D.A.: Term used for machine made (Double Roll) Antique glasses.
Dalle or Dalle-de-Verre: A French term ('paving stone of glass') for a inch (or more) thick slab of stained glass. It is shaped used with epoxy or cement in a window. Their faceted surfaces break the light into textures and patterns.
Daylight: Describes the visible opening size that a stained glass or piece of glass will be mounted in
Devitrification: Describes process where heated glass becomes opaque, hard, and crystalline due to prolonged heating.
Diamond Air Trap: Decoration consisting of bubbles of air trapped in the glass in a diamond-shaped pattern. This is achieved by blowing a gather of glass into a mold with projections of the desired design, withdrawing it, and covering it with a second gather, which traps pockets of air in the indentations. This technique was patented by W. H., B. & J. Richardson of England in 1857.
Diamond-Point Engraving: The technique of decorating glass by scratching the surface with a diamond, introduced by the Venetians in the 16th century and carried to some of its greatest artistic heights in the Netherlands during the 17th century.
Diatreta: A term used by Frederick Carder (1863-1963) to describe openwork objects, which he made by lost wax casting.
Dichroic Glass: Made by vacuum depositing a special coating onto a glass sheet. The process creates a mirror like finish that reflects a specific color but when the glass is held up to the light, a different color is seen (transmitted) through the glass.
Dip Mold: A cylindrical, one-piece mold that is open at the top so that the gather can be dipped into it and then inflated. See also Optic mold.
Direct Method Mosaics: Mosaic process where the individual pieces (tesserae) are secured to the base item. The gaps between the pieces are then filled with grout.
Double Glazing: The use of two pieces of glass, one in front of the other, with an air space between for insulation.
Double Hung: A window consisting of two sashes of glass operating in a rectangular frame. Both upper and lower halves slide up and down to open.
Double Rolled: Term used to define the manufacture of commercial and stained glass which is not blown. The glass comes out in large sheets between two rollers which gives the sheet a uniform thickness not found in most hand made glasses. The rollers can also impress a texture or pattern onto the glass.
Double Strength Glass: One-eighth inch thick glass. Strength refers to thickness.
Drape Mold: A mold made from an appropriate heat tolerant material, coated with a release agent and used in a kiln. A piece of glass (blank) is placed on the mold and then heated until it softens and bends over or "drapes" enough to take on the shape an pattern of the mold.
Drapery: The painting on glass that defines the drapery robes of figures, usually Biblical.
Drapery Glass: Heavily manipulated, folded or rippled glass that forms "drapes" that may be one inch or more thick.
Dry Glazing: A method of securing glass in a frame with just resilient gaskets. Dutchman: To cover a crack during repair, a flange of lead is applied over the crack, tucked under adjoining leads and soldered in place. This procedure has generally been replaced with either edge gluing or a thin copper foiled line.
The sources for this material include:
•Glass: A Pocket Dictionary of Terms Commonly Used to Describe Glass and Glassmaking.
Compiled by David Whitehouse, 88 pp., 47 illus., 1993
•How to Work in Stained Glass. Anita & Seymour Isenberg, 247 pp., 1972
•Stained Glass Lamps. Anita & Seymour Isenberg, 222 pp., 1972
•The Techniques of Stained Glass. Partrick Reyntiens, 168 pp. 1977
•The Coming Museum Website: www.cmog.org
• The Stained Glass Association of America Website: www.stainedglass.org
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