2024

Last week, we were happy to be able to reinstall the beautiful and colorful windows from the Amoskeag Presbyterian Church in Manchester, NH. It took three full days to get them in, (along with a little dodging of raindrops!), but they’re in and stunning to behold. What surprised us was the huge range in colors that the panels cast as the light changed throughout the days. As you can see, it’s hard to find a favorite moment — they’re all beautiful.

Interesting fact: It was only after we removed them that we learned that these windows were created by Tiffany Studios. It surprised us, because they’re unlike almost any other Tiffany designs we’ve seen. Still, they are listed in the official catalog of works as archived by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY. (See detail images of their paper catalog above.)

We’d love to know if others have seen Tiffany designs like these? Let us know! And if not, just enjoy the colors. We certainly have!

07/16/2024

A couple weeks ago, we returned to one of our favorite little towns in New Hampshire. Historic Harrisville is continuing the refurbishment of their St. Denis chapel. The restoration of the stained glass windows is a big part of it. We were there for just two days, making quick work of the removal of 15 tall lancets. As you can see from some of the early documentation photos, they were in ROUGH shape and needed a fair amount of securing for the ride back to the shop.

We’re now a good way through documentation, glass cleaning and glass repair. Thankfully we’ve found great matches for most of the missing or irreparable pieces. (which can be tough!) Meanwhile, Tracy is finding new life in the sashes — repairing the wood where possible or adding parts when necessary.

We’re grateful to for their wonderful partnership and for trusting us with the restoration of these beautiful windows. Stay tuned for progress pics.

07/10/2024

*reposting due to technical difficulties.

Yesterday was a big day for us. We were at Belmont Chapel in Newport, RI to install their four new angel windows. As mentioned in previous posts, these are replicas based on fragments from the originals. The new angels have been completed and sitting in our shop for weeks, so we’ve gotten used to them… But seeing them in their rightful place was a whole different experience.

They sit in a darker portion of the chapel, creating an intense effect when light beams through them. The angels’ faces change slightly based on the angle you’re viewing from, and the blue of the background can look green based on the amount of vegetation outside. The border glass is vibrant and looks great next to the new mahogany sashes. We were relieved to see it all come together so beautifully.

We’re beyond proud of the work, especially given that each one of us contributed in a meaningful way. We faced challenges and developed new skills. And we fretted every detail along the way. But, because of that, we were able to recreate them faithfully and help restore the original vision for this special little building.

We were happy to share this moment with friends from the Jamestown (RI) Historical Society, who joined to hear a little about the work.

Address

855 Islington Street #109
Portsmouth, NH
03801

Website

http://sashandsolder.com/

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