THE LEGEND OF KING ARTHUR

Another exam piece of work for my City & Guilds Institute of London. The criteria for this design piece was a stained glass leaded panel. I thought of many ideas and wanted to incorporate a little calligraphy and heraldry. At the time I was living not so far from the County of Cornwall, England.

As King Arthur's Legend is belived to be from this area, Tintagel, Cornwall, this was an ideal project theme. By looking at the window it tells a story, with many icons from the Legend. So what can we see? From the top downwards;

• In the center there is a copper foil insert, this represents, The Knights of the Round Table. In the center there is a beautiful faceted clear jewel.
• Surrounging this table, there is a dark blue background, the moon and the stars, represent Merlin, the Wizard.
• On top of the tranquil Cornish hill side, stands King Arthurs Castle.
• At the foot of the cliffs, below the castle, is Merlin's Cave.
• The hand of  "The Lady in the Lake" can be seen rising above the water line, and in her hand, is the mighty, powerful and magical Excalibur sword, being offered to King Arthur. This was King Arthur'ssecond sword, as the blade on his first one broke, legend has it,that this sword had an unbreakable blade. The sword is ornate in itself, adorned with beautiful glass roundals and hand painted decoration.
• I have incorporated the power of the sun into the design, making one of the sun's rays part of the powerful and magical Excalibur Sword.
• At the bottom of the window is a traditional diamond stained glass panel, in the center ther is a coat of arms. This coat of arms is of my own design. A typical heraldry desgin hand painted on to the clear glass insert.

The whole stained glass window has been fitted  into a wooden panel and finished off with a decorative carved frame with English roses, hand painted.

The design took 15 hours , with the construction time of the stained glass panel, 55 hours. The frame took 4 hours to complete.

The second picture show the mystical powers emitting from the sun's rays throught the glass of the window, casting a second image onto the floor........

On the stone in letters, that gave their own light....... was a legend..... who so pulleth this sword from this stone is rightfully King of England...... Arthur put out his hands to the golden hilt...... the letters on the stone blazed out with a metallic hiss..... the sword slid free......................

PRIVATELY OWNED