Glossary

• Apse – the often domed, semi-circular or polygonal east end where the altar is located.
• Calme or Came – Strip of lead H shaped to hold the pieces of glass together, from the Latin calamus, meaning reed.
• Cartoon – A full size drawing of the design for a stained glass window.
• Cinquefoil – A five lobed shape.
• Design – See Vidimus.
• Diaper – A decorative pattern applied using glass paint to enhance the glass surface.
• Enamel – A technique developed in the late C15 to allow colours to be painted on to glass.
• Ferramenta – The metal framework (iron, aluminium, copper, brass) fixed into the masonry to hold panels of stained glass.
• Flashing – Application of a thin coat of coloured glass on to clear glass – most reds are flashed.
• Grisaille – Clear or grey glass often decorated with foliage design
• Grozing – A method of shaping the edges of pieces of glass to the right size using a metal tool known as a grozing iron.
• Lancet – Tall, narrow windows with a sharp pointed arch at the top.
• Light – The vertical division of a window.
• Medallion – Circular panel of several pieces of glass leaded together.
• Mullion – Upright stone section of a window. Divides the window into a number of lights.
• Narthex – An antechamber at the western entrance of some churches, separated from the nave by a screen.
• Nave – the central part of a church building, intended to accommodate most of the congregation.
• Needlework – Fine relieving done with a needle or sharp instrument, scratching out.
• Panel – An element of a stained glass window, generally no more than 1m square.  A single windows is, as a rule, made of several panels.
• Plating – The doubling up of glass by the attachment of an additional layer, held together within a single lead. This can be part of an artistic technique, used as a means of modifying or intensifying colour or texture, or can be used as a protective measure during conservation.
• Relieving – The removal of paint from the surface of the glass prior to firing, to allow light to come through; methods include needlework and stickwork.
• Rinceau – Foliage design usually used as a background.
• Rose – Round windows that often have elaborate tracery and lots of decorated stained glass. They are usually facing the altar.
• Roundel –  A unipartite panel, generally round, bearing a self-contained design.
• Quarry – (from French carré, square): a small pane of glass, usually diamond-shaped.  Imitation quarries are glass panels that have lead lines painted on them to simulate the appearance of quarries.
• Quatrefoil – Windows with four petal shaped sections.
• Stanchion – A vertical support bar set into the masonry, internally or externally (or both). Used in conjunction with Support Bars, which sometimes have eyes through which a stanchion can pass.
• Stickwork – Relieving done with the end of a brush or blunt instrument, picking out.
• Support Bar or Saddle Bar – A bar set horizontally into the masonry, to which stained glass panels are tied with lead or copper ties, supporting and preventing panels from flexing out of the vertical plane.
• Tie Bar – See Support Bar or Saddle Bar.
• Tracery – Ornamental stone openwork, typically in the upper part of a Gothic window.
• Tracery Lights – The small, often ornate openings at the top of a window.
• Trefoil – Windows with three petal shaped sections.
• Vestibule – See Narthex.
• Vidimus – Before the cartoon was drawn, preliminary sketches would be made to show what the finished windows would look like so the design could be approved. The approved design was the Vidimus.  The approved design of a window, before the cartoon is made.  Latin for “we have seen”.