WindowFest 2026 • Advanced Field Lab
Advanced
Window Craft
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
November 9-13 Uvalde, Texas
Intro to Sash Making meets with Intro to Window Craft in one real historic-building classroom—reading the evidence, learning how to make what belonged there and the sequences that put it into service, restoring the building for the next generation.
THE CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT
THE SASH ARE GONE. THE EVIDENCE REMAINS
Four original Opera House frames survive, but their wood sash were removed and replaced with aluminum insert windows. The openings are roughly eight feet tall. Each missing sash is approximately four feet tall and 33 inches wide.
We will begin with the building—not assumptions. Profiles, pulley locations, weight pockets, dimensions, scars and earlier alterations will tell us what belonged there. From that evidence we will develop a prototype, prove it in the opening, and only then reproduce the remaining sash.
“Figure out what was supposed to be there. Make it. Put it back. Protect it.”
THE WEEK'S ASSIGNMENT
WHAT IS THERE NOW
An aluminum insert unit fastened inside the surviving historic frame.
WHAT IS THERE NOW
The original masonry opening and frame remain. The missing wood sash must be reconstructed from what survives.
THE COMPLETE CRAFT
Three trades. One working window.
This field lab brings the Trinity of the Trades together. Participants do not study isolated techniques; they learn how each discipline blends with the others.
01
Joinery
Read profiles, lay out parts, mill stock, cut mortises and tenons, profile, cope and assemble eight large sash.
01
Carpentry/Mechanics
Investigate frames, remove inserts, repair jambs and sills, fit sash, restore ropes and weights, install stops and tune operation.
01
Finishing
Prepare surfaces, glaze, prime, control blemishes, paint where cure times permit, and protect every repaired component.