Stains of beauty

HYDERABAD: Since the beginning of time, light has been thought of as divine, for everything it touches comes alive. There’s no wonder why medieval churches had moulded light with kaleidoscopic opaque stained glass windows. The traditional glass-making process is dead, to procure the materials is immensely difficult but for Natasha Mehta, who is perhaps the only stained glass artist in the city, it has become a forte. She has taken up age-old stained glass work techniques and is undergoing a very challenging journey to rejuvenate the lost art with beautiful crafts pieces.   

“I can’t imagine making windows now, but I will eventually get there,” Natasha says. Stained glass window making reached its peak between the years the 1100s and 1500s. It involves molten sand and Potash heated to blowing glass, then cut into pieces. Then coloured using the right combinations of copper, cobalt, iron and gold to form the most abstract pieces of natural glass that would then be skilfully cut into precise pieces and then joined together in a mosaic appearance using lead, it is a long process!

“One wrong cut and I lose a thousand rupees. The glass is imported from a sole manufacturer located in England and is very expensive, an 8x8 inch piece of textured genuine stained glass can cost up to Rs 2,500,” she said. “When I started it my hands were shivering not because I would break it, but because I am scared of pointy objects like glass, I was scared that I would hurt myself,” she added.

“It was during the pandemic I started it, I was inspired by my mother-in-law, who was a hobbyist stained glass artist. She use to make bigger pieces, for now, I am making sun-catchers and lamps, embedded in the wood, with the help of my husband Shiraz Mehta,” the artist added. These glasses are hard to compile together, and the process is long, but the artist says its therapeutic and end products are a delight to look at.

Shiraz Mehta Studio is holding a Christmas exhibition and sale at their home. The sale of all things pretty ends on December 22, so hurry up.
Location: Durga Vihar Colony, Trimulgherry