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The Watkins family had been working in stained glass since 1761 in England, and the family moved to Denver in the 1800s. Frank Watkins was born in 1890 and grew up in Denver. He started working in the Watkins Stained Glass Studio around the age of 7 sweeping the floor. He began his apprenticeship in 1902 and graduated to cementing, cutting, and doing other work with glass until he was a master craftsman.
The methods of making stained glass windows have been passed down in the Watkins family for at least 8 generations. Each artist learns the family secrets of the medieval stained glass craft from an older relative. All of their work is done by hand and much of the work they do is still the same now as it was in the 1700s. They go through the work of creating a design, sketching it, measuring, patterning, and cutting the glass, and then painting (if needed), glazing, and installing the windows.
Frank spent a lot of time working on the windows for local Denver churches and did much of his work for free. According to the Watkins family, they believe he made the windows for our Chapel Library and representatives from the Glaziers’ Union state that Frank did the work to create our Chapel windows for free. Most stained glass windows are made using lead came, but our windows are made using zinc came, a material that is more difficult to work with and rarer to find in stained glass windows.
A window that Frank Watkins made.
Resources
http://watkinsstainedglass.com/index.php/about-us/
http://watkinsstainedglass.com/index.php/historymedia/history/
Watkins Stained Glass Windows Report, Aug. 14, 2015
Email from Jane Watkins, Jan. 5, 2016
Phone conversation with Doug Gleaton (dgleaton@dc15co.org) and Doug Melphy (dmelphy@dc15co.org), Business Representatives for Glaziers 930, District Council and Local Union Offices, 2170 South Lipan Street, Denver, CO 80223, 303-761-1324, Feb. 6, 2017
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