Inappropriate use of cooper foil

What's wrong with this panel? Click on the picture for a larger view.

Here are examples of what we call "ucky cooper foil."

The window on the right is advertised as being a wright-style window. But if Frank Lloyd were alive, he'd be shocked. Wright's strong geometric design is ruined because it was constructed with cooper foil and not lead came. The lines are not uniform and do not match up. The entire design is ruined because it was executed using the wrong technique. It looks messy, and not just because of the glass choice. (Wright used a lot of clear glass and was frugal with color.) This could have been a beautiful window. But the artist should not call it a "wright-style" window.

Look at the two windows below. The window on the left is a simplistic rendering of Frank Lloyd Wright's design commonly called "Tree of Life." It was done in cooper foil, and the artist calls it "Wheat." On the right, is a photo of the Tree of Life design executed for a window in Wright's Darwin Martin House (Buffalo, NY). Ignoring the design changes and the overuse of color, you can see how the use of cooper foil was a big mistake.


"Tree of Life" in cooper foil.	"Tree of Life" in zinc came.

Also, Wright used mainly zinc came in his windows. It's much stronger than lead and you can use smaller profiles without compromising the overall strength of the window. However, zinc is not a very attractive metal and most people prefer the warmth of lead came over zinc came. Making a panel with zinc came is also more time consuming - zinc came must be cut with a saw instead of a hand cutter. So making a panel with zinc came is more expensive.