So what's going on at the Church this season? After the heating/cooling system went in, we had to huddle down, replenish the coffers, and plan the next step. After much thought and prayer, it became clear that we need more...space! Yes, the church is big and beautiful, but when we take out the plaster, insulate the walls and replace them, the church will have to be emptied. Where will we put everything? Where will we have work space? Where?
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| Where? In here? |
In the new addition! Yes, an addition. That's the plan.
Commence the scraping!
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| New driveway! |
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| Back yard. The addition will connect to the back of the church. |
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| Lumpy! |
So the landscape around the church is a little shaggy right now. But it's in the name of progress. The side yard is still feeling the effects of having Geothermal pipes installed deep into it.
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| Rocky! |
But what about the church? Remember our beautiful antique glass windows?
We don't want them to fall out, so we are going to take them out, one by one, and strip and reglaze them. There are 10 big windows, plus the one over the door, plus the secret special quatrefoil window behind the white cross in the red circle.
Whew let's get started!
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| Church without its glasses! |
They are in pretty rough shape, especially the ones facing the weather- westward.
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| Paint and glazing must go! |
It was our first window, and we knew it was a matter of time before the first pane got broken. But who would do it, and how would it happen? The tension was thick.
Finally, one of us heard a sickening crrrackkkk and it was done. Chipping away at the hardened brittle glazing didn't do it, but putting pressure on the glass with your knuckles will crack it.
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| lower right ... |
At least the worst was over. We resigned ourselves to the fact that we couldn't make an omelet without cracking a little glass, and moved on with our lives.
Thanks to some advice and tools from Grindstone Corners very own Paul Fisher, proprietor of the newly opened, highly successful Rybaks Ice Cream Store, I used a heat gun on the glazing and paint which softened it enough to allow gentler scraping and chipping.
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The man responsible for the immaculate restoration of Captain Peer's building.
He knows which end of a heat gun to grab! |
So I chipped away at the glazing, Mike worked with the sander. Sanding worked wonders, as well!
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| "I bet these windows haven't been touched since they were installed..." |
It's possible, but I bet they took them out when they moved the building in the early 1900s.
It took a fair share of effort to get the glass out of the windows, and I didn't even want to try with the little diamond shaped top piece - it was way too intricate and delicate, but once the others were out, and with only that one breakage, we all drew a sigh of relief. It will take time and effort, but we can do it! The windows can come back to life!
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| Sand man! |
But for now, Church is winking!
She's still so very pretty!
