How to Make Stained Glass

Stained glass art is used in many arts and craft products.

Making a stained glass can be an artistic hobby or a special craft project. This colored glass is used in windows, lampshades, doors, picture frames, clocks and a variety of boxes and containers. Its illuminating characteristic when light strikes through it makes it an interesting piece for many of these items. Stained glass is typically created using lead or copper foil.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Stained glass pattern
• Stained glass material
• Grease pencil
• Glass-cutting tool
• Glass grinder
• Copper foil tape
• Metal or wooden tray
• Flux
• Solder
• Soldering iron
• Safety gloves
• Safety glasses

1. Look for a pattern to use for your stained glass project. This can be based on your own creation or you can find many available free patterns online. A stained glass pattern features individually numbered sections that are separated by lines.

2. Cut your pattern's different sections and place them on top of your stained glass. Use them to mark your stained glass with a grease pencil. Label each section with the same number as how they appear on the pattern so that you don't get confused when combining the stained glass pieces once they are cut.

3. Cut the stained glass pieces by following the markings made by the grease pencil and using a glass-cutting tool for the process. Use a glass grinder to keep the cutting edges smooth.

4. Clean off any glass debris by rinsing the pieces in water. Allow them to dry.

5. Wrap your chosen copper foil tapes around each cut piece of glass. Have both sides of each glass equally wrapped by the copper foil tape.

6. Assemble the pieces back together on a metal or wooden tray.

7. Coat each section of the glass' copper tape part with flux, a substance used in metal smelting or glassmaking.

8. Apply solder to the seams, then use a soldering iron to the coated pieces to form a slag, a stony waste matter created during the heating process.

9. Allow the assembled glass material to cool down, then flip it over.

10. Repeat the soldering process on the other side of the material, then allow it to cool down.

11. Clean your stained glass material by washing it with water prior to use.

Tips & Warnings

• When working on your stained glass project, wear protective gloves and glasses and place the glass material on a safe cutting surface. Make sure you are able to contain and properly dispose of any glass debris after the glass cutting in your work area.

• If you haven't used a glass-cutting tool, glass grinder or soldering iron before or you haven't used any of them in a long time, practice with a spare glass material first to get the feel of how to hold the glass, the glass-cutting tool, the glass grinder or the soldering iron and the amount of pressure you need with any of them to cut or assemble glass properly.

• It is possible that the glass unintentionally breaks or shatters when cutting or grinding. Aside from making sure you are well-protected in case of accidents, it is always best to have spare glasses as they may come in handy when you suddenly need extra pieces.

References

• Free Patterns for Stained Glass: Learn How To Copper Foil
• Warner Stained Glass: The Copper Foil Technique
• Create Stained Glass: Copper Foil Method of Stained Glass
• Art of Stained Glass
• The Larkins: Step by Step Instruction on the Art of Stained Glass

Resources

• Glass Crafters: Glass Crafters Stained Glass Supply