AdammsGallery

Stained Glass Restoration Pullman Railway Car

This project was a special treat. It involved the restoration of two stained glass quadrafoil windows in a Pullman railway car. The car itself was produced by The Pullman Palace Car Company in 1927. There are 4 quadruple stained glass windows. Two are adjacent to bathroom showers, the other two are in one of the salons. For this project we restored the two by the showers, as these were often abused during entry or exit from the showers. The windows appear to be at least 100 years old, and of European origin. They were pushed in and had numerous cracked pieces. For this project we flattened the panels, repaired or replaced the pieces( A few of which required repainting), resoldered the reinforcing bars, and re puttied them.

The car is being refinished at this time. All the woodwork is being cleaned and finished, electrical updated, undercarriage strengthened, etc. It is really a demanding project, and all the craftsmen are superb. The current owner is John Paul Dejoria, the owner of Paul Mitchell Hair Products, and Patron Tequila. It is interesting to see all the private rail cars behind Union Station in Los Angeles. It is a charming thought to visualize these cars, now fully restored, touring the country. When the owner wishes to take a trip they have Amtrak hook it up to one of their trains and off they go. Rail has always been an interesting way to travel.You can have a closeup look at the countryside, and stop and get off where you like. It is a very romantic get away.

Michael Jackson Etched Limousine Window by Adamm's Stained Glass

    
In 1993 Adamm's Stained Glass in Santa Monica, CA. was commissioned by a company called Electronic Entertainment. The commission was to replace the original divider window in Michael Jackson's Rolls Royce limousine with a new window with Michael's Jacksomn's  Neverland Ranch logo etched into it.

     In order to produce the new glass we needed the original. The original window was slighly curved and was made from laminated toughened glass. The original manufacturer was Triplex Safety Glass of St. Helens, England, now a subsidiary of Pilkington Glass. They initially made glass for MG automobiles.Their logo has a number of symbols that identify not only themselves, but also the date the glass was made. We had a company called Glass Pro in Santa Fe Springs, CA make the glass using the original glass for a pattern and mold.

     The design for the Neverland Ranch logo was given to us.  As a sample we used the original window and etched the logo on it.The process we used was:

                  1.Tape the window with 280 tape from 3M.

                  2. Draw the logo design on the tape.

                  3. Using an exacto knife cut the logo and peal away the area to be etched.

                  4. Using sandblasting equiptment sand blast the etched area.

                  5. Remove the excess tape and clean the window.

     The sample came out perfectly so we repeated the process on the new glass. The window was installed in the limousine with no problems.

    To this day we still have the original window with the etched design.