Matilda Wormwood

Summary

I restore leaded and painted glass, mostly church windows from the 1350s to the 1920s, and have worked on 14 listed buildings across Bohemia and Moravia. Over 11 years I have releaded around 260 square metres of glazing and repainted losses on more than 400 individual quarries. I document everything before I touch it, because the window remembers longer than I do.

Experience

Senior Restorer · Vitraj Karlova Studio, Prague

2019–present

Led the 3-year restoration of the south transept windows at a 14th-century basilica in Kutná Hora: 42 panels, 96 square metres, delivered 6 weeks early.
Introduced cold-paint consolidation with Paraloid B-72 in place of refiring for 3 fragile grisaille cycles, cutting paint loss during treatment to under 2 percent.
Supervise a bench team of 4 and review every panel against pre-treatment photographs at 1:1 scale.

Glass Restorer · Atelier Světlo a Olovo, Brno

2015–2019

Releaded 68 panels of Art Nouveau glazing for a spa colonnade in Luhačovice, matching 1908 lead profiles from surviving fragments.
Built the studio's condition-report template, now used on all commissions above 5,000 EUR.

Apprentice Glazier · Huť Barevné Sklo, Železný Brod

2012–2015

Cut and fired roughly 1,200 replacement quarries in mouth-blown glass from the workshop's own furnace.
Learned silver stain and vitreous paint firing schedules across 3 kiln types.

Skills

Releading Grisaille painting Silver stain Kiln firing Edge-bonding cracks Protective glazing Condition surveys Photogrammetry Archival research

Education

MA, Conservation of Glass and Ceramics

Academy of Applied Crafts, Prague · 2010–2012

Journeyman Certificate, Art Glazing

Glassmaking School, Železný Brod · 2007–2010

ICOM-CC Glass Working Group

Member since 2017 · 2 conference posters

Selected Projects

West rose window, pilgrimage church near Příbram: 7 metres diameter, 2021–2023.
1892 heraldic glazing, Prague town house: 12 panels rebuilt from 60 percent original glass.

Languages

Czech

Native

German

Fluent · archive and site work

English

Fluent · reports and lectures

Latin

Reading · donor inscriptions